Bay Swim One Week Countdown!

June 3

THE GREAT CHESAPEAKE BAY SWIM IS ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!!! 

Photo Courtesy of postcardfile.blogspot.com

Finally! After 5 months of training and thousands of laps in the pool, the Bay Swim is one week away. Time for a final open water swim. And what better place to swim than in the bay itself!

So Priscilla, Kathy, and I hit the road for Sandy Point bright and early Sunday. We had signed up for a WaveOne Swim Clinic that was meant to give Bay Swim participants a chance to swim in the bay before the actual event. 

The weather was nice and the conditions at Sandy Point were optimal. The water was about as calm as I imagine it could be and there wasn't any wind to create a lot of chop. The WaveOne folks had set up a 500 meter rectangular course marked by orange buoys. 

Dennis gave about a 10 minute talk, covering the usual topics:  mass start, sighting, currents, nutrition. It was pretty much the same stuff the Bonzai clinic covered, but when you're a first-timer like me it doesn't hurt to hear it again. 

I swam 4 loops in 47 minutes -that's about a 38 minute mile pace or 2:09/100 yard pace. Sighting was no problem and if there was a current, I barely noticed it. I felt like I could've kept going for hours! And that's a good sign, since the Bay Swim will probably take me over 3 hours. After all those 7 - 8,000 yard swims in the pool, I know I can go the distance. The weather will be the wild card. 

I'm as ready as I can possibly be! This is what it will look like at Sandy Point one week from today!

Photo Courtesy of News 21