US Chapter 2 - The Finger Lakes OWS Festival [Swim Diesel]
For many Open Water season is already in the books. There is a strain of Canadians that would keep going deep into the fall but for the most part the opportunities dry up as the wood stoves light up. I am one of those in that small strain and I am on the hunt. My season is not done. When I told people that I had a race this last weekend in the US it wasn't a shock at all at first. You could swim in Florida most of the year I presume. But when you tell them the swim was in Wakins Glen, NY you begin to get funny looks. NY is a neighbor to Ontario. Largely similar weather etc. Swimming in September could be very cold (I would have done it anyways) but..... this season things were working in my favor.
The drive was less than 5 hours which made the whole weekend easier. I left work early so that I could make it in time for the "night before dinner". I missed the course boat tour but with the Great Bridgette Hobart-Janeczko running the show I had no worries. I knew I was in good hands. My accommodations for the weekend... a room on a boat!
2 floors down (2 floors!) was a bedroom and bathroom. I didn't even know I was on a boat while I slept.
The next morning was an early go. I got up at 5:30 to eat, stretch, and let my body do what it needed to. Rushing before a swim is usually not a good plan and doing it before a big swim is probably worse. As an added bonus - the river where this boat house sits is quite scenic in the morning.
Bridgette and her army were also at it early.
She had breakfast material for all the kayakers and crew. Many of them were students (and swimmers) from Nazareth College.
Once we got the kayakers launched we boated over to where we would eventually start "the big one".
Some of us took more preparation than others. Here we have Jia preparing for summer weather...in the fall.
Let us put the conditions to bed now. The water temperature was above 70F (21C) and the midday temperature was ~85F (30C).
Our journey?
5 1/4 miles (8.45 km) down and then the same distance back. A 10.5 mile day. As you can imagine I don't have more pictures of the event. I'm sure some will surface online from the boat crews. My plan was simple. Take my coach's advice from a previous swim which was to "feed" every 15 mins. I was glad I did this. My kayaker had 7 bottles of my rocket fuel on his kayak and he would toss one out to me at the interval. I never dehydrated and I felt good most of the way. 17 swimmers started - all without wetsuits - and 17 finished. That ladies and gentlemen is a successful 10.5 mile swim. Incredibly the top finisher actually had to deal with hypothermia. He was a strapping young fella without an inch of body fat which I think must have been the issue. That and he pushed really hard. One of the neat things about doing something like this is you meet like minded people and it's kind of like meeting distant relatives. There's just a sense of being in good company. Congrats to all who participated!
That evening we had another dinner together. It was a neat experience, you had the students sort of gaggling together talking first about their kayaking torture of the day and then all sorts of other things. Then you had all the swimmers trading swim war stories and "what's next". What was next for most was an early bed.
The next day was again an early start. The vibe was different as the stakes weren't quite as high. Sunday's adventures were the rest of the Swim Festival, the 2 mile, 1 mile, and 1/2 mile. I got to the park early enough to have a look around before the craziness began.
Now you would think that after having done 10.5 miles the day before that I would have had enough for the weekend. Well no. I had decided when I registered to put myself in the 1 mile (I thought) for the Sunday events. I was there anyways so why not have another kick at the can? You can imagine my surprise when I opened my bag and found this....
Well... the decision was made for me. I would be one of only two people to do ALL the events for the weekend.
It was a 1 mile course with a 1/2 mile buoy in the middle. I was quite familiar with it all by the time my day was done. As the water was shallow near the shore we had to start out at where that yellow buoy is. This also meant we had to have an on shore finish. Bridgette once again ran a tight ship making sure everything was safe and that everyone had a positive experience. Seriously - if you want to run an OWS for the 1st time - hire her! Or get her to show you the ropes. You know a shoddy race when you're at one and you know a well run race when you see it, even without bells and whistles and hype. Bridgette is the real deal.
For the finish I employed the "dolphin dive" to improve my time until it was too shallow.
After all was said and done I came away with 4 medals. 1 for completing the 10.5 mile on Saturday and then 1 for a top 3 finish in my age category in each of the distances on Sunday.
Now I'm not gonna lie. I felt great when I woke up, but not as awesome as I swam. My lungs were sore from the activities the day before and it really just became an exercise of pushing through. I was more sore the rest of the day than I was the day before or in the morning. It was in fact enough swimming for one weekend. Advil is my friend.
I want to once again give a major thanks to Bridgette and her team.
If you have a donkey running the show people die. When you race in her events you are well looked after and taken care of. This year there were 6 Canadians at this event. Next year I hope the Canadians go down in droves. The drive is nice, the town is hoppin, and the swim is excellent.
So that is Chapter 2 in my US adventures as I chase the 2017-18 GSS title. 3 more races on the plate! If you want to help get me there go over to https://teespring.com/stores/swim-diesel and find something you like.
Until I touch the wall.....
Michael Kenny
Masters Swimmer
Cambridge Mavericks
Marathon Open Water Swimmer
2015-16 Global Swim Series Champion
Contact Info :
F : https://www.facebook.com/swim.diesel
I : https://www.instagram.com/swim.diesel
T : https://twitter.com/SwimDiesel
E : m.j.kenny@swim-diesel.com
+ : google.com/+Swim-diesel
B : 53724F20
The drive was less than 5 hours which made the whole weekend easier. I left work early so that I could make it in time for the "night before dinner". I missed the course boat tour but with the Great Bridgette Hobart-Janeczko running the show I had no worries. I knew I was in good hands. My accommodations for the weekend... a room on a boat!
2 floors down (2 floors!) was a bedroom and bathroom. I didn't even know I was on a boat while I slept.
The next morning was an early go. I got up at 5:30 to eat, stretch, and let my body do what it needed to. Rushing before a swim is usually not a good plan and doing it before a big swim is probably worse. As an added bonus - the river where this boat house sits is quite scenic in the morning.
Bridgette and her army were also at it early.
She had breakfast material for all the kayakers and crew. Many of them were students (and swimmers) from Nazareth College.
Once we got the kayakers launched we boated over to where we would eventually start "the big one".
Some of us took more preparation than others. Here we have Jia preparing for summer weather...in the fall.
Let us put the conditions to bed now. The water temperature was above 70F (21C) and the midday temperature was ~85F (30C).
Our journey?
5 1/4 miles (8.45 km) down and then the same distance back. A 10.5 mile day. As you can imagine I don't have more pictures of the event. I'm sure some will surface online from the boat crews. My plan was simple. Take my coach's advice from a previous swim which was to "feed" every 15 mins. I was glad I did this. My kayaker had 7 bottles of my rocket fuel on his kayak and he would toss one out to me at the interval. I never dehydrated and I felt good most of the way. 17 swimmers started - all without wetsuits - and 17 finished. That ladies and gentlemen is a successful 10.5 mile swim. Incredibly the top finisher actually had to deal with hypothermia. He was a strapping young fella without an inch of body fat which I think must have been the issue. That and he pushed really hard. One of the neat things about doing something like this is you meet like minded people and it's kind of like meeting distant relatives. There's just a sense of being in good company. Congrats to all who participated!
That evening we had another dinner together. It was a neat experience, you had the students sort of gaggling together talking first about their kayaking torture of the day and then all sorts of other things. Then you had all the swimmers trading swim war stories and "what's next". What was next for most was an early bed.
The next day was again an early start. The vibe was different as the stakes weren't quite as high. Sunday's adventures were the rest of the Swim Festival, the 2 mile, 1 mile, and 1/2 mile. I got to the park early enough to have a look around before the craziness began.
Now you would think that after having done 10.5 miles the day before that I would have had enough for the weekend. Well no. I had decided when I registered to put myself in the 1 mile (I thought) for the Sunday events. I was there anyways so why not have another kick at the can? You can imagine my surprise when I opened my bag and found this....
Well... the decision was made for me. I would be one of only two people to do ALL the events for the weekend.
It was a 1 mile course with a 1/2 mile buoy in the middle. I was quite familiar with it all by the time my day was done. As the water was shallow near the shore we had to start out at where that yellow buoy is. This also meant we had to have an on shore finish. Bridgette once again ran a tight ship making sure everything was safe and that everyone had a positive experience. Seriously - if you want to run an OWS for the 1st time - hire her! Or get her to show you the ropes. You know a shoddy race when you're at one and you know a well run race when you see it, even without bells and whistles and hype. Bridgette is the real deal.
For the finish I employed the "dolphin dive" to improve my time until it was too shallow.
After all was said and done I came away with 4 medals. 1 for completing the 10.5 mile on Saturday and then 1 for a top 3 finish in my age category in each of the distances on Sunday.
Now I'm not gonna lie. I felt great when I woke up, but not as awesome as I swam. My lungs were sore from the activities the day before and it really just became an exercise of pushing through. I was more sore the rest of the day than I was the day before or in the morning. It was in fact enough swimming for one weekend. Advil is my friend.
I want to once again give a major thanks to Bridgette and her team.
If you have a donkey running the show people die. When you race in her events you are well looked after and taken care of. This year there were 6 Canadians at this event. Next year I hope the Canadians go down in droves. The drive is nice, the town is hoppin, and the swim is excellent.
So that is Chapter 2 in my US adventures as I chase the 2017-18 GSS title. 3 more races on the plate! If you want to help get me there go over to https://teespring.com/stores/swim-diesel and find something you like.
Until I touch the wall.....
Michael Kenny
Masters Swimmer
Cambridge Mavericks
Marathon Open Water Swimmer
2015-16 Global Swim Series Champion
Contact Info :
F : https://www.facebook.com/swim.diesel
I : https://www.instagram.com/swim.diesel
T : https://twitter.com/SwimDiesel
E : m.j.kenny@swim-diesel.com
+ : google.com/+Swim-diesel
B : 53724F20