Lake Sonoma is located in the tiny town of Cloverdale which is north of Santa Rosa.  The ride is 110 miles from my home. 

I drove up to the venue with Eileen Swanson my training partner and the person who is currently training me for Ironman Hawaii.  Eileen and I have a great rivalry going this year.  We have swum in 4 open water events this year and she has beat me twice and I have come in ahead of her twice.  Eileen is a professional triathlete and a fierce competitor.  Every race we have done, we have swim times within a minute of each other. 

Today was no different.  our times were only 40 seconds apart, with Eileen getting the win.  It has been so fun to swim against each other, it motivates us both.

The race today was really crowded for some reason.  Our wave had 50 people.  I was up front between 2 women who i have seen in other races and knew to be really fast.  I figured that if I could stay with them at the onset, I would have a good chance of drafting them the entire race.

When we finally got going, it was brutal.  These 2 women were trying to get in front and I was sandwiched between them. The one on my right kept trying to move to her left and the one on the left kept trying to move right.  After the first 200 yards I ended up slowing down to let them in front.  There was another swimmer right behind us and he practically swam over the top of me.

I finally got into a rhythm, the lead group was not to far ahead, I then noticed that Eileen was right beside me.  I had a swimmer right on my feet.  This swimmer was taking advantage of my draft.  The probelm was that this swimmer kept hitting my feet and lower leg every stroke.  I tried to speed up, kick hard and swim away, but could not shake this annoying swimmer.  So I decided to swim wide of the next buoy.  This would add some distance, but hopefully would get rid of this swimmer.  It worked and the swimmer latched onto Eileen.  We hit the next bouy with Eileen in front, this swimmer next and then me.  I was still feeling the effects of a cold from the past week

Donner lake swim from east end of lake to the west end.  2.7 miles. 

I did this race last year and found it to be challenging not only because of the distance but also because of the navigation.  Most open water swims that i have done have buoy markers at set intervals to site off of, this event is just a straight swim from end to end and navigation is all up to you!

The start line is the east edge of the lake. 350 swimmers were spread out along the shore for about 100 yards.  I lined up with Rob Cuenin about 15 yards from the left end of the start area.  I had noticed one swimmer who has consistently beat me during all the open water swims by anywhere from 1 to 2 minutes.  I lined up close to him hoping to stay within reach/site for the swim with the hopes of finally beating him.  With 3 minutes to go I had adjusted my googles, kissed Paula goodbye and was ready to go.  I looked around to see my marked man and he was gone.  He had moved and I didn't know in which direction.  Too late to figure it out, so I keyed on going out hard (as usual) hoping that he would be in a group I could hookup with for the swim across or in a faster group.

When the horn went off, it was into the cool lake waters (66 degrees).  It felt like bath water compared to last weeks swims in Santa Cruz.  I stroked out into the lake with no one able to keep my pace in my area.  I noticed off to my left a large group of swimmers who were moving at my pace and even faster, so I angled myself over towards them.  Another 400 yards later I hooked up into a group of about 10, but a smaller group of 5-6 were just ahead about 15 yards.  That was the group I wanted to be in. I knew it, but couldn't bridge the gap. 

After a hard effort of about 3 minutes, I had separated myself from the group of 10, but 2 other swimmers had come with me.  We started to work together and in my mind hoped that we were swimming hard and fast enough to catch that next group.  I could see them ahead of us, but we weren't making up and distance.  About halfway down the lake I decided to try and make a break from my group to see if I could catch the next group.  I put in another really hard effort, passing my 2 companions and made up about 15 yards which was about halfway.  I couldn't make up the rest of the distance and went back to my pace,  Soon thereafter my 2 companions came back to me and I latched back onto the their draft.  I hoped to rest for awhile and then make another attempt to catch that group in front of us again.

With about 1/2 mile to go, I made another attempt.  this time as I swam past my 2 companions, they just latched onto me and I pulled them forward for about 200 yards.  I ran out of gas and they guy in front of me touched my toes a couple of times and then he swam around me.  I got back onto the the back of this group, but was pretty spent.  It was like being on a yo-yo.  I would fall off their pace and then sprint to catch up.  this happened 3 or 4 times and finally I couldn't catch back on and they swam ahead.

I could see the finish line, maybe 500 yards away and suddenly another swimmer i recognized from other swims was right next to me.  I knew him becuase he has a full body speedo speed suit in blue.  It is old school and very recognizable.  We swam together until about 200 yards from shore.  I sprinted ahead to try and gap him for the finsih, but this time he was really strong and came right back and sprinted to shore and up the beach to the finish.  He beat me by 4 seconds.

My nemisis beat me by 1 minute 38 seconds and the 2 other guys i had swam with for most of the swim ended up about 30 seconds ahead.

My time was 1:03:57, which was over 12 minutes fast than last year.  it was a great time, can't wait for next year!

Our 2nd trip down to Santa Cruz this weekend for another swim.  We picked up Eileen Swanson, my coach and fellow competitor for this swim.  We drove down early in the morning for an 8:30 am start.  it only takes 1:10 to get to Santa Cruz, why we don't go down more often, I don't know.

The weather was the same as Saturday, overcast and air temp. around 60.  The water was flat, no waves and 56-57 degrees.

This is a much more mellow event with only about 100 swimmers. All shapes and sizes with swimmers in wetsuits and many(most) without.

The course is different in that we start on the south side of the pier, swim parallel with the pier for 200 yards and then take a left and head towards Aptos.  the 2nd leg is really long to the next buoys but is well marked. I swam out from shore with 3 other swimmers and we immediately gapped the rest of the group by 25 yards.  The front swimmer who ended up beating everyone by over 2 minutes, just took off. The 2nd place guy was just a little ahead of me and then it was me and another guy swimming side by side.

After the first turn, my googles fogged up real bad.  I had had to switch Goggles right before the start because my usual pair were leaking.  I had finally worn them out.  Anyway. I had to stop briefly and clear the goggles so I could see.  I lost my companion swimmer, but could see him only 10-15 yards ahead.   I had to stop a 2nd time to fix the goggles and now a group of 3 swimmers caught up to me.  Good, at least we could swim together and maybe work together to catch the guy in front.   That didn't work because the lead swimmer was taking them to far out from the turn buoy.  They were swimming fast than me, but their course would add more distance.  I was right too.  As we approached the next turn buoy they were a least 100 yards to far west, i kept swimming my straighter line and we hit the turn buoy together.  We headed towards the next buoy all together and I switch off swimming behind one or two of the swimmers. 

Next buoy turn and now we head towards the finish.  I was able to line up the buoys pretty well and the group moved off to my left. I thought they were going to add more distance again so i held my line and kept going.

With about 500 yards to go we all converged, The 3 in the wayward group and 1 other swimmer who had come up on us over the last 1/2 mile after the turn.  As we approached the last turn buoy, one of the swimmers in the wayward group, really pulled hard and tried to separate himself from our group of 5.  I latched onto his feet and someone got behind me.  The other 2 must have dug hard also, because once we hit the last turn buoy with only 200 yards to go, we were all together.  Now it was a sprint to the finish.  Unbelievable that after 2 miles in open water there were 5 of us sprinting for the finish. The front swimmer gapped us by a second or two and 1 other seemed to fall off the pace alittle.  So it was me and 2 others trying to catch the first guy.

We hit the beach, stand up and the front guy is only 5 yards ahead, then me and woman and another guy.  I stumbled just a little but did not fall but that was enough to place me 7th overall, with 4-7 places separated by 2 seconds.

This is the Pacific Masters Open Water Swim Championships in Santa Cruz.  the distance is 1 mile.

The start is on the South side of the municipal wharf and you swim out and around the wharf and finish in front of the Santa Cruz Hotel (Dream Inn).

The event drew all the open water enthusiasts from as far away as Reno.  The event organizer had to delay the start because so many people showed up to register on race morning.  The said that over 400 people were there.

The separated us into 3 waves.  Under 39 - wave 1, 40 and over wave 2, under 18 wave 3.  they sent us off 5 minutes apart.

Water temperature was 56 degree and the overcast was just starting to breakup as they lined us up to swim.

I lined up at the front in next to some swimmers i recognized as being the fastest from other races earlier in the year.  When the airhorn went off, we ran down the beach into the surf about 50 yards and waded, jumped and crawled until we could start swimming.  I went out really fast, which is what i always do and got behind another swimmer who I knew would have a fast time.  That lasted about 1 minute as he pulled away with every stroke, soon another swimmer came by and I tried to hook onto his feet to get another draft.  Again only about a minute, but I was now almost to the end of the pier.

When I turned the corner to head towards the beach again, there were quite a few swimmers around me.  I kept my head down and stroked as hard as I could.  I kept pace with this group fairly well but a few swimmers to my right and left just swam past us as we made out way towards the finish.

With about 200 yards to the finish, a swimmer came by me and i jumped behind to catch his draft.  I passed in in the last 50 yards, hit the sand with only a 20 yard dash across the sand to the finish shut. I had tucked my race number in my swim cap because i didn't want to pin it to my suit. When I peeled off the cap, it flew out and into the small waves breaking on the beach,  It took me about 10 seconds to to retrieve it but the guy i had sprinted past plus 3 or 4 others ran up the beach and finish before me.

Still my time ended up at 19:59!  My goal was to have swum in the 22 minute range, so i was happy with the result.  I ended up 4th in my age group and 37 overall.