A little over a week after completing my first one-mile ocean swim in Barnegat Light, I entered another race in Long Branch, New Jersey. I finished in 37 minutes and 48 seconds, more than six minutes slower than my 31:33 at Barnegat Light. At first glance, that looks like a major drop-off. But after comparing the two races and then swimming a much faster mile in the pool, it became clear that open-water times do not tell the whole story.

A Much More Crowded Start

The Long Branch race had a mass start with more than 200 swimmers, which I found difficult to manage. Once I entered the water, I wanted to move past slower swimmers, but there were so many people in front of me that I often had to wait for space to open up. It felt as if I constantly had someone bumping into me, and whenever I tried to settle into a rhythm, I would eventually find myself swimming into the back of someone else. The beginning was frustrating, and at times swimming in the ocean felt less like a race and more like being stuck in rush hour traffic.

The experience made me appreciate the staggered start used at the Barnegat Light race, which gave swimmers much more room to settle in. The field eventually spread out at Long Branch, but the early congestion was far more chaotic than I expected. It was difficult to swim efficiently, and I suspect those first several minutes contributed to my slower overall time.

Better Sighting, But More Work

Sighting was one area where I felt better than during my first ocean swim. I used an anti-fog spray on my goggles before the race, and while they still clouded up, the problem was nowhere near as bad as it had been the first time. I may still need to look into a different pair of goggles if I want even better visibility.

Even with the improvement, I was never able to settle into the same rhythm I would have in a pool, and navigating the course remained a challenge. At one point, I noticed a group of swimmers beginning to drift off course before lifeguards directed them back. It was a good reminder that simply following the person in front of you is not always the best strategy in open water.

What My Pool Time Told Me

The biggest clue about interpreting my race results came when I returned to the pool the following week. I swam a mile in a 25-meter pool in 30 minutes and 7 seconds, and my actual swimming time was likely slightly under 30 minutes after accounting for the delay in starting and stopping my watch. That made me look at the 37:48 from Long Branch very differently.

My fitness level had not suddenly declined by several minutes. The ocean simply added variables that do not exist in a pool: waves, currents, navigation, contact with other swimmers, and potentially swimming farther than the official race distance. It also made me reconsider my 31:33 at Barnegat Light. I swam well there, but favorable water currents may have helped more than I realized.

The Lesson From Race Number Two

After two one-mile ocean races, I am becoming less interested in comparing finishing times directly. Two races over the same advertised distance can require very different efforts depending on the conditions. I felt significantly more exhausted after the Long Branch race than I did after the Barnegat Light race, even though my time was more than six minutes slower.

For future races, one thing I want to improve is my positioning at the start. If I can get into a better spot early and avoid feeling boxed in behind large groups of swimmers, I should have a better chance of settling into my own pace sooner. Better sighting, straighter navigation, and becoming more comfortable swimming around other people should also help me transfer more of my pool speed into the open water. Long Branch was six minutes slower on the clock, but it taught me more about open-water swimming than a faster time would have.