Yesterday I completed Dwight Crum Pier to Pier 2 mile ocean swim (Hermosa to Manhattan Beach piers in LA). 

This race represented a few firsts for me: 
first swim only race 
first swim without a wetsuit (I was talked into entering the no wetsuit division by friends) 
first race of any sort where I did not know if I could finish beforehand 
It was also my longest non stop swim (or race) by 2x and by far the roughest swim I've ever done. 

Race Prep: 
despite the two weeks off earlier this month, my swimming has been going very well. I've done a few >=3k workouts over the last two months and I had a PR in my test swim (500 pull) earlier this week-basically, I've never been this good. My OWS preparation has not been great-I've done three, but only one of them was longer than that 10 minutes (1 mile). I also didn't do a long swim without a wetsuit. 

Pre Race: 
It was cool, cloudy and windy when I got to Hermosa. I met up with my friends who were also swimming (three close friends and swim partners-all much better swimmers) and had coffee. I wasn't immediately concerned about the wind (mostly because I could not see the waves and whitecaps yet), but I was about the temperature. By the time I got the beach, I'd heard enough people say that the water temps were fine (68 degrees), but I could see that the ocean was pretty rough. I've probably been to the beach with waves like that in the past, but I've certainly never swam in them. Once again, I started worrying that I wouldn't be able to do it. After we were all checked in, we briefly went into the water to get over the shock. It turns out the temperature was very comfortable.

Entry: 
This was a large swim-about 1k people divided into two heats-near naked men first and then women and those wearing wetsuits 5 minutes later. That means there were approximately 500 people starting with me. It wasn't the zoo that a tri start normally is, possibly because I wasn't as concerned with how fast I was moving so was fine drifting to the side and back, and I didn't get hit at all during the entry. Anyway, my entry was ok at best. I haven't done enough entries yet this year to be fully on my game, so I was getting hit by a lot of the shallow waves when I should have been dolphining and grabbing sand. After actually starting to swim, it felt like it took 15 minutes to get past the breaks, past the pier and heading north. I doubt it was that long, but it was pretty tough. 

First third: 
I wasn't wearing a watch and there are no distances markers in the ocean, so my concept of progress is all mental. It took me at least a third of the race to become comfortable. That means that my head wasn't fully down and therefore my form sucked (and therefore I was much slower). At some point early on I was passed (smoked) by the fastest women and guys with wetsuits from the second heat. The upside of this is that there probably won't be too many times in my life when I have several super fit women literally climbing on me. 

Second third: 
I started to get more comfortable and was able to get into my groove. At this point, there was no question as to whether or not I'd finish, it was just how long I'd be able to keep up the increased pace. Somewhere in here I could start to feel my armpits chafing. 

Last third: 
At this point I really started to feel good. I picked up my pace again and I found myself passing quite a few people. Sighting on the last pier was an exercise in patience. It seemed to appear to be 10 minutes away for about 20 minutes. Also, at this point, my armpits were in quite a bit of pain-it didn't effect my swimming but I knew it'd be bad later. Rounding the last turn was pretty cool-it was right below the pier and could hear many people cheering and ringing cowbells from it. It also got pretty crowded at this point-I was finally punched-pretty hard on the top of my head. 

Exit: 
The exit wasn't nearly as bad as I expected given the entry-this must have calmed down quite a bit. I was clobbered by one wave that I failed to see coming, but was able to see the others, but nothing was good enough to ride in. 

Overall: 
This was a great swim and a huge confidence boost. The entire race was rough-I felt like I was dropping 5 feet every breath, but once I got comfortable it wasn't much of an issue. I did take in quite a bit of water-basically every time I sighted (though the race was so packed and there were so many accompanying paddle boarders that sighting wasn't so important). I expected to need to take a break or two, but I didn't stop at all.  I did learn about the need to use body glide or whatever is best for chafing in the water-after the race I was walking around with my hands over my head because of chafing. 
My placement wasn't great, but no worse than I expected-longish swim races tend to be self selecting-mostly swimmers (as compared to a triathlon, where my swim ranking will be in the top half). I ended up finishing much closer to my friends than I (or they) expected, though I don't think they were taking it too seriously. I also know I can do much better-I have the confidence of having completed this knowing I could have kept up my 'fast' pace for longer. Also, finishing a rough water swim with no wetsuit makes me feel like I can handle any swim, though I'm sure I'll be in for a reality check at some point. 

I had a TON of fun and will definitely keep doing swim only races-I've already mapped out a few more for this summer, including a 2.4 mile swim @ Venice Beach on August 21. I may even do that without a wetsuit.