Ödyssey Swimrun Austin Race Report

Welcome to episode forty-five of the Low Tide Boyz - A Swimrun Podcast!

We’ve got a special episode this week. We just finished racing Ödyssey Swimrun Austin on Sunday, November 8th and we’ll be sharing our race report from our weekend in Texas. We were super stoked to be able to race and hope that you enjoy our thoughts on how that whole thing went. (Spoiler alert: Stoke level is still super high!)

Initial Thoughts

It was a stressful week with the election, COVID, travel, and a race on the horizon. We felt better once we got to Texas and we were really happy with our performance on race day. Sure, we could have trained harder…but we probably would be saying that regardless of how hard we trained. Regardless of our level of fitness, we managed to put together a strong performance and that only a small part of what was an amazing weekend.

Getting to Texas/Pre-race Meeting

Getting to Pace Bend Park from AUS was pretty easy (Chipper picked Chris up from the airport on Saturday afternoon) and we managed to show up only slightly late to the mandatory pre-race meeting.

Shout outs to folks that we connected with this weekend: (We’re really sorry if we missed anyone)

Drew and Michael

Brooke and Samantha

Adrian

Trevor AKA The Copper Paladin

Trista and Amy (Who brought us a giant donut from Round Rock Donuts)

Mel

Jenny

Bob

Rick (from Florida)

Chase

Chris

Matt

Melissa

Gemma

Kristen (RD at Swimrun Lake James in April 2021)

Lee Green LIKE THE COLOR (Chris’s new bestie)

The entire Odyssey team!

It was also great to see previous guests of the show as well:

Bronwen and Greg AKA The Boston Wet Sox

Andy Hewitt

Blake and Beek AKA Team Envol Baywatch

Sean and Phillip AKA The Swimrun Monks

Marcus Barton

John Stevens (he had a cameo on Gear Talk. Future full episode with John coming soon!)

Lars Finanger, Race Director for Ödyssey

It was really great to see everyone and we really appreciated all the kind words from folks saying that they listened to the podcast and found it helpful in their race prep.

That night we put into practice a lot of the advice that we had learned from previous guests of the show and made our plans for the race. The main things that we wanted to put into practice on race day were: having a detailed plan for nutrition, hydration, and when to cab down (Team Precision Hydration UK and The Boston Wet Sox); focusing on technique especially fast transitions in and out of the water and at energy station (Andy Hewitt and Nicolas Remires); stay mentally engaged in the race and problem solve quickly (Mario Fraioli, Johan Carlsson, and Oscar Olsson); and Swim straight (Megan Melgaard and Jim Lubinski).

Race Day: Leg by leg (Play by play)

The weather on race morning looked pretty great but we were worried about it getting hot during the race. Ödyssey did a great job with their COVID precautions and the race started on time with a time-trial start where teams started 5 seconds apart.

Run 1 - 2.11 miles: The start was pretty straight forward and, frankly, it was nice to finally get to race again!

Swim 1 - 663 yards: The swim felt a bit short. There was no significant current in the water and the water temp was very pleasant.

Run 2 - 1.28 miles: This run was pretty straight forward. The classic Texas trails (rocky, rooted, etc.) made their appearance.

Swim 2 - 1,166 yards: This swim was pretty straight forward and sighting was not a problem at all.

Run 3 - 2.12 miles: This run was getting into the meat of the course and we started pushing on the runs a bit more. We made the decision to keep the tether attached the whole time. It was a new experience for us to race that way and we both felt that it was major benefit to not have to worry about putting it away and then attaching it again before a swim saved a lot of mental energy.

Swim 3 - 1,145 yards: The swim entrance was at the end of a steep boat ramp. This swim was against the water current, but it wasn’t really noticeable. It was cool to swim next to the limestone cliffs.

Run 4 - 3.33 miles: This was the longest run of the day. We got to see a bunch of our friends on the out and back portion. We had planned for Chipper to cab down as soon as we got done with Swim 3 and that happened smoothly.

Swim 4 - 536 yards: This short swim started at the end of another steep boat ramp and Chris led the entire swim like a big boy. The swim exit was the most technical water exist.

Run 5 - .56 miles: This short run led to the cliff jump section of the course. We ended up not doing the cliff jump because we were moving so well and wanted to save time by not having to swim another 300 yards or so.

Swim 5 - 955 yards: This swim also felt short and we started mingling with the short course athletes.

Run 6 - 2.49 miles: This run was the most technical of the day and we were moving well. So well that Chris missed a turn and did a bonus cruise by the finish line (we probably lost a few minutes but not much more than that) before we got back on course. The entrance to that swim was down a bunch of stairs to a boat ramp to jump in the water.

Swim 6 - 1,582 yards: We definitely felt the water current on this swim and we were moving pretty well. Chris was supposed to take over leading after Chipper started the swim but he was doing so well (and Chris was staring at the cliffs) that he closed it out.

Run 7 - 1.15 miles: The last run was uneventful until Chipper tripped on a poll (that a volunteer warned us about). Like a graceful cat he did a roll and got right back up. He managed to mask his embarrassment and we finished the race. We got a nice shout out from Lars’s dad on the mic.

Our finishing stats: we finished in 3:30. (9th place Men’s team and 14th overall out of 65 long course teams)

We felt like this was our best race performance. We put into practice everything that we had been learning throughout the year. Chipper gave our performance 4.5 pull buoys.

Post-race

Ödyssey had masks at the finish line for people to don. The finisher sweatshirts were super high quality and the food was great.

It was really great to hang out at the finish line and see a lot of our friends and folks in our Strava Club cross the finish line. It was great to see Lars and the Ödyssey Swimrun crew so stoked with how the event ended up. Given that three of their races got cancelled this year, we were so happy that they got to close out the year with a success.

Overall impressions of the event

We would definitely recommend this race to everyone who’s curious about Swimrun and experienced Swimrunners alike. The race was a lot of fun! Logistically, it was super easy to get to the park and there was good food all around.

Final Thoughts

Huge shout out again to Lars and the Ödyssey crew for putting this event together during COVID. It was not without risk to try to put on this event in the age of COVID and they did an awesome job!

To be able to race and forget about everything that was going on in the world for a little while at least was like a salve to the soul. We look forward to going back in 2021 to race the event again.

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.