The Long And Short Of A First-time 10K Swim
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Merle Liivand has been a competitive pool swimmer, training in pools all her life. The personable CEO of SWIMERA is a elite breaststroker focused on breakouts, technique, pool drills, and pacing as a specialist in 100-200 meter races at the World Youth Championships, the European Olympic Festival and the FINA World Cup Series.
But Liivand splits her work time between Estonia and Florida, she gradually became drawn to the open water.
“It was my 24th birthday weekend and I decided to swim my first 10 km,” she explains at the end of her 2 hour 31 minute Swim Miami marathon where she placed 20th out of the 63 finishers. “I wanted to do something different. It was rough. I lost my bottle holders and lost so much time for looking around for them. After 3 miles, I finally got to my drink and food.
I learned so much about swimming the 10 km and definitely feel I want to do it again. I just need to work on the details. But I am happy that I did it.”
Copyright © 2015 by World Open Water Swimming Association
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.
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