Yesterday morning’s ocean swim was crowded! Okay, well not crowded, but Uncle Dan and I were joined by Natalie and Marc, two open water friends. We swam south in some pretty wavy water, and then came back into the chop, and WAY outside! The water was nice and balmy…hoping it holds for my 5-hour swim on Friday.
Some interesting links to recent environmental developments. Enjoy!
First town to ban the sale of plastic bottles! http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/concord-mass-votes-to-ban-sale-of-bottled-water/19465741
Guerrilla urban activist effort to reduce the purchasing, consumption, and inevitable discard of plastic containers: http://guardiansofthepacific.org/
Schwarzenegger pulls support for offshore drilling project! http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/03/MN1Q1D8SRP.DTL
My mom and I went to Cliff Drive this morning at 6am to do a repeat of yesterday’s swim. The back-to-back 3 hour swim weekend proved to be much more tiring than I had remembered! I started off stiff and sore from yesterday, but after about an hour felt warm and loose and began to pick the pace up. My goal was to get in more mileage than yesterday, which I barely did, but despite the quicker last half, the average pace was a bit slower than the last one. Still a great swim and I was happy to finish strong.
Tomorrow is my day off and I cannot wait to sleep in! Then back to the pool, the Vasa trainer with Marlena, a couple of short swims with friends, and a big weekend (5 hours + 2 hours).
Today’s 3 hour swim alongside my mom in the kayak was incredible. The water is finally warm enough to do the amount on my schedule, and seems to be trending upward, so that’s good news. The sun was trying to break through the clouds all day, making the water flat and glassy. Perfect conditions to spot dolphins, which swam right by us! My mom stopped me as four approached the kayak, popped up for air, and continued on their way, just checking us weirdos out. I have never been that close to dolphins in the ocean (while knowing it) and it was so incredible!
Unfortunately, I did not press start on my GPS this morning when Uncle Dan and I set of for a southerly swim from Laguna Main. It was a beautiful glassy day, and about one degree warmer, so I’m hopeful we are seeing an upward trend and are leaving the unbearably cold behind! My dad, who went for a run while we swam, said there were dolphins with us as we came in to shore. When we got out, we saw them just yards from where we had just been swimming. How cool! So for my 3-hour swim with my mom in the kayak tomorrow, we are bringing the water resistant camera in hopes of snapping our own dolphin shot. More to come…
This morning Uncle Dan and I started out at Laguna main beach for what seemed to be a beautifully smooth swim with great conditions. We noticed some fog offshore but outside enough that we did not think much of it. As we swam south, the fog chased us and soon enough had reeled us in. When we turned around it was pretty foggy, and as we swam back to the buoy we became completely surrounded by a thick fog, to the point where all we could see was the sun and an outline of the shore. It was pretty spooky out there, but we knew we could see the bottom and knew which direction the shore was. After 2 miles of hugging the coast we decided to head in for safer ground. Quite the adventure!
This morning, Uncle Dan and I got in a quick hour and a half swim at Laguna main beach, just in time so I could see my dad and cousin finish the OC Marathon. This was my dad’s 19th marathon and he qualified for Boston and finished fourth in his division. My cousin, Devyn completed her first-ever marathon. It was quite an inspiration to watch and makes me think about adventured beyond the ocean…in the future :)
As for today’s swim, it was also intended to be a 2-hour swim, but the temperature got the better of us and we cut it short after suffering for an hour and a half. Even though our pace was relatively swift, much faster than I was going yesterday, the GPS output for pace is much slower, a reflection of the rough conditions we faced. More than what I’m likely to face in Manhattan, but great mental toughness training nonetheless.
On the calendar today was a 4-hour swim, but after the recent drop in water temperature, I knew I was going to have to adjust my training schedule. I swam the 2-hour Nova kid’s Saturday morning workout (6600 yds) and then drove straight to Cliff Drive, where my mom kayaked and I swam for an hour and a half. I had intended to stay in for 2 hours, but the water was even too cold for that! It averaged about 55 degrees, but there were definitely some spots where the water was in the low 50s - breathtaking! Other than the temperature, we had great conditions - bright and sunny because we started so late, and surprisingly very little wind, with the first 30 minutes glassy. Beautiful!
Today’s Laguna swim with Uncle Dan was cold and fast. Although we were all over the place in terms of our line, we held a consistently fast pace and felt pretty good, considering the recent drop in temperature. I was a bit sore from the recent incorporation of a new training device, the Vasa Trainer. After Ken’s morning workout on Monday, Marlena and I worked out on it in the pit, and plan to do so after most workouts because we liked it so much. It’s highly swim-specific, a great workout, and we were also practicing our focusing and refocusing skills. Great tool, and I look forward to using it again tomorrow morning.
After not being in the water for the past two days due to helping host CSUF’s sport psychology conference, I had been anticipating today’s swim for quite some time. It was supposed to be a three hour swim, but the water temperature dropped to 55-56 degrees and I could only last just shy of 2.5 hours. A slight disappointment, but I need to work on being confident in staying in that cold of water for that long a period of time. It took the entire drive from CDM to Fullerton with the heater blasting to re-warm, and even when I got there my core was chilled. Uncle Dan accompanied me for the first hour, and Cindy Walsh hopped in for the last hour and a half. We were also accompanied by a cute sea lion who enjoyed my draft for at least 10 minutes, before curiously swimming under me and making eye contact with this strange, super slow creature splashing on the surface (so weird but cool!). Great conditions, aside from the temperature. Tomorrow will be a double pool, then back in the open water!
