The Tale of P2P… And Everything Else I’ve Done Since August 20th
[2020 Commentary – Where did I go from 8/20 until now? Well, it turns out that I have trouble with the balance between getting things done and blogging about getting things done. I have proof (see list below) that I was not at all Channel-sitting-on-my-ass. Quite the contrary.
Unfortunately, I did not make any notes about P2P at the time, so this is what I remember now.]
Just a few things stand out about this race:
- Thanks a million to Lisa for giving me her free entry.
- Paul is awesome – he knows everyone and is a great guy to swim with.
- It was so nice to get the family to the beach again. And funny enough for me to post on FB that you know you’ve left your husband in charge when you climb out of the ocean at 11 AM to find that your children have not been fed and are playing in the ocean with their clothes on.
- Great suggestion (by Lisa, as I recall) and agreement (by Paul) to swim before the swim. We drove up early and Paul and I hopped in and swim from Johnny Mercer Pier to Crystal Pier and back (can’t remember if we went all the way to Crystal). Coming back was INSANE. Battling wind and waves that were good training but killed my arms.
- I was pretty tired for the race itself. I got there tired and then put myself through a washing machine for an hour (well, half an hour where the washing machine was hurting, not helping), and then sat around waiting for the race to start while my muscles tightened up. At that point, 1.7 miles with the wind and current felt pretty long. Looking at the times, I wondered what I could have done fresh, but of course, that wasn’t the point of the day.
- Had a great time, met great people, had fun with the family!
Things I have done (Late August/Early September):
- Had a good swim week
- Taken a 3 day weekend
- Gotten permission to swim with Wave again
- Taken an unintentional break due to Hurricane Dorian
- Come back to it hard core
- Ordered baby food pouches
- Gotten through a mass of email and to-dos surrounding having been at Yellowstone and the start of school
- Made connections! Lisa, Jennifer, Liz, Paul. They are going to teach me to swim at Wrightsville. Lisa gave me free entry to P2P and recommended a stinger suit. We were going to go train together, but hurricane. Liz and I are going to do a long practice together at TAC.
- Signed up for Charleston!
- Signed up for a paddler
- Bought a suit (harder than it seems to figure out what I want to swim 12 miles in – I cut off the tag, but I’m pretty sure it’s a Speedo Aquablade)
- Read Loretta Cox’s husband’s book (9/16)
- Swam my butt off
- Watched Tara Diversi’s webinar and became depressed about the difficulties of nutrition [2020 Commentary – totally rallied, thanks to Tara and Christie]
- Swam P2P and before P2P. Learned my GPS wasn’t working (9/14/19)
- Bought a swim buoy and appropriate (I hope) sunscreen
- Made hotel reservation for Charleston
- You can assume a bunch of swim workouts here. “Doubles” on masters days (an hour with Enrique)
- Learned I liked mango/sweet potato/pineapple baby food (P2P) and NOT ones with spinach or kale. Why do they feed gross tasting things to babies? I like spinach and kale – don’t make them taste gross.
- Friended Lynne Cox and John Dolittle
- I like banana/sweetpotato/passionfruit/millet/greek yogurt. No burping.
- Riding after a 1000 yard kick set sucks butt.
Notes from Loretta Cox’s (husband’s) book “Channel Swimming Manual”
- Consider having an Epi Pen on board in case of a reaction to jelly fish stings.
- And while I’m on the subject – remember to bring my passport on the boat.
- Flashlights with red filters for night
- Food options to try:
- Semolina (p. 150)
- Chai seeds? They mean chia, right?
- Ginger for seasickness (p. 154)
- No microwave on the boat [2020 Commentary – Yes microwave on boat per pilot]
- What to do about my period?
