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Taper!!!!

I would say that this is the most I’ve ever needed to taper, but I think if I went back in time, I’d find that I arrive at most tapers completely physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. And then taper comes and I get irritable, moody and feel even worse 🙂 But THEN I get energy back, feel better and start to think that whatever I’ve been training for isn’t such a bad idea after all 🙂

The idea that days could be coming soon when NOTHING is sore is very attractive to me. And resting. And not facing the ocean when I’m already feeling wiped out. In case it isn’t clear, I LOVE taper.

As far as the swim itself, I’ve now done what I can. I’m comforted by the notion that, in a lot of ways, I was born for this. I handle cold well. I handle alone-ness well. Endurance is (to a ridiculous degree) the name of my game. And I’ve had the good fortune to be surrounded by people who have helped me give everything I have toward achieving this goal. From the bottom of my heart, thanks everyone.

Taper TL;DR

I think a symptom of my taper is to want to record here every detail of how I’m feeling and what I’m thinking. I’ll mostly spare you, but I will say that I meant to write this post yesterday, and instead I slept. Hard. And long. And it was totally awesome. I felt a bit guilty about not doing things I had meant to do, but that was totally subsumed in the awesomeness of the unconsciousness. I felt so much better afterward. I’m tired again today – gonna post this quick and see if I can get a nap in before my swim 🙂

OK, taper stream-of-consciousness ended. For now.

Discovering England

In my quest to better understand my (briefly) adopted country, it mystifies me that it never occurred to me to go to a book. (That being my strategy for, basically, everything). I think there is certainly something to be said for direct, first-person observation, so maybe I was subconsciously attempting not to taint my observations.

But reading the Goodreads reviews for two books about the English persuasion (Kate Fox’s “Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behavior” and Bill Bryson’s “Notes From a Small Island”) has possibly been as illuminating, or more so, than reading the books themselves. Though I may do that too.

As I have tried to keep in mind for myself as well, it’s always dangerous to extrapolate too widely from your own experience. But at the same time, we have stereotypes for a reason, and if nothing else, I learned that I never should have answered, “How are you finding the rotten English weather?” with, “I’m actually loving it!” (It really did mystify me that people in this area did not seem to realize they were living in a microclimate that is actually pretty great and not that rainy. Little did I know that I was unintentionally failing to participate in the “complaining about the weather” ritual 🙂

Stereotyping is at the root of many ills… but we humans are odd creatures, and sometimes we are odd in ways that depend on the groups we are in. People are more polite here (and their dogs doubly so). And the myriad differences and similarities between people are just, funny (hence Bill Bryson). I hope therefore that everyone takes my entertainment in observing both countries with the good humor that it is meant.

And I never should have implied that I was a fast swimmer at that one Durley Swims dinner. I’ve felt terrible about it ever since, even before I read the book reviews 🙂

The Abiding Loveliness of England – Bill Bryson

And speaking of Bill Bryson, my library didn’t have the eBook of “Notes from a Small Island,” but it did have “The Road to Little Dribbling.” Bill has really captured what I love about the bones of this country:

“In terms of natural wonders, you know, Britain is a pretty unspectacular place. It has no alpine peaks or broad rift valleys, no mighty gorges or thundering cataracts. It is built to really quite a modest scale. And yet with a few unassuming natural endowments, a great deal of time, and an unfailing instinct for improvement, the makers of Britain created the most superlatively park-like landscapes, the most orderly cities, the handsomest provincial towns, the jauntiest seaside resorts, the stateliest homes, the most dreamily-spired, cathedral-rich, castle-strewn, abbey-bedecked, folly-scattered, green-wooded, winding-laned, sheep-dotted, plumply-hedgerowed, well-tended, sublimely decorated 88,386 square miles the world has ever known – almost none of it undertaken with aesthetics in mind, but all of it adding up to something that is, quite often, perfect.“

OW Videos

Tuesday 21 June – no video. no energy 🙂

Channel Prep

Meeting w/Ali Tuesday

Paying Paul

Follow-up from meeting: Ordering more lights, feed schedule (and figuring out how to print and laminate – oh to be home for a second), getting more apple juice, need to find cakes I’d be happy to eat a pill in (ooo – try on vitamins), wear my light on my long swim this weekend to see if there’s chafing, pack the stuff we talked about, make lists, etc. (This took a LOOOOONG time). Oh, getting crew passport info for “Border Force” form. And wait, there’s more!

Not only do you need to make these lists, you need to obtain, and ideally try out, all of the products you plan to use. I wish I could present this as a linear process for future channel aspirants, but alas, I fear that it is by nature somewhat chaotic. Everything depends on everything else, and you just have to wade your way through it.

The [Time Period] in the Water (Tuesday 6/21 – Sunday 6/26)

Summary

Pool Yardage ~ 19,400 M 

OW Yardage ~ 28,600 M

Total Yardage ~ 48,000 M

OTHER:

 miles of running – 8.2

 miles of walking (plus, you know, a lot more) – usual

 miles riding – 10.6

The last week before taper. It was surprisingly nice to get back to my normal training routine. By the end of the week I was t-a-n-k-e-d.

The Gory Details

Tue Jun 21 (~6000 M) 2 h; .75 run; 2 mi bike; 3000 M OW – 1 h 5 min

Masters (4400 M) 1 h 15 (got in late – beryl bike)

• 400 mix of fr/bk/br – get shoulder going
• 150 attempting Florian Wellbrock. Don’t think he would have recognized himself 🙂
• 6×100 25 k / 75 s – fins – 1:30
• 12×25 kick/swim – fins – :30
• 3×500 w/fins and paddles on :20 rest (and/or the time it takes to try to get your goggles adjusted correctly)
• 3×300 (I did one in 4:30, one moderate pace 50bk/50fr, one in 4:30)
• 6×100 on 1:30 (shoulder was aching a bit again, so I put on fins and did fr/bk on 1:35 – felt good

Lap Swim (1600 M) 30 m

• Just swam – 75 fr/25 bk

I didn’t know how I’d feel today – it’s easy to feel great on rest days 🙂 My left shoulder did a lot of popping when I got in, and I felt a bit slodgy, but mostly OK. I felt pretty slow during lap swim, but I couldn’t tell if I was actually slower or if others were faster. This is why I like the pace clock 🙂

OW Swim

• 4:55-6 PM
• 3000 M
• Hot outside (forgot to look at temp)
• 17 degree water
• A pretty strong current, with some wind over waves at the end, but mostly easy conditions
• Temp before 36.6
• Temp after 35.0 (Didn’t wear my parka)

My goal was to make this swim feel easy and see how long it took me to do my 5 laps. It ended up being about an hour and five minutes. This is actually pretty comforting – If I add 5 minutes each hour for 10 hours, that’s less than another hour. (I’m not saying I can do that time, but just for example.) My slow swimming is not crazy slower than my fast swimming (“fast” swimming), and that’s encouraging.

Wed Jun 22 (~4300 M) 2 h; 2.3 mi run

Masters (~2300) 1 h

I’m sorry to say it, because I love the people in my lane, but I have come to loathe these practices. Partially it’s my fault – I’m often using them as recovery and going last in that crowded lane is just a miserable place to be. And today I was very conscious again of trying not to hurt myself (or others) while circle swimming in a direction my subconscious has still not taken as its own. So, I don’t know what the f we did. And I skipped a bunch. But I probably got in at least 2300. Only 3-5 of these left to go, thank heavens. (I should say – no one else seems to care. This is not a protest post. It’s just my personal reality 🙂

Lap swim (~2000) 1 h

And for some reason I always think, “well, I can do what I want once lap swim starts.” Um, no. Really, really no.

I’m totally guessing yardage on this one as well, cause I can’t be bothered to try to figure out exactly what I did. (And also trying to lowball it).

Productively, I did a bunch of 50’s in around :41/:42, trying to feel good at that pace. Then I did a bunch more at :45 that did feel good 🙂 Then I tried some 100’s in 1:30 – pretty good, although I was a couple seconds over several times. Then I went a pace that felt “slow” (like, after 5 hours of swimming slow) to see what that looked like – 1:40 free; 1:45 for 75 fr/25 bk.

I just can’t wrap my head around the times that my watch says I’m doing less than 3K per hour. That’s only holding 2:00 per 100. That is quite slow for me. Obviously having chop and waves and not having turns makes a difference (although I have shit turns), but it just seems a bit crazy to me that I fall below that. GPS will tell on the day.

I felt much better after this workout – not nauseous at all during stretching. I am tired today – trying to get stuff done so I can get a bit of rest.

Thur Jun 23 (~6100 M) 2 h; .5 run; 2 mi bike;  3000 M OW – 1 h

Masters (~4500 M) 1 h 30 m (got in a few minutes late)

• 400 fr/bk/br
• 2×100 IM
• 2×75 bk dr/sw/dr
• 5×300 w/fins on 4:40, 4:30, 4:20, 4:10, 4:00 (missed the last one by a couple/few seconds)
• I took 50 ez. Why are there NEVER 50’s ez?
• 8×25 on :35 “sprint” hahaha
• 200 on 2:45 (2:55ish)
• rest
• 4×50 on 1:00 (bk)
• 200 on 2:45 (2:55 ish)
• rest
• 2×100 on 1:50 (fr/bk)
• 200 on 2:45 (2:55ish)
• rest
• 2×200 on 3:00 (3:05ish; can’t remember when I left)
• [I also took a bit of rest before the 200s]

Unfortunately, 2:55 felt hard, but happily, 3:05 felt easy. That’s kind of where I’m at – below my anaerobic threshold is hunky dory forever; above it is immediate death.

• 3x(4×50 on 1:15 (1:00 rend 3) – 3 “fast” 1 ez – fr/bk)

These actually felt really good – I worked my stroke on the free, and felt good picking it up. I was coming in on around :45, swimming fr/bk comfortably.

Lap Swim (~1600 M) 30 M

• Just swimmin’ around, 75 fr/25 bk

This was another day of “just be.” Complete the tasks that are given me, but without striving. Achieve my normal activities as efficiently as possible. I’m really liking it as a mental pre-taper.

I’m continuing to recover – I didn’t laugh at the idea of running up the steep driveway to my block of flats today, so that’s a good sign 🙂

OW Swim

• 4:45-5:45 PM
• 3 K
• 61 degree air
• 17 degree water
• Calm and cloudy and slack – awesome!
• Temp Before 36.5
• Temp After 35.3

My plan was the same for this swim – smooth, efficient swimming. It felt good and I was reasonably fast (though due thanks must go to the conditions for that) – I’m happy. Getting through Saturday’s planned 7-hour swim seems like the last hard thing. Then I’ll start having some taper fun and try to get myself into a good place.

I AM definitely tired. It is possible I don’t even know how tired I am. We’ll find out, if I can’t get some rest.

Fri Jun 24 (~3000 M) 1 h 25 m; 4.6 mi run (ish)

Masters (~2000 M) 1 h

• 200 ez
• 6×50 w/kicking and stroke
• 8×25
• 8×100 on 1:30 (wore fins)
• 500ish meters faffing around with sprinting

Lap Swim (1000 M) 25 minutes(ish)

• 100 ez
• 5x(100 smooth; 50 ez) Held 1:30 quite comfortably on the 100s; worked on technique (and not killing lap swimmers)
• 150 ez

Practice focus: Keeping stomach up, by god.

It felt great to go quite easy. I feel so much better than I did on Tuesday. I ran a minute, walked a minute on the way home, and that felt good too. (Although my legs are definitely still questioning the whole “don’t run for three weeks then start running again” thing.)

Sat Jun 25 (18.6K) 7 h; 2.2 mi ride (and 2.2. mi muscle clenching scooter ride)

OW swim

• 8 AM – 3 PM
• 18.6 K
• 15 degree air
• 18? Degree water
• Super duper choppy style
• Temp after: 35.5 (I think that’s low – I didn’t shiver at all, even though it got winding and cloudy as I was getting out)

Went into it 5 hours tired (self, not shoulders)

Training and the human body are quite amazing. It’s amazing to me that I was less sore and had less trouble lifting my arms in the shower after 7 hours of swimming than after many of this fall’s 2-hour age group practices. Or maybe that’s just a tribute to the intensity of coach Bescher’s workouts 🙂

I’m too tired to care to say much about this, but I’m happy with it. I didn’t get nearly as much distance in, but the addition of more frequent apple juice/water mix to my feed schedule went brilliantly, and my shoulders withstood 7 hours of pretty extreme choppiness, albeit at a slower pace. But I could probably do that for 14 hours if I had to, and 14 is probably what it would take. Well, maybe more. But the last one doesn’t count 🙂 And Ali said they would never send a swimmer on a day like today. (I said I’d do it if the wind and waves could be in my favor 🙂

I did get faster each lap. Remember to swim like me.

It was so successful to tell myself that it was the last one, and I have a good idea for a mental strategy for the Channel – every hour is the last one. “This is the last first hour of swimming the Channel.” “This is the last second hour of swimming the Channel.” It’s funny what works and what doesn’t, mentally, but for me the idea that I don’t ever have to repeat something again if I don’t want to is very persuasive 🙂

Sun Jun 26 (~4000 M) 2 h; 4.4 mi ride

OW swim

• 8 AM-10AM
• 4000 M (just playing around – lots of backstroke and even elementary backstroke, breaststroke, etc.)
• 14 degree air
• 18? degree water
• Temp after: 35.1 (went slow and felt cold for the first time in forever)

I’m writing this on Monday and from today’s perspective, this swim was just crazy. It was meant to be the beginning of my taper, but conditions were nuts. Nothing I couldn’t handle, but almost impossible to swim in without putting pressure on my shoulders.

All of my parts have been holding together really well so far… I’m glad I didn’t hurt them yesterday. And there WAS a point to it – yet again getting in and swimming after a 7-hour swim. And not having two rest days in a row, which I’ve found may be too many. But it was just… insane. And I felt terrible afterward. Happily, I feel much better today. After, you know, sleeping and eating all day.

Hoping for better taper conditions tomorrow.