May 17-22

The beauty of the self-deprecating humor of the British

That’s it, really. One of the things I enjoy most about being here are the truly enjoyable senses of humor in some of the people that I meet. America produced Kids in the Hall (and is apparently doing it again, for reasons passing my understanding) and Southpark; Britain produced Monty Python and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. And I’ll take the Brits any day of the week.

Happiness

It is an interesting concept, happiness. And one that, as a goal for humans, sparks endless philosophical debate.

Whether or not it should be the be-all end-all goal for humans… that I will leave up to the philosophers, at least for now. But I’ve felt for a long time that I didn’t need to decide whether it was my raison d’être in order to pursue some of it. Perhaps there is a higher purpose (or purposes), but that doesn’t mean I can’t ALSO be happy. (So goes my post-Aristotelian logic.)

Since my 30’s, I’ve thought I had a bit of a leg up as far as being good at figuring out what made me happy. After being really unhappy in grad school, I felt like I developed sort of an instinctual feel for things that led to temporary pleasure (most of the things humans occupy themselves with, with social media being a notorious unhappiness-maker), vs. things that led to my own actual happiness (books, swimming, friends and family, etc.) 

Anyway, the point of all of this is that I recently read that:

“People are consistently happier when they are out in nature, particularly near a body of water, particularly when the scenery is beautiful.” (Seth Stephens-Davidowitz in the New York Times).

I thought I was good at figuring out what made me happy. Turns out, some of it is what makes everybody happy 🙂 And that now describes a huge percentage of my current existence. And I gotta say, it doesn’t suck.

The Independence to Dream

May 17-22 is a week that will probably live in my memory. I would say that it was the best week of training I’ve had so far. Everything went well, and the 2×4-hour open water swims on the weekend went spectacularly. I was happy enough with the first day, and then I was even faster and felt even better on day 2.

And because I’m still a bit behind on my blog posts, I can tell you that the next week, though something that I am very happy with, just wasn’t as good. It was longer and harder (as well as including the adrenaline-fueled buoy rupture event and loss of swim time), so that makes sense and I’m not worried about it, but the feeling I’ll want to keep in my head is the one from 5/22. It’s when I wrote this:

Watching the inspirational speech in the movie Independence Day just now, a realization swept over me. For the last I don’t know how long, inspirational speeches and the like each hurt me, just a tiny bit. Each one reminded me that I wasn’t sure if I would ever achieve my dreams. And right until we walked through customs in London, I wasn’t sure that I would. But here I am and my heart is light. And I can watch movie rhetoric with uplift of the soul instead of vague trepidation. And whether I make it across the Channel or not, I will have lived so many of my dreams in these months (and preceding years) of preparation, training, travel, friendship, and perseverance. I will never be the same.

I think that Covid changed me a bit as well – it led me to (almost pathologically) never count on plans. I actually don’t look at it as a bad thing – it has simultaneously given me more perseverance (If that plane hadn’t gone to London, I would have immediately moved on to formulating plan B) AND the ability to let things go (everything in your life can seemingly get ripped away and it can be OK… sometimes better). I am better at working hard for things that I really want, and less hard for things that are transient or I don’t care that much about. And that is a good place to be.

Now just give me a shot at that Channel.

Nesquik

A million thanks to my mom for ensuring my stash! You’re the best!!

OW Videos

Channel Prep

Again I may be ahead of myself on some of this, but this was generally what was going on in mid to late May.

I do like the fastskin cap. My hair doesn’t stay in at the bottom, so I’ll just chop those bits off the night before the swim. Pork pies have been great to eat after the swim and before I ride home. I don’t arrive at the flat completely devastated (thanks for the great suggestion for a calorie-full, sugar-free, pre-packed food… I think it was Sam?). 

Coconut oil is brilliant – I melt a small amount on my tongue when I get home, swish it around, and spit it out. It doesn’t completely eliminate really bad salt tongue, but it makes food and water taste OK again, which is really important when you need to eat a lot of calories.

Next up on my list are all of the Channel questions I’ve accumulated for experts – I’m thinking that Durley Week will be a perfect time to ask them.

I’m also trying out the swimsuits I bought – hopefully a winner will emerge.

Boat practice is set for June 7th, weather permitting.

After watching the podcast, asked François for advice about non-chocolate milk feeds for the day – timing and composition.

The [Time Period] in the Water (Tuesday 5/17 – Sunday 5/22)

Summary

Pool Yardage ~ 20,500 M 

OW Yardage ~ 39,000 M

Total Yardage ~ 59,500 M

OTHER:

 miles of running – 6.6

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

 miles riding – 13

This was somewhere near 60K in 6 days and it felt great. That is very, very, awesome.

The Gory Details

Tue May 17 (~6500 M) 1 h 50; 1 mi run; 2 mi bike; (2400 M OW – 55 m)

Masters (~5100 M) 1 h 25 m

• 400 swim/kick
• 400 – 100 swim/50 catchup / 50 1-arm
• 400 IM drill/IM kick
• 6×100 odd – IM; even – reverse IM
• 10×50 w/fins and paddles on :45
• 500 w/fins – 50 fly kick / 50 bk kick / 50 fr / 50 bk
• 2×300 75 fr/25 bk on 4:45
• 4×150 bk/br/fr on 2:45
• 2×300 as above
• 500 w/fins as above

All of the main set was supposed to be free on 1:30 base, but I needed a break from the endless Tu/Th free on 1:30 base. It’s probably not a bad idea to do a lot of it – if I can teach my body to swim at that pace comfortably for a very long time I’m probably set… but not at the expense of my sanity and willingness to train. So I mixed it up a bit. Probably better for my shoulders too. They felt fine after this weekend’s OW work (and choppiness), but I did get a couple of twinges from the right one.

Lap Swim (~1400 M) 25 m

• 300 w-up
• 100
• 200
• 300
• 400
• 100 CD
• All at an easy pace, 75 fr/25 bk

Working within the constraints of lap swim may not be the best, but I don’t think it’s the worst either. We’ll find out.

OW swim

• 2.4K
• 55 min
• Air – 64
• Water – 13?
• Stormy. Very stormy. The sea tossed me about like a chew toy.
• Temp before: 36.5
• Temp after: 34.2 (but felt completely warm and not even shivery)

The wind felt like hurricane force as I walked down the cliff to the beach. The current was strong, the waves mouth-filling, and a driving rain came on and off. But it was a great chance to continue to train my anti-chop arm muscles – a very different group than my normal swimming muscles, apparently.

I was kind of bummed about the yardage, but then I realized:

1. It took me a while to get in (it was shallow all the way to France, as far as I could tell).
2. I took some time to try out actual milk with Nesquik powder (that’s a gigantic “no,” btw. Why is nothing as good as my Nesquik?)
3. I was in for less than an hour (took a bit to get out as well).

Worst case scenario, I loose about 600 yards per hour in the chop (and this was insane chop – worse than Sunday, I thought). That is not swim-ending, as long as it 1) hopefully doesn’t last too long and 2) doesn’t render my arms incapacitated.

It’s a hard thing to train for – whenever I go out, I get the ocean I get. But I’ll be focusing on it whenever I get the chance, and trying to figure out how to be remotely as efficient in the chop and against the current as I am in calm seas and with a push.

At least my tow float won’t be tossing me around like a rag doll – and that’s not nothing.

Oh, hey, the juvenile seal was on the beach! I assume he/she was thinking, “what on earth is that girl up to?”

Wed May 18 (~7000 M) 2 h 25 m; 2.3 mi run (took the bus back because I could)

Masters (~2700 M) 1 hr

• 200 swim
• 200 IM kick/drill
• 4×50 descend 1-3, #4 ez
• 25 fly kick
• 50 fly one arm
• 25 fly ?
• 50 fly one arm (at side)
• ??
• 4×200 on 3:10
• 4×25 fly
• 50 fr ez
• 6×25 fly
• 2×50 fr ez
• 8×25 fly
• 2×200

Lap swim (~4300 M) 1 h 25 m

(As always, this didn’t go down exactly as written – sometimes I had to wait on people. But this was a pretty good one, and I had my own lane for a while. And then I swam illicitly in the open are for the last round of 50s on :40, since 3 guys suddenly jumped in my lane.)

• 100 ez

• 5x
• 2×50 kick fast – odd fly, even bk (on about 1:15, held about :55 and 1:00) Got better through the rounds; not sure why.
• 100 ez (I held between about 1:30 and 1:35 on the 100’s ez – they weren’t slow, but none of them felt hard)
• 4×50 – intervals by round: 1:00, :55, :50, :45, :40 (Held: under :45, solid :43s, :41s, :40s, and made 2 on the last round, missed the last two by just a tick.)
• 100 ez
• 4×25 bk/br on :30 – these seemed slow – just under :25 for the bk, just over :25 for the breast? Hard to see the clock though)
• 100 ez

• 700 cool down – fly, fly/bk, bk, bk/br, br, br/fr, fr (stroke down, free back)

I felt tired but fine today.

Thur May 19 (~7000 M) 2 h; 1 mi run; 2 mi bike; 3K OW – 1 h

Masters (~5300) 1 h 30 m

• 400 – 150 swim / 50 catchup
• 400 IM kick/swim
• 6×100 odd – 25 fly/75 bk; even – 75 br/25 fr

• 4x:
• 2×25 sprint kick on :35 (held :20 on fly & btw :20 and :25 on bk)
• 50 fast (:35, :35, Paul joined, :32 ish, :33 ish)
• w/fins

• 500 ez w/fins and paddles
• 4×200 on 3:10
• 2×150: 50fl/50bk/25br/25fr; 25fl/50bk/50br/25fr
• 4×200 on 3:05
• 2×150 25fl/50bk/25br/50fr; 25fly/25bk/50br/50fr
• 4×200 on 3:00 w/fins (I eschewed paddles)

I felt OK – I didn’t do much more than make the 200 intervals on the first two sets, but it didn’t feel hard. On the ones w/fins I was coming in just after 2:40, also without putting forth unsustainable effort. I got a little hungry and bonkish, but I soldiered on and felt OK at the end.

Lap Swim (~1700) 30 m

• Basically a straight swim, 75 fr/25 bk. ez pace & 75 br/br on back at end

OW Swim (~3K) 1 h

• Temp before 35.9
• Temp after 34.5
• 14 degree water
• 63 degree air
• Great choppy training swim

Fri May 20 (~6000 M – 2 h OW) 2.3 mi run (off to Castlepoint on Nesquik safari)

I ran over to the pool for practice this morning, only to find it closed due to chlorine once again. So off to the sea I went. It is challenging to do a recovery swim when you need to swim fast enough to keep yourself warm, but I did my best. The top of my right should started hurting at about 1 h 20… I got it to stop and I’m not completely sure how. Happening to be at the turn around so that I started swimming with the current definitely helped. Slowing down a bit may have helped (though it took me from “comfortable” to “a wee mite chilly”). I thought about a more narrow stroke – that seemed to help the shoulder and my pace. Note to self.

I don’t think the yardage on my watch can possibly be accurate. I stopped once briefly at the hour mark to have some chocolate milk – other than that I was swimming (with a couple of very brief bathroom breaks at my turnarounds). I am pretty familiar with my pace at this point – no way was I going over 2:00 per 100 M. I could do that breaststroke, for heaven’s sake. Though possibly not for 2 hours. But I am quite sure that my free pace at the end of 2 hours is faster than my breaststroke pace at the beginning of 2 hours. And at any rate, I went the same speed the second hour as I did the first.

So who knows how far I went, but I’m calling it at least 6K.

OW Swim

• 10:30-12:30
• 6K
• Air – 55
• Water – Guards said 13/14. Felt warm, especially considering that it was really gross and rainy and I was already cold from my walk down when I got in. I warmed up in the water.
• Temp before: 36.3
• Temp after 34.4

It is really, really nice not to feel so cold. Interesting that it isn’t reflected by my core temp at all. I’m wondering if 35 degrees (mouth temp is .5 below core, according to François) is some sort of line that my body refuses to cross – it will only keep my extremities as warm as is possible within that constraint. Which means that now they get to be warm, but in 11 degree water they most decidedly did not.

It’s awfully nice to swim with hands that function.

Sat May 21 (~13.6 K – 4 h OW); 4.4 mi ride

Hypothesis – My apple watch gives different distance readings depending on whether I swim with the current first or against the current first. Evidence – a handful of swims, one that definitely recorded too many meters, some that definitely recorded too few.

I came home and plotted my normal weekend swim loop on Google Maps Pedometer, because 12.69 K in 4 hours didn’t seem right for the pace I was swimming. In addition, it disagreed with last week’s measurement of the exact same loop, AND it wasn’t even consistent from loop to loop today. The Pedometer had it at 3.4 K – I’m gonna call each loop ~3.5K, assuming that I do not swim in the pedometer’s perfectly straight line. That gives me 14K for the day – great if true.

(I forgot, I skipped about 400 M on the last lap to try and make it back in time (the first part of the westward part of the last lap was pretty slow – the wind really picked up. So call it 13.6 K)

It was a beautiful day, but deceptively difficult to swim against the current. It didn’t look like it would be tough (or even feel that bad, most of the time), but boy I had to work for it. I also was perceptually quite a bit colder than I was on Thursday or Friday, which was disappointing. But I came out of the water pretty unscathed, so I’m calling it a win.

I tried coconut oil on my tongue when I got home – I did not love the experience, but it really worked. Awesome. I’m bringing peaches to try during a feed tomorrow.

I’m pretty tired, so I’m gonna to get some rest now.

OW Swim

• 9AM-1:10PM
• 13.6K
• Air – 58-61
• Water – We decided as a group that it was 13 🙂
• Body Temps – forgot to take one before; was too busy eating to take one after. As cold as I felt after the first hour, I didn’t feel at all bad when I came out of the water. The sun was nice.

Sun May 22 (14 K – 4 h OW); 4.4 mi ride

This weekend was 8 hours in the ocean plus 1 hour on the bike (plus climbing up and down the getting-steeper-every-week hill to our flat).

I felt better today than I did yesterday, and got in the whole 14K (as determined by Gmaps Pedometer, anyway). I’m happy with where I am at.

This *was* an absolutely perfect weather day – give me a day like this and I will eat the Channel. Sadly, the chances of that are slim. So more training in the chop it is 🙂

OW Swim

• 9AM-1:04 PM (and had to wait for one of my feeds, so probably would have been right at 4 hours)
• 14 K
• Air – 60
• Water – 13? (Still felt as cold as yesterday. But oh, the sun on my back felt good. And the lack of wind was awesome.)
• Temp Before: 35.8
• Temp after: 34.8