Year 0
I’m initiating my final year of training for the English Channel. Now when people ask when my window is, I can finally say THIS July!
Optimism
My first “marathon” swim (usually refers to distances of 10K or greater) was a 10K at Fontana Lake in the summer of 2019. I was very nervous during my training about completing the swim, and in retrospect I realized that I had thought there might be something magical about achieving the vaunted level of marathon swimmer. Not actually magical of course, but something above and beyond the open water swimming I had been doing for years.
What I realized during that race was that, no, there is no magic – no secret sauce for achieving these long swims. What it comes down to is putting one arm in front of the other, over and over again.
And that is something that I am very, very good at. Not always quickly. Not always gracefully. But just to carry on carrying on? I was made for this.
And up to 6 hours in quite cold conditions, that continues to hold. So there is cause for optimism at this point.
Summer Recap
As I get back into OW swims, I am having some reluctance about blogging. I don’t mind the writing part, but the technological aspects of getting everything uploaded and the blog published are time-consuming and tedious. It’s always worst when I come back into it and don’t remember how everything works (and the Form app refuses to respond to “I forgot my password.” Damn you, machines! No, I take it back – remember I’m on your side in the uprising)… but maybe I should look into trying to streamline the process. I do like having the record of my training, and I like thinking about how I could make it easier for others who would like to do big marathon swims.
I took the summer off from open water swimming – it was a good time for a break before my last year’s push to train for the Channel, since the water temperatures are disgustingly hot in the summer here. It let me protect my shoulder and train more intensely in the pool now that I was back with the age groupers. I checked in with the blog from time to time – here are those observations:
[But first – I was concerned that the updates below were lacking in humor and only interesting to me. So I googled “open water swimming jokes.” Now I can pepper my posts with gems like, “What swims in the ocean and does math? … An octoplus.” And “If you think swimming with dolphins is expensive, you should try swimming with sharks. It cost me an arm and a leg.”]
Are you not entertained?!?
6/12/21 – First OW swim with the boys. We swam down Banks Channel with the current and the kids were enthralled with… floating on their buoys. I guess they could have been enthralled with hitting each other with their buoys, so, small favors. We didn’t go very far due to some chafing issues. Salt water can be a fickle friend. But fun was had by all. Before the swim, the kids were convinced that I was trying to make them do something crazy, and unconvinced by my arguments that I knew how to titrate my own crazy.
6/14 – I’ve been doing 5000-7000 yard practices twice a week + 2 recovery practices. Going well so far. (The 9000 day was… pretty tiring). Recovery continues to be tricky as I tend to push too hard too fast. The day we did 2250 of sprint was by far the hardest, and the hardest to recover from.
6/18 – held 1:10’s and 1:11’s on a set of 21x100s
6/23 – Didn’t blog it at the time, but found this swim (must have been with Wave) on my phone.
6/25 – 5×100 w/fins on 2:00: 1:03, 1:02, 1:01, 1:00, 1:00. 50s fast with Seniors – :27 free with fins from a push. Several :30s from the blocks. Couldn’t get under it, but proud that it was clear I was going at my limit. Hopefully speed a’comin’
About 7000 yards in 3 hours, but about 5000 of it sprinting. Tough, tough day, but I felt good about it.
6/28 – 10x125s on 2:00 – held 1:30 or below. Went to the chiropractor on Friday – could be good, jury is still out. Swimming is going well and my body is holding together in general. Swimming 5 days a week now, with 3 presenior w/o’s
7/5 – Rode home from Jay and Jen’s until 12:30 AM, got up just after 5 AM to go swim. Spent 4.5 hours in the water – Pre-senior practice (7000?); Varsity practice (3000?); Gold practice (3500?). It went pretty well and my shoulder/neck is OK so far. I missed some 300’s on 3:40 by seconds around 6 AM, but I got under 3:40 at 9 AM. I was pretty happy/amused about that.
7/12 – Skipped practice this morning. I just didn’t feel right, and I didn’t want to swim. And if there’s something that I’ve finally learned, it’s that if I truly don’t want to swim, it’s probably a bad idea. I always want to swim.
7/19 – I felt good this morning. Some taper is definitely what I needed. The set I was happy about was 10×75’s on 1:15 – I alternated free and back, holding :52s on the free and :58s depending to :56 on the back. And it didn’t feel too hard, especially before the last couple.
I am also working on finding training partners for the fall and winter. Heidi is up for it, as well as a few other nibbles. I’m still working on swim camp – I just don’t think I’m ready to deal with having to worry about whether England will be open in October. (But it sounds like there may be good options in CA … if I can get them to write back.)
[September note – as of now, they are still ghosting me. It’s a bit frustrating to want to pay someone money for their services but not have them get back to you in time to make arrangements.]
7/23 – After swimming for 2 hours, 16×100’s on 2:30: 1:11, 1:09; 1:07;1:07, 1:07, 1:08, 1:07, 1:07 -200 EZ – 1:10, 1:09’s till the last one in 1:08
I always wish I were faster… but I’m glad I’m not slower 🙂
7/26 – Have not been sleeping well at all. Was completely miserable at Saturday’s crowded practice at Optimist, but felt better at this morning’s. I want to sleep!
8/2 – Had a great swim with my own personal legend on Saturday, along with Cooper and Meghan. They have an approximately 500-yard course that they do in the Eno River in Durham. I did 10 laps for what allegedly was about 5000, but my watch had over 6000. Hmmm. I enjoyed 1) Heidi’s draft, and 2) doing a caterpillar lap with her. And, as always, being out there in the open water. It was a beautiful day, although both air and water had heated up considerably when we finished around 11.
Heidi turns out to have swum for a team I swam against as an age grouper – small world!
I slept for over 7 hours straight through last night for the first time in almost 2 weeks. Oddly, I have a bit of a headache, but it got better as I got up and moved around and took Eric to the airport. Really hoping for more good sleep ahead – I am having trouble with memory and difficulty concentrating – I was goofy tired and practice yesterday, and when swimming on Saturday morning couldn’t make the words come out.
On the bright side, I am pretty happy with the results of going to the chiropractor – I went 3 times and felt like it made a difference. If anything, the targeted stretches he gave me are making even more of a long-term impact.
8/9 – How long ago did I start tapering, and I am just now feeling the effects. When I swam yesterday I felt fine and like I could have gone longer (it didn’t hurt that the water was colder after a week of nights in the 60’s – wish that could continue!). I’m executing my August plan: 3-4 times a week, around 3000 yards. Feels good, and I definitely have more time on my hands. I’m a bit concerned about the fall, and how much time training is going to take up, as well as how much of my energy. But finally being in the last year feels good, and 4 months is a manageable time. Then another easy month, then England and to the end!
8/16 – Writing from WV. Nice to have a little real break… glad I’m not missing too much swimming 🙂
8/23 – Still livin’ the relaxed August life – 3-4 practices a week 2500-3000 yards. No open water (yuck, hot). I realized last week that with the pool closing to membership M-Th I should probably make some plans – Eric will come with me to swim from 6-7 on Mondays and Wednesdays… we’ll see how that goes.
It turns out that he finds the logistical details of moving to England concerning. Lists shall be made, order shall be made apparent. A buttload of work shall be done by me. The good news is, he plans to be there a lot – yay.
8/30 – No change. One more week to rest. (And I’ll need it after straining my groin walking Alex to and from school the first week. Stupid gravity.)
My next post will cover the start of my last year’s training!!
What did the ocean say to the beach? Nothing, it just waved.
You’re welcome.