Blog

Revival Rocks

As I write this intro, it’s Thursday, April 14th, and I am finally feeling myself again, athletically speaking. Looking back, that was a pretty rough month (again, athletically speaking – having a great time!). I think that part of the problem was calories – I just couldn’t/wasn’t ingesting enough to meet my needs. It didn’t feel like that – we were eating out a lot, and I wasn’t trying to restrict myself. I think that part of the problem right now is that the Channel pounds make me feel overweight, so I sometimes subconsciously eat less. And having to obtain every calorie of food by walking to it (and lugging most of it home) made it even harder to get ahead of my nutrition. Not to mention trying to figure out what to eat in a different country, while possessing circa seven items of kitchenware.

Also with hindsight, the time change was probably another huge factor. By the second week here, I was getting up (or trying to) at 6:00 AM and 4:45 AM on alternate days. So I went from my training occurring from 3:30-5:30 PM (my body’s time) to 12:45-2 AM (my body’s time). Great prep for an uncertain Channel start time, but hard to sustain.

And then there was all of the aforementioned running, biking and walking that I was in no way trained for.

But yesterday (Wednesday), I finally woke up and felt like I should be awake. I didn’t time my run, but I got to the pool as early as I ever have, so it was probably faster. And today I felt like I had my first solid swim workout since the week before I left the States. I don’t feel like it was the best I was capable of (and my legs definitely still spoke up when I tried to turn on the heat), but I feel like I was limited in a normal way, not in a what-the-heck-am-I-even-doing-here way.

So, yay. And also, note to self – moving to another country is no walk in the park. Unless you are uber-rich, I suppose. Second note to self – be uber-rich next time.

(Even if I were uber-rich, I’d probably still grouse about wasting money on things that I didn’t think had good value (like cabs). Call me Silas Marner.)

Anyway, revival rocks. I don’t know if it looks like I’m swimming/running/biking/living better on paper, but the feel is a world of difference.

Am I a life klutz?

Someone expressed surprise at my characterization of myself in the last post. From the inside, it seems I must do everything wrong twice before I get it right. It makes new things hard. You would think, therefore, that I would shy away from the new, but if you haven’t guessed, quite the opposite. Being inept HAS made me persistent, and persistence is certainly now the order of the day.

Why do I ever question the almighty nap?

I’ve identified another collapse contributing factor. I was trying not to nap. And I succeeded. But whatever it is that sometimes makes me think that naps are not THE BEST, I need to learn to ignore it. I know that there are those for whom naps don’t work. I am not one of them.

Random Thoughts for your Amusement

I was really looking forward to not having to drive, deal with traffic, etc. while we are here. But there is a big difference between not having to drive when you are somewhere just faffing about and not being able to drive when you need to get shit done. Looking at the drive time on Apple Maps before I switch to public transport or walking directions is my porn.

I would have sworn that my run to the pool was mainly on flat ground… until I started running home as well.

The amazing thing about living abroad is how amazing/not amazing it is. I see the pictures of myself swimming in the Atlantic… and, you know, confuse them with the pictures of me swimming in the Atlantic 🙂

Things I stress about at night:

• Kids school stuff – a tiny bit making sure they are actually prepared, though I feel good about the job we’re doing with that. A ton about jumping through American hoops when we get back. I have nightmares that I fill out a form incorrectly and they refuse to promote them to the next grade, or let them into their advanced math classes.
• The Channel – a tiny bit the swim. A ton about stuff like packing. And paying the pilot (again, not the money, the hoops. What if my wire transfer doesn’t go through by the deadline and he won’t let me swim? my brain squirrel cages uselessly).
• Training- feeling better about this one now that I’m meeting people, but making sure I get enough training in.
• Travel – I want to do it, but not the work planning it. Or paying for it. Somebody should fix that.
• Being in a foreign country with travel healthcare while the kids are going through violent boy phase
• The fact that my teeth are crooked 
• How I look on video calls
• Ok now I’m just getting silly
• I will say – I haven’t squirrel caged since I wrote this all out on Monday-ish night 🙂

OK, I will be needing to break down and possess a second towel. I’m really trying hard to own as little as possible, but Monday’s towel usage was – get out of pool, dry off so I can put on running clothes; get home, take a shower because I got sweaty running, dry off with semi-wet, chlorinated towel; get out of ocean, use towel to wipe algae from me and dry off; bike home, take shower and use algae/salt towel to dry off.

I think the expense is justified in this case.

National Differences

Which Wore it Best?

Britain strongly in the lead this week, so much so that I gave the US a pity item.

England:

Egg cups, apparently. I’ve not made a lot of soft-boiled eggs in my life, but maybe I would if we had egg cups. And they certainly sound preferable to chasing the yolk around your plate with your piece of toast. I’ll take the Just Swim ladies’ words for it.

Beach Huts – I don’t know if this is an England thing or a Bournemouth thing, but the beaches here are completely lined with “Beach Huts.” These are small, wooden, permanent structures that you can rent out. You can keep all of your beach stuff in there, not having to lug it about with you. (Although I admit that the thing that got it added to the blog was my realization that we could sit in there in comfort and watch the kids on the beach. See, I’m not totally masochistic.)

America:

There is an ever-so-slight improvement in hearing, “Mom!, mom, mom, hey mom, mom!” over “Mummy!, mummy mummy, mummy!” If improvement is the right word.

Rude or British?

This week’s game involves walking on the sidewalk. When we arrived, I began to be conscientious about trying to walk on the left (with somewhat limited success at first – instincts are hard to counter). But, to my surprise, both in London and Bournemouth I seemed to be in the minority. I started to question the foundations of my assumptions – was it possible that the English drive on the left but walk on the right? I started to wonder if people were giving me funny looks when I was walking on the left (definitely because of rational reasons, not because I’m neurotic). People definitely seemed to assume they had the right to be there, on the (questionably) wrong side of the sidewalk.

Spoilers, I already have the answer to this one – I asked the (very enjoyable to talk to) guys at Stevensons. One of them said, in his charming British accent, “Yee’ve just got to stare them down.”

(Not that this is specific to England. I would imagine that runners from all countries are familiar with the fact that most people on walking paths and sidewalks have the situational awareness of melba toast.)

I almost forgot! It turns out that dog training is a bit of a thing here in England. It shows.

Journal

4/9 – worked on blog 7:30 AM – 1:30 PM. It was fairly enjoyable, until I accidentally posted early (instead of previewing) and panicked a bit. If you thought the last post wasn’t up to snuff, I agree.

4/11 – Feeling better and more with it… though I still have a lot to do today. Looking forward to an ocean swim though!

Open Water Swims

Wow – it looks so nice and inviting. But it was cooooooold!

A great first swim with the Just Swim Sunday crew. Great talking to Channel-swimmer Will in the water, and discussing egg cups, English dogs, etc. with several others after.

A choppier ocean than I had yet faced here, but it couldn’t compare to WB on a washing machine day:

So, have you ever thought you were pushing the button to STOP filming, but you were actually pushing the button to START filming? I didn’t get what I was aiming to film, but if you’re interested in the raw, uncut footage (and extreme close-ups of my pants) before a bunch of noodles hop into chilly water, you’re in luck:

I haven’t included any swim maps yet – they’re all gonna look like this (until they start looking like even more boring overlapping loops), so I probably won’t bother henceforth.

But here’s one of the swim that I had to bike for 30 minutes to get to:

Bonus Swim – Friday right before posting:

A beautiful day at the beach, with a lovely walk over there. Everyone was out, as the kids are all on break. This was the first time I felt like I was at the beach.

OK, now I’m happy. Getting here in March was totally the right thing to do, to give myself time to ramp up and get everything going, but it was cold and rainy and really, really cold to swim in. This swim was awesome, and the fun starts now!

Channel Prep

Just for funsies, bought some British shelf chocolate-flavored milk products. The wheetabix was possibly the worst thing I’ve ever tasted. E drank the rest of it, and managed to start to enjoy it after it destroyed most of his soul. The other two were OK, with the plant-based one actually winning out. But none of them came close to Nesquik – glad my mom has sent some winging its way over the Atlantic! It’s strange that they have other Nesquik products over here, but not that one… especially when it is better than what they do have (you know, as “flavored milk products” go 🙂

Emailed with Pilot Paul about lodging in Dover – thankfully, he doesn’t think I need to book the week, since he tries to give his swimmers 24 hours notice. He says, “You can come to Dover the day before and stay in a Premier Inn or Travelodge close by.”

Now I need to talk to him about a practice swim with the boat. It’s on the list.

The [Time Period] in the Water (Sunday 4/10 – Friday 4/15)

Summary

Pool Yardage ~  31,000 M 

OW Yardage ~  4,850 M

Total Yardage ~  35,850 M

OTHER:

 miles of running – 14.8

 miles of walking (plus, you know, a lot more) – 4

 miles riding – 16

The Gory Details

I wanted to get a picture of the pace clock as seen from the starting end of my lane, so you would understand why so many of my times have “ish”es added to them. But I zoomed a bit too much. So if you are reading this on a large screen with good resolution, just pretend you can only see the demarcations for every 5 seconds.

Sun Apr 10 – OW Swim w/Just Swim (~1280) – 30 min

• 9 AM
• Air temp on the way: 38
• Air temp after: 50
• Water temp: 10.2 (Hannah’s thermometer)
• Distance ~1.28 K
• Time ~30 min (with some chatting)

I felt so much better on this one (even having had a war with the Beryl bike unlock, and then biking way past my destination… and back. I was warm at that point, at least.) Whether it was because the sun was out or because it was my 3rd swim in a week, I felt much less cold than either of the first two, and my lips stayed (mainly) functional. My hands and feet were quite cold when we got out, but we sat there chatting for quite awhile – when I was moving I was fine. 55 degrees is going to feel like heaven at this rate 🙂

OTHER: Rode over there and back. Too far, so who knows distance and time. Let’s say 3 miles and 40 minutes of biking. Sidewalk Sand Dunes!

Mon Apr 11 (~6400 M) – 2 h + ~1400 M OW – 35 min

Masters – 1 h (~3400)

• 200 50 fr/50 no-fr
• 200 50 bk/50 br
• 200 IM Drill
• 4×100 IM swim

• 3x:
• 3×100 on 1:35 w/paddles – technique
• Rnd 1 – 6×50 on :45 (held :40s); Rnd 2 – 3×100 on 1:25 (?0; And 3 – 300 all out (deferred till lap swim so I wouldn’t get in anyone’s way).

• 200 ez
• 8×25 IM FILO
• 200 CD

Lap Swim – 1 h (~3000)

• 3×100 on 1:35
• 300 all out – 4:05ish
• 500 ez

• 4x:
• 100 trying to get under 1:20 (3 at around or a bit above 1:20, 1 @1:18 or below (and with a truly terrible 2nd turn)
• 200 ez

• 600 CD

Got 1:20-blocked by lap swimmers a couple of times – just stopped those 50’s and started again. Seething only slightly.

OTHER: 

Ran there and back – 4.6 miles, ~50 minutes (Plus carried really heavy groceries home from the store)

40 min bike, 4.4 mi (I am starting to have a hatred of the Beryl rental bike system)

OW swim w/Katy & Beyond the Blue

• 5 PM
• Air temp: 50ish? Clouds covered the sun as I got there and it felt like the temp dropped.
• Water temp: unknown. Neil says not double digits. After a long day, it just feels… cold (I could add an adjective to that)
• Distance ~1.5 K? (Check my watch, but that’s what Katy said) – My watch says 1.36 K
• Time ~35 min

30 min bike, 4.4 mi

OMG, what a day. I started running around 6:15 AM, swam, ran back, got heavy groceries, got home after 10 AM, did email (the hardest part of any of this), went on a 2-hour expedition with the boys to finish the rest of the school uniform shopping (just discovered the tie is broken and I’ll have to walk back over there. Grrrrr.), got home just in time to get ready, which I did fast enough to to clean up the dishes before I left to ride over to the swim. Because of bike problems, had to run some too. Got there just in time. Cold Cold Cold. Biked back uphill into the wind 31 minutes (just slightly uphill, but all the way), and then ate all the food. Didn’t get home until after 7:00, so if I can do the Channel in 12 hours, I’m pretty sure it will be easier than today was. Oy.

I did get some more yummy cheese across from the uniform shop, and the boys got really good ham and cheese melts, so, you know, win.

Tue Apr 12 (~5800) – 2 h

Considering yesterday’s kinda craziness, I’m pleased enough with this one.

Masters swim  (~4500) – 1.5 h

• 600 w-up – 200 swim/50 1-arm/50 catchup (I skipped a 50 of swim to tie my suit and another 50 of swim to drink some water. I stand by my decision.)
• 400 IM kick/swim
• 300 breathe 3/5/7 (I pretty much made the 3s and 5s, but phoned in the 7s a bit. i.e., went 7 strokes then breathed a bunch)
• 200 IM
• 10×25 fins and paddles on :30 (held in the neighborhood of :17, not pushing it)

• Failure Set:
• 50’s on 1:01. You start on the :10, and must finish by the top. Then start on the :11 and finish by the top. And so on. When you miss, you skip a 50 and put on fins. When you miss again, you put on paddles.
• I made it down to :36, skipped :35, made :34, :33, :32 with fins, skipped :31 and then came in just after the :30 with fins and paddles. So 19×50

• 400 ez w/fins and paddles

• 2x:
• 3×100 on 1:30
• 3×100 on 1:35
• 3×100 on 1:30
• 200 ez

(I decided that eschewing the 1:20/1:25/1:20 option was the better part of valor for today. And I skipped the first 2x100s to watch those who were doing it on 1:20. They are impressive, but I gotta say, leaving 3 seconds early for the first one does help 🙂 Oh, and I only made it through the first 6 of the second round before 7:00.

Lap Swim (~1250 M) – 30 minutes

• 450 swim
• 4×100 kick/swim
• 200 DPS (16s and 17s)
• 8×25 no-breathers (used as CD)

OTHER:

• Ran to Beryl Bike ~ 6 min, .6 mi
• Rode to Pool ~ 13 min, 1.7 mi

Wed Apr 13 (~7000) – 2 h

Masters Swim (~3000 M) – 1 h (a little over)

• 400 – 100 swim/50 catchup/50 1-arm
• 200 – ?
• 200 IM
• 4×50 on :45
• 8×25 fly kick / fly swim
• 4×75 50 bk/25 br
• 6×25 fly drill / fly swim
• 4×75 25 bk / 50 br
• 4 x 25 fly
• 8×100 odd free / even IM

(This was all FILO. It seems my fate to swim behind people who are not strong in back and who are good at br. So I end up going slower than I’d like in the bk, and then having to sprint the br. That was true of this set)

• 150 ez

Lap Swim (~4000 M) – 1 h 15 (a little under)

• 5x:
• 5×100 on 1:30
• 300 cruise

This actually went pretty well, for an organized set during lap swim. I held right around 1:25s all the way through

The 1:26s I did early on were extremely comfortable. The 1:24s I was going toward the end required a bit of work, but not bad at all. I could have kept going all day.

I could definitely feel that this was the first time I’d gotten to 7000 (at least while putting in effort the whole time) since I’ve gotten here. Now to do some long swims that require effort. So far, I’ve only tried on 300s and below (and not much on those).

OTHER: Ran there and back ~4.6 miles, 1 hour (there may have been a lot of walking on the way back. But not nearly as bad as last Friday). Also, more heavy groceries. My need for food drives up my need for calories, a vicious, vicious cycle 🙂

Thur Apr 14 (~6700 M) 2h

Masters (~5200) – 1 h 30 min

• 800 w-up – 200 swim/100 IM kick/100 IM drill – Skipped a 50 to tie suit
• 9×100: 3xfree, 3xback, 3xIM 20 s rest (I just went with fast group. For backstroke it was legit 🙂
• 4×100 on 1:30 cruise 
• 10×50 on :45
• 4×100 on 1:30
• 5×100 on 1:20 – made 2, almost 3 , did bk/fr for 4 and 50 back for 5 (still having trouble breathing in an indoor pool)
• 4×100 on 1:30 (feeling a little less cruisey now)
• 2×150 and 1×200 on 2:30 -went 2:40 solid on the 200
• 4×100 on 1:30
• 500 “all out” for time – 7:05ish. (Someone standing in front of pace clock.) This was effort but not nearly all out

Lap swim  (~1500 M) 30 min

• 500 ez
• 500 ez
• 200 ex
• 2x 100 ex
• 2×50 ez

I’m kind of bummed, though I shouldn’t be – I had it in my head that we did 5 rounds of the 500 set. Which would have made it 7600 meters in 2 hours exactly. Pretty solid. Alas, I think I was yet again the victim of early morning brain. Yeah, no way I hit that going lap swim pace for 30 minutes.

OTHER: OK, I brought my watch so I could get the definitive distances and times on riding the Beryl bike to practice. I should be the same or better going forward

~ 0.45 mile walk/run – 5:24

~ 2 mile ride – 11:39 (Yeah, saved 5 pence by shaving off a minute!) 🙂

Also walked a bit exchanging J’s pants and tie – probably about 2 miles or so

Fri Apr 15 (~5000 M) – 1 h 40 min + ~2150 OW – 1 hr

Masters (~2800 M) – 1 h

• 200 ez
• 2×150 ez
• 4×25 fly

• 2x:
• 25 sprint off the blocks
• 3×75 on 1:00
• 25 sprint off the blocks
• 3×75 on 1:00
• 200 ez

• 200 ez
• 300 ez

Lap swim (~2200 M) – 40 min

• 2×100 ez

• 2x:
• 400, 300, 200, 100
• descend round 1, ascend round 2
• I didn’t get times on these, just focused on my internal pacing. It felt like
• 400 – very low effort (lap swimmer obstacle course as the lanes got sorted)
• 300 – comfortable all-day pace with effort
• 200 – pushing it
• 100 – fast but not all out
• 400 – definitely not comfortable
• 300 – cruising
• 200 – lap swimmer obstacle course cool-down
• 100 – super ez

OTHER

Ran to the pool and back – ~4.6 miles, 55 minutes (so much better on the run home than my destroyed creep last Friday)

OW Swim w/Ilse (and Maxine)

• 3 PM (and some chatting)
• Air temp: Pushing 60 and very sunny. Slightly windy, but just a beautiful afternoon
• Water temp: Internet has anything from 9 to 11. It felt much warmer than previous swims
• Distance ~2150
• Time 1 hour

I strongly suspect that my watch is not very capable of recording accurate distances in the open water when I keep turning around and going back for slower swimmers and then carrying on. I feel like my distance was greater.

Also – walked over 2 miles getting to Fisherman’s Walk and back. And still felt energetic enough to go get the kids and play with them on the beach. Such a good week!