Swim Camp is Official! (I can get there and everything)
I was thinking I hadn’t gotten anything Channel related done yesterday (except to work on my website, which is tangential at best), but, no, I finally got my flights to Croatia booked and sent my payment for the Red Top Swim Camp!!!! Now all that’s left is to get the travel medical insurance, which I should be able to knock out tomorrow. Woot!
On the minus side of the equation – $1300 for the camp and $1300 for the flights. I feel nauseous. Hopefully the feeling will pass by May.
Everything takes longer than you think – I am weary of waiting to hear back from people. I have spent A LOT of my time recently following up. It makes me really, really appreciate the people who do get back to me quickly and without reminders on my part.
First Practice Back
Today I was back in the water for the first time in over a month. It felt as anticipated and could have been worse. I swam somewhere between 4000-5000. Lots of Tiger IM’s. Don’t let me forget to tell you about Tiger IM’s.
And I talked to Coach Bescher about the grand plan before practice. He had some good advice:
- Have several suits that I wear between now and May to make sure I have options if I find something chafing, etc. Ideally at least a couple of these will be the suit I plan to swim the channel in. Research needed (fastskin?) Talk to All American
- Cap and goggles – get squared away with several versions (Dark, light, etc.)
- Train putting cap/goggles on and off in the water.
- Nutrition – practice feeding on intervals that will mimic my swim; practice feeding quickly; start out of the water.
- Tempo trainer – go ahead and start training with it, even if I’m not swimming at that cadence yet. Get it into my brain.
I also met with Coach JP from TAC today – he recommended a contact and is looking into some dryland training for me. He is awesome.