Success! 7/13/2010

Success!  7/13/2010
Europe to Africa.

Monday, March 29, 2010

WEEK 15 and counting...

Time seems to be flying by. I have only 15 weeks left to get ready for this.
Yesterday, after the 5.5 mile "Mile Rock Swim" my arms were toast so I rode my bike 14 miles instead. I know it doesn't count towards my swimming, but I am hoping that core conditioning is just as important and I need to take care of my shoulders. It was great to be outside, tooling around town on a sunny day. I rode over to Lafayette to get a sandwich for lunch and then rode home. I must admit, that I got a ride up my hill, but only because I don't want to ruin my knee by pushing it too hard. Biking was a great change of pace, and I plan to do a lot more of it. This morning I went to Spin Class at the gym. Man is my butt sore, but I made it through the entire hour with a lot of "out of the saddle" riding. I am happy with my progress.
This is a "rest week" in my schedule but because I am trying to increase the over all amount of swimming I am doing I don't plan on resting much. I will swim one less day in a rest week, and less intensely in the pool. I have decided to alter my training plan a bit to include a Spin Class on Mondays, and a longer pool workout on Wednesday. So I will be doing the same amount of yardage with one less day in the water. After my experience swimming from Mile Rock Saturday, I believe that I need to swim for longer periods of time, not just more yardage or more days. It's the endurance that I need to build. I need to work through the "boredom" aspect of marathon swimming. Saturday was 2:30 hours in the water and I was fine as far as the cold goes. I need to ramp up to 3-4 hours on the weekends. I also did my sit-ups and tried to do push-ups on the physio ball (core work), and I need to do that everyday at home as well.
This is the longest stretch of consistent working out that I have ever done. I am proud of my effort so far and really hope that it pays off. I do get tired, but Gibraltar makes it easier to get up when I don't want to. I have paid for my plane ticket and made a deposit on the swim, there is no turning back. I am actually worried about the money. I still need about three thousand dollars, and my funds are running short. I have figured out that I can't afford to swim the Santa Barbara Channel as a warm up like I had hoped. It's just too expensive. I won't be able to swim the reverse Bay to Breakers on Wednesday either, but not for lack of funds. There is bad weather expected and it is the most difficult swim our club does, so they won't take chances with the weather. My next big swim is a Round Trip Alcatraz on April 11th, but my brother Brian is getting married on the 10th and family comes first. If can't make it, I will get Joe to take me soon. He has volunteered to pilot me on a Round Trip Alcatraz when it's convenient. And Kristine Buckley has volunteered to pilot me on a long dull swim from our club towards the San Francisco Airport. It's not exciting, but there is little vessel traffic to worry about and the water just keeps going, so I can get some hours in. I have made arrangements with Bob Roper to swim from the Richmond San Rafael Bridge out through the Golden Gate to Point Bonita on April 21st. This is a swim that Karen Rodgers did a few weeks ago and now everyone (myself included) wants to do it. It hugs the coast of Marin through the Raccoon Straits and out under the bridge to the open ocean (my favorite place). It sounds beautiful. I need to find someone to come with me and act as my pilot/feeder. It is hard to ask someone to give up 8 hours usually starting in the middle of the night for a slow boat ride to nowhere...any volunteers?

Saturday, March 27, 2010

WEEk 16 Ends on a beautiful note...

Try the link to the right It should take you to map of today's swim.

I set out a 4:30 am to reach the club by 5:15 in order to undertake the infamous Point Bonita Swim. And once again fate interceded to foil my plan. The day began at the club to sign in and get numbered. Sixteen hearty souls hoped to make the 10K swim from the Marin side, north and west of the Golden Gate Bridge, back to the club. Each swimmer was to have their own pilot in a kayak or a wooden sliding seat row boat (very cool). So the wooden's and the Zodiac safety boats took off in the dark while the Swim Commissioner gave the swim briefing. She explained that we needed to get out there soon because the flood had already begun and there was increased vessel traffic after eight o'clock. We loaded about a dozen Kayaks onto the Silver Fox and took off. The sun came up as we headed out towards the bridge. It was stunningly beautiful and bright. Everyone was in high spirits. I was nervous because this would be the longest swim for me this winter and the bay is still 55 degrees. Well we reached the beautiful cove just inside Point Bonita, which has a lighthouse on it and a stunning cut out of the cliff where the waves have created a cave of sorts. The swimmers were all discussing whether we should do a beach start of just start from the boat. Tradition demanded a beach start, and as we worked to get the kayaks off the boat and ready to escort us home, vessel traffic contacted our head pilot and suggested that we NOT cross the mouth of the bay under the Golden Gate Bridge and perhaps we would be much safer starting from Mile Rock (a shipping buoy a mile west of the bridge on the south side). A suggestion from Vessel Traffic is not to be taken lightly. First they are responsible for every one's safety on the bay, second they control the behemoth super tankers that cannot actually stop even in case of an emergency, and lastly they are the people who grant us permits to swim and we don't want to piss them off, ever!
So now time is going by and we ask our kayakers and rowers to book it across the mouth of the bay so that we can jump from the south side and still catch the tide. The water outside the gate is rough and the kayakers were working hard to get to Mile Rock. Some capsized and had to be picked up by the zodiacs. The swimmers and boats were finally together west of the bridge and on the south side at Mile Rock. We hit the water at 8 am a good half an hour late. There are lots of things about open water swimming that make it challenging. Besides the cold water, and the waves and white caps, there are weird eddies, dead spots,and back eddies that you can get trapped in. Then there are places where a huge amount of water converges from different directions and creates what we affectionately call the "Potato Patch". It is an area near the Golden Gate Bridge towers and it looks more like a witch's cauldron at a roiling boil than the ocean. It is really cool, but hard to swim through. You can get a rhythm swimming in waves (sometimes when you're lucky) but in the potato patch you are hit from all sides and I swallowed water with almost every breath. But somehow it's just about as much fun as I can imagine out there. After being directed, and redirected, and redirected again I swam a zigzagy course to about the middle of the bridge deep into the patch. I always roll over on my back to go under the Golden Gate Bridge. It's just such a special experience I don't want to miss it. Jimmy, my pilot gave me something to drink and told me that I swam "slower than his Grandmother" and told me to get moving (this turned out to be what his college coaches used to say to him to get him moving, but I thought it was funny. The zodiac pilots kept coming over to tell us to get out of the shipping lane (where the fastest current is) and get closer to shore. Understand, we are about a mile off shore, but it seems much closer and swimmers are always looking for the "ride" that the current is supposed to provide. Jimmy told me to aim for the Palace of Fine Arts, but I couldn't see it from the water, so I aimed directly into the sun. Every time I had eye contact with him he was telling me to swim in closer to shore. I stopped to eat some GU, this nasty space age nutrition gel that comes in little foil packages that are easy to eat on the fly, and Jimmy told me that there was bad news; the tide had pretty much reached slack and was going to turn while we were still far from home. Or as he said, "You still have a lot of Bay to cover, GET GOING!" Some swimmers got stuck in the back eddy near Crissy Field and got pulled out entirely, but I didn't know this. I was happy just to keep swimming. Besides I couldn't ask for better training conditions for Gibraltar. They say that swimming the English Channel is a 20 mile warm-up for a 1 mile sprint because the in the last mile the tides get weird and you have to have something left in your tank to get through to shore. Gibraltar has something similar, and the last bit takes extra effort. So to lose the tide and have to swim harder to make any headway was terrific. My left shoulder is sore tonight, but swimming in waves is a lot more work that swimming smoothly in the pool and it will get better. After the swim and some well deserved time in the sauna, we had a communal breakfast and a lot of good conversation. Everyone was impressed with our spirit, flexibility and good fortune that we could pull this off with such aplomb.
As I was leaving, my friend Joe, who I swam across Lake Tahoe with last summer, asked me about my training. He is piloting Paul Saab (who also helped me cross Tahoe) in his bid to swim the English Channel this August. Well between the two of them, they were quick to decide that I am not doing enough to strengthen my core, my lats, or the little muscles that protect my shoulders. Joe took me up to the club's gym and showed my three "must do" exercises, all of which I can do at home. I learned a lot about fuel too. I definitely need more practice. I only ate/drank a few ounces once in the two and a half hours I was out there. I need to focus on these details and not worry so much about getting the swim done. I was worried that I would get too cold and not make it, but I should have worried more about not taking advantage of this perfect opportunity to train for what's ahead. It often seems like one step forward and two steps back. But this is why swimming never gets boring :-)

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

WEEK 16 Stroke Doctor

At the pool this morning, I quickly learned that I hadn't really heard or understood what the stroke doctor had said. Raimey (a former Cal Swimmer and amazing athlete) heard me explain about not using your arms and just about died laughing. During her critique, she had been smart enough to take notes while the "doctor" spoke, so she had a much better recollection and understanding. But I am still happy with what I came away with from the session. I am surprised at how tired my arms are. I think I was trying a lot of new things. My primary focus was to point my fingers down towards the bottom of the pool, and start the catch earlier and with a high elbow. That plus keeping your neck extended, tightening your core, rotating more, kicking with a smaller amplitude...the list goes on forever. It is fun to be charged up about new ideas even if I can't do them or explain them. I am looking forward to the email with the video and the stroke analysis and the drill recommendations. Then I can really get confused.
I got a phone call today from Bob Roper, a San Francisco icon in the open water world. And he has a spot for me on a reverse Bay to Breakers swim on March 31st. This is great news. Bob does a lot of longer swims with a very small group of swimmers and I have been trying to break into his crowd. He asked me to wear fins, so I think he is worried that I am not fast enough to keep up with his group. I don't mind. It's still important practice of feeding and swimming in big water. All of which I need. I had spoken to him about a private swim from the Richmond San Rafael Bridge to Point Bonita on April 4th, but now that I am swimming Point Bonita to the Club on the 27th and a Reverse Bay to Breakers on the 31st...I don't think I should add an even longer swim as soon as April 4th. I will ask him to reschedule it for late April or early May. I hope to have Bob pilot me for my 6+ hour swim in the bay when the time comes. This Reverse Bay to Breakers will be a good start.
Yesterday I met another Channel swimmer who swims with my masters team, Steve Walker. This is such good news. It is so wonderful to have yet another person to get advice and information from. He is very encouraging and supportive. Quite a lucky find so close to home.
Yesterday, Joe Butler (SERC friend and Lake Tahoe crossing partner) sent out something written by "JP" that explained his training ideas for distance events. It is a great resource. And after reading it and Steve Walker's recounting of his training and swim, I think I should reduce the number of days that I am swimming. I think more variety of workouts and less swimming might make me stronger, and give my shoulders a break. I also have several long swims coming up, so I plan to cut out one pool day and replace it with a spinning class at the gym. I will try it tomorrow for the first time and report back.

Monday, March 22, 2010

WEEK 16 The Miracle of Video

This morning after workout, I was video taped while swimming. It was fascinating and terrifying. I know that I am not a fast swimmer, but now I know several reasons for my lack of speed. It's a wonder I get anywhere at all. The good news I guess is that there is a lot of room for improvement. The funny, no embarrassing part is that I turn my hand so that it moves easily through the water instead of making it create a paddle or an anchor from which to propel myself forward. He showed us video of Michael Phelps (yes the eight Olympic medal guy - that's how cool this stroke doctor is) who describes it as putting your hand in sand, and moving your body forward over it. It turns out that you don't swim with your arms, you swim with your core. And your head, and your knees just seem to get in the way. It seems to be a war between power and drag. It was fascinating seeing how everyone kicked too big, and swam with their head up a bit even though you know they all know not to and that it doesn't feel like they are doing that. The drill he most recommended for all of us was to swim without our arms, just fins, and rotate from side to side, to even swim rotate 360 degrees as you move down the pool. Also to swim with resistance and to put therabands on your ankles to strengthen your kick, and lastly, get this, to swim with a pull buoy between your ankles? This one I can't even visualize, but I can't wait to try it. Don't move your head, keep one eye below the water when you breathe and have a small fast kick. I, of course have the added difficulty of having my tummy be extra drag. My streamline was quite good on the top, but I need to use my core muscles to hold in my stomach as well as to do my swimming. The Stroke doctor was charming and encouraging and was very skilled at spotting one or two crucial things to address. For me it was my hand position and lack of core rotation. I turn my hand so that it is easier to move it through the water. Quite shocking when you think about it. The whole idea is to push water with your hand and I am spilling the water out. I may get better after all if I can address this bit. This is one of the reasons I never get bored swimming. There is always so much to think about and to work on. But it takes a video once in a while to see what you are doing because you can convince yourself that you are feeling the water when it's obvious that you are not. He also reminded me that if I swam with my core more than my arms I wouldn't get as tired...
I really need to engage my core in my program. Maybe take it to lunch and get to know it better. Maybe sit-ups?
More tomorrow after I try swimming with out my arms.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Today's Swim 3.21.10

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Untitled

Here are the details of today's swim, Sunday 3.21.10 (click on the Garmin Link above). I swam what the South End calls a "Sunriser" swim. Every morning at 6:00 am (7 on weekends) people gather at the club to do a swim. They decide where to go based on the tide and on how many people show up and or are willing to pilot and then away we go! Just as I arrived they were looking for drivers to ferry swimmers to the start. I had had a devil of a time finding parking and didn't want to drive, but I did anyway. And good thing too, everyone I drove was very clear that I would get a ticket if I had stayed in the creative space I had made. So I drove five adults in my small car to Broadway and Embarcadero, or Pier 7. We climbed over the railing at the end of the pier and jumped. The swim back to the club was fast because of a lovely ebb tide. It was a blast. Everyone was happy to be out there. When we got back to the opening of Aquatic Park where the club is, I and two friends reversed our direction and swam against the tide around the breakwater and then rode it back to the opening again, our weird swimmers version of a roller coaster ride. This took just over an hour, but I wanted to swim for two, so I did it again and then swam around the cove a few times. The temperature was a pleasant 55 degrees. It's funny how each degree in the 50-60 range feels like about ten degrees in warmer water. Just having the bay warm up from 54 to 55 makes a huge difference in my pleasure and in my ability to stay in longer.
Yesterday I met with Bob Roper to arrange to do an adventure swim on April 4th, four plus hours. But before that, Saturday, is the swim from Point Bonita (north of the golden gate bridge) back to the club. I don't know how long it is, but I hope to have my GPS so I can show you the map afterwards. This is my absolutely favorite type of swimming. Outside the Golden Gate Bridge is where the fun really begins. I love the big waves and the rough water. This is exactly the kind of practice I need for Gibraltar. I am very lucky to be able to train in the San Francisco Bay. Many marathon swimmers can only train in the pool and have to go to their destination to practice the open water aspects like feeding, and swimming with white caps splashing you on every breath. But I get to have that kind of fun anytime I can convince someone to pilot me outside the cove.
I am so excited. My arms are very tired after today. It will be interesting to see how they feel tomorrow in the pool.
Tomorrow is a big day too because I am being video taped for stroke analysis. I hope to be able to improve my efficiency and maybe even add a little speed.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

WEEK 17 Wednesday

Wednesday's are lovely...school starts later so I can get in an extra 500 yards. And Spring is here so it's light in the mornings. Life is good. I wish the same could be said for my stupid knee. It still hurts! It's been seven weeks and I still limp, it still swells after every workout and is sore if I do anything. I am bummed. I don't know if I should sign up for knee surgery or tough it out until after my swim. It's not so painful that I can't workout, but it is always there, a nagging ache, and sometimes pain. I have another doctor's appointment in two weeks, so I guess I will decide by then. But I hate having this worry hanging over my head, and it's annoying that I can't walk normally or for long distances. It's making me cranky all the time which is a drag too.
I have been bringing Gatorade to the pool in the mornings and I like having something to drink during the work out. It's not exactly "feeding" practice, but I like it anyway. This weekend I will swim some coves and feed after every mile or so. I plan to see how long I can stay in the cold water to make sure that I am ready for Point Bonita on the 27th. I still need to find a kayaker to pilot me too.
Maybe I can persuade Jorge to come for this event. We would have to find a Kayak since non-club members can't use club boats...
I haven't fit in a club/weight workout this week. Coco needs me to pick her up everyday after school now that Katharine isn't there to bring her home. I don't know how to get it all done. I have been neglecting the dog, the laundry, the house, and I am still only getting in 18,500K a week. This is not a lot of yardage. I need to more than double this by the time I leave for Spain.
Oh how did my happy welcome Spring post go down hill so fast into the depths of I'm not doing enough... I'll try to make up some yardage this weekend! Then I will feel better.
I signed up for a "stroke doctor" for next Monday too. He videos you swimming and then gives you stroke/technique advice. It should be fun and hopefully informational.

Monday, March 15, 2010

WEEK 17 and counting...

I finally made it back to the Bay this weekend. Truth be told, I was nervous. And it was cold. I have definitely lost some of my acclimatization, but I will get it back. I wasn't so cold in the water while I was swimming, but I was cold for a long time afterwards. Saturday I swam the "test" swim from Anita Rock back to the club. It was a glorious day, blue skies, puffy white clouds, blue water and only four swimmers. I swam with Chaz who is a good match for me and we swam some zigzags to let the other two catch up from time to time. I touched the AR (Anita Rock) buoy, the "X" buoy and the "too far out buoy" and Allen took pictures all the way along. I felt lucky and playful and happy to be frolicking in the Bay. Then Sunday, I piloted for the other 57 swimmers to have their fun. So I had to kayak from the club to Anita Rock (about 2.5 miles) against a light flood. It was more work than I had bargained for, but good for my upper back muscles (lats? maybe?). Then after every one was in and eating breakfast I went out and swam to Fort Mason and back against the flood. It was only an hour and the water temperature was 54.6 degrees, but I have been away from the Bay for three weeks so I can't expect to jump back in for two hours right away. Unfortunately the most challenging swim of the winter season is in two weeks, Point Bonita. I hope I am ready for three hours in the cold...
After this morning's workout in the pool, where I added an extra 200 yards, my arms are dead. If I had to garden or paint I wouldn't be able to. I can lift them, but I can't do anything sustained. I hope that this is a symptom of getting stronger.
I am happy to be back in the Bay, I look forward to Allen's pictures. I'll post them when I get them.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

WEEK 18 continued...

Life is good...this morning's workout was fun. We swam 10 x 100's on the 1:50. I know this is slow, but I was happy to be consistent. Each one was between 1:29 (the first one) and 1:34 (seven, eight and nine) and the last one was 1:32. I focused on trying to be smooth and efficient. Compare this to Monday's workout when we swam 500, 400, 300, 200, 100 and the hundreds in the five hundred were 1:40 and sloppy. Every time I get in the water I concentrate on the feeling of moving through it. Somehow this never gets boring. There are so many variables that can be done in so many different ways. It takes real skill, which I have yet to acquire, but it is fascinating in the hunt. My arms are tired as I sit here at work. It feels like I am growing new muscles. I hope it's true .

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

WEEK 18 cont...

I bought my plane ticket to Spain!!! This is exciting and expensive ($1400).
And I have been going to the gym (and PT for the knee) to get my shoulders and my core stronger. These feel like very positive steps. I have also arranged a "swim lesson" with a fabulous open water swimmer in Napa that everyone at the South End Rowing Club recommends for this Saturday. I have still been "doggin" my workouts in the pool though. I am still coughing a lot at night so my sleep is interrupted. I am tired; but I just can't see how I would get better any faster by not swimming. And I would go crazy with worry that I wouldn't make my plan goals if I stayed out of the water any longer. Every one I talk to says that this cold/cough is lingering for about 6 weeks so I hope to be better soon.
This weekend the club swim is short, Anita Rock, so I have volunteered to kayak/pilot and will swim on my own in and out of the cove after. I've been three weekends away from the bay so I may find that I do not have 2+ hours in me, but the bay is warming up so I hope to be fine. I am slated to swim two hours both days in the bay and I need to because there is a Point Bonita swim on March 27th and I have to be ready for that one. I have never swum from Pt. Bonita back to the club (under the Golden Gate Bridge) because every time it has been scheduled, we have had bad weather and fog so it gets cancelled or shortened.
I have new pictures from Tahoe and from other people swimming Gibraltar but I keep forgetting to post them Maybe this reminder will help :-)
I have been busy with my moonlighting gig. One of the ways I am paying for this crazy swim it to be the Registrar for the local club soccer team. It is about four weeks of chaos, sprinkled with a few extra days of headache, but it nets me about $3,000 and I need the funds. I have plans :-)
Stick with me, I'm going places!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Week 18

Wow I need to get going...WEEK 18? I spent Saturday in Tahoe swimming 250 yards in 39 degree water. Kinda crazy, kinda fun, but maybe not enough fun to do it again. The entry into the water is over slippery rocks which is tough, and once you commit and put your head in, the cold sucks all of the air out of your lungs and the cold water compresses them so that, in your panic, you can't seem to take a breath. As my friend Bryce says, "I have to keep reminding myself to breath out because the cold makes you keep sucking in air when there is no room left". The way out was miserable; I tried backstroke, breaststroke and stopping, but could not get a breath. My goggles fogged up and I found myself swimming into one of the support boats. Once I stopped to avoid it I realized that I was quite far off course. I'm sure they were worried that I was hypothermic and delusional, but I was just slow witted from the cold. I found the buoy, and made it around. The swim back was not bad at all. It was almost, almost a normal swim. I found my rhythm and my stroke and even could breath every once in a while. But by then my hands and feet were on fire. Then it's back over the slippery, sharp rocks again with your frozen feet not responding, it was a show of 'grace and beauty' and bright red bodies flopping out of the water to the cheers of an unbelieving crowd. All in all a ridiculous experience. About 50 men and women went into the water, but only about 25 made the distance. For me, I know it was the coldest that I have ever been, because it was the first time that I my teeth chattered and that I shivered. It is a weird event because the swimmers are the entertainment for the bar crowd. It is "Winter Fest" and the Polar Bear Swim at Garwoods is one of the events around the lake. The best part of the weekend was that we were a group of South End friends celebrating our crazy love of cold water swimming.
I would like to get back on track, this sidestep in my trajectory didn't seem worth the missed training in the Bay. I want to do some long swims, NOW. I know I will. I have a "plan" and it is moving steadily forward, but I am frustrated. Time seems to move both too slowly and too fast. And I am still coughing enough to make people uncomfortable around me and to interrupt my sleep every night. That is getting old. I know that I will be less cranky once I start sleeping through the night again.

I joined a gym last week which is a good thing. I am planning on going there twice a week to work on strength training and maybe one "spin class" if I can make the schedule work. I am surprised that I don't feel very fit even though I swim six days a week. I used to run as well, and that somehow made me feel a bit more in shape and stronger. But the running is off for a while so I need to use the bike and the weights. I know that I can do the Gibraltar swim, but I seem to want something more out of all of this training than just that. I am feeling a little lost at the moment, a bit off kilter and rudderless, but these feeling usually pass. And I haven't swum in the Bay for over three weekends (and the two weeks in between) so I know that I will be rejuvenated and recommitted once I get back to the Bay.
I hope to be in a better mood the next time I sit down to say hi.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Week 19 YEAH!

I am so happy. I swam this morning and am high from it. It is surprising just how good a bit of exercise can make me feel. I am also happy because I went to see my knee surgeon and we decided against immediate surgery. YEAH!
He said that I would improve with surgery, but that it wasn't mandatory, and that I would get better either way. It might not prove to be true, but he said that I could easily wait until after my Gibraltar swim if I still need it. I will be in some pain either way so why take the chance of making things worse? I know that I can swim as is and PT is making progress. So I am thrilled. I may not be allowed to run for a long time, but I can swim and bike and that will be good enough for now.

I have been reading inspirational quotes from the channel group and would like to poach a few for my blog:

"I have never understood why "hard work" is supposed to be pitiable.... You get tired, of course, often in despair, but the struggle, the challenge, the feeling of being extended as you never thought you could be, is fulfilling and deeply, deeply satisfying." Rumer Godden (1907-1998), English writer

"Prepare for the worst - Hope for the best. You are entering the unknown and pushing the limits." Michael Oram

These ideas seem so powerful. I especially love the confusion about "hard work". That has always stymied me too. Hard work is just that, work. And it feels good, especially when it's over. I did run a marathon once and think I may have missed the last two miles...I ran (jogged/walked) them, but I wasn't there for them. I was lying down on the warm asphalt breathing quietly, in my mind at least. But my body did pass over the finish line so I must have made it. I don't know if I can swim "unconsciously" but I bet it's been done.
I plan to train hard enough so that I won't need to swim unconsciously, but I hope that if it's still safe, my pilot will let me just keep going until I'm done.
Today is a good day.

WEEK 19

Week 20 was a bust. I was sick and out of the water for ten days. That is the longest stretch without swimming since having babies (my youngest is 14). So I was pretty low.
But today is a new day, and a new week, and a "recovery week" so I am in the water, not pushing myself and trying to get back to my program.
It felt wonderful to dive into the pool this morning. The water actually felt soft. It was unusually warm too which was a lovely way to start over. I did feel like I had forgotten how to swim, but it came back to me. I received so much support and reminders to "take it easy" and to "listen to my body" from every one that I have been introduced to in the Channel Chat room. It has done wonders for my feeling of well being. Normally I would have been fretting and worrying that I had blown my training and that I had to swim even if I was coughing up a lung. But so many swimmers told me that they had had to stay out for several weeks and that they were stronger for the rest etc...
I am choosing to believe them, and to remember that I still have 19 weeks to work.
I am getting a bit impatient. Now I want to be doing some long swims and to feel like I am getting stronger. But I need to stick to my plan and increase steadily.
This weekend is an odd one. I am going to Lake Tahoe for a Polar Bear Swim with many South End friends. The water should be around 39 degrees (very cold) and the distance is only about 250 yards which is ridiculously short and yet quite daunting at that temperature. I swam this "race" last year and felt like my swimming was not swimming but "not drowning" instead. I couldn't understand why the safety people weren't pulling me out. I didn't feel like I took one legitimate stroke, but it must have looked different from above the water. My body refused to work in the normal way. It will be fun to see if this year is better.
I had hoped to ski "The Great Race" on the next day (Cross Country 30 K), but my knee has put any hopes of that to rest.
Today I see the surgeon and will find out his recommendation.
Wish me luck...

The Gibraltar Straits