This afternoon was my first foray into a body of water larger than a bathtub in a week. It was a little hard for me to be dry that long but I think my body appreciated the rest. I was a little overzealous in warm up and was hanging right besides Mike way longer than I usually do. We had 3000 planned out but it didn’t really happen. We got started a little too late and ended up cutting a set of 5 x 100 in the interest of time.
100/200/400/200/100
Repeat x 3
100 IM
2 X 75 (50 breast, 25 free)
3 x 50 back
4 x 25 fly
2500 yards total
During the swim I shared a few ideas that were growing in my head from my trip to the US Aquatics Sports Convention and I’m excited about something I may have brewing for next year… we’ll see how that goes. I have a ton of other things in the works at the moment that I’ll be announcing shortly once I catch up with life in general. Tomorrow I’ll be out at Avila Beach for a swim but my regular swim buddy has a late meeting so hopefully someone else shows. Our Wednesdays have been mellowing out with 2-4 swimmers for a lot of them so we’ll see if I have company or not.
Beth with a swimmer on a day with much smaller surf
The Distance Swim Challenge is fast approaching (less than a month away!) and my Kayaker for the event, Beth Barnes, went out this weekend to try and paddle the course with some swimmers. The ocean didn’t necessarily agree with this plan, but there’s a lot to learn from her excursion for those of you like me that are planning to swim the 12.6 mile race! Here’s the note she sent me about it:
Yesterday I was asked to be support kayaker to two young ladies who will be swimming the October 16th Distance Swim Challenge from Manhattan Beach to Santa Monica. As I have already committed to be Rob D’s support kayaker for the actual race day, I jumped at the chance to paddle the course to give Rob and me a little advantage on race day.
We arrived on time after a major logistical undertaking of meeting at Rose Avenue then reloading my kayak on someone elses car to go down to Manhattan, then swim back to our cars at Rose Avenue.
When we arrived, the rest of the folks we were meant to meet were in various stages of arrival and preparedness. We waited dutifully for everyone to gather so we could launch the kayaks together and at least begin the swim as a unit. As it happened, the other kayaks launched and got underway as Rebecca, Amy and I stood to assess the pounding waves, 3-5′!
It was Manhattan’s first major swell in 6 weeks according the Lifeguards who stopped frequently to ask why we were attempting to launch in such huge waves. Of course, we explained that we had a swim to do, much to their dismay. Judging by the amount of surfers in the water, it was obvious that the break favored surfing and not trying to push out with a kayak. The other three kayaks powered by men got out with some trouble, but they at least got out through the surfline. We never achieved our goal.
It is a fine and developed art to be able to read the sets and then to grab the short window of launching opportunity and although Amy, Rebecca and I tried three times, each time we got beaten back. Almost had it once, but one last wave tumbled the kayak, with me in it and it wasn’t long before we ended up back on shore with all the supplies, and us, in disarray! Thankfully everything was tethered in bags with carabiners but it was still not an optimal way to start a ten mile swim, with a kayak, and kayaker in disarray!
After three unsuccessful attempts we had to plea defeat. Another lifeguard truck approached and said it was wise that we choose that path and he told us that it looked awful from where he was standing and if it looks awful from shore we could be sure that it was ten times more awful in the thick of it. We knew that!
It was a terrible pity that the kayakers did not stick together to help one another because although as a kayaker, I have incredible endurance for distance paddling, I am slight of build and could not find the power to see me through that last big wave. It required a blast of incredible energy to meet the ferocious wave head on and make it through to the other side. I did not have that power, hence, my third defeat! I am not ashamed, I gave it every ounce of energy and perseverance I had, as did Rebecca and Amy in their attempt to guide me out.
Unfortunately, my swimmers had to forfeit their chance to swim the course and I felt responsible all day. Not a good feeling for me, but they were kind and understanding. They did the 2 mile circuit between the Manhattan and Hermosa piers and although not their ideal, they never once complained. Thanks Rebecca and Amy.
So, the moral of the story is to pray, pray, pray for no waves the day of the race. I am hoping that the race director will have an alternative plan for launching kayaks and if not, that he will at least have experts available to help the kayakers launch through the waves. Once past the breakline, we’ll be home free to escort our swimmers as best we can. From what I could see at the finish, the waters should be fairly easy to negotiate.
If you are a swimmer then please be sure that your kayaker is prepared for waves and that their kayak is fully equipped to endure dumps. This means mesh bags and carabiners and nothing that is free to escape an upturned kayak. It maybe something you need AND we want to ensure that we leave no rubbish free to end up on the beach.
I invite anyone who is interested in learning more to contact me at: www.ikayak4u.com. I’m always happy to share my experiences, good and bad in order to further the cause of being the best kayakers we can be for our swimmers because…our swimmers rock!
Beth on our 5 mile swim in Alamitos Bay last month
trying to look studious in the USMS House of Delegates
Things have been a little quiet around here recently… I spent Wednesday through Sunday at the United States Aquatic Sports Convention in Dallas, TX and never even turned on my computer. I was wrapped up in all kinds of meetings, workshops, conversations with swimmer folk, and the occasional excursion into the unbelievably hot and humid streets of Dallas. This was my second trip to Convention as a delegate for my local LMSC and I was stoked to see what I could learn/contribute/accomplish this time around now that I knew how everything worked.
I flew out super early Wednesday morning and very randomly ended up sitting right next to my mom on the plane to Phoenix (my first connection). We knew we were both flying that week but didn’t realize we were going the same day… on the same airline… in the same row… on the same side of the plane. What are the odds right? From Phoenix I was off to Dallas and mom made her way to Milwaukee. In Phoenix I saw a fair number of TYR, B70 and Speedo backpacks floating around which could only mean one thing… I found the swimmers. Once in Dallas I caught a ride with a friend and one of her friends to 1. acquire BBQ and 2. get to the convention hotel. A pound and half of brisket later we were at the Hyatt ready to go!
The first evening was largely being social and getting registered/credentialed. I hung out for part of the Wednesday night party hosted by our insurance provided and then retired to the USMS suite for most of the rest of the evening… and possibly part of the very early hours of the next day :) On the way back to my room to go to bed I ran into a friend and somehow ended up having a drink and chatting with David Marsh. A little unexpected but very cool.
The next few days were a total blur of meetings, workshops and voting with social activities squeezed in in between. The committee meetings can be a little hard to endure sometimes when you’re not a member, but the workshops that I went to were really good. I think I walked away with some actionable ideas from the 2 I attended.
Saturday night at Convention always consists of a banquet that includes all the sports represented there. Water Polo, Diving, Synchronized Swimming, USA Swimming, and Masters Swimming. Everyone hands out awards, USMS included, but we also do a skit for some light entertainment in the midst of all these serious awards presentations. This year I was pulled into the skit. I ended up being a planned distraction in the middle of the skit. Since I’m a large bald guy with a fairly ridiculous beard they figured I would be an excellent beer delivery man. My job was to burst into the room in a tank top and jeans (this is a very dressy affair) carrying a couple of kegs with me. While getting ready to do this I had an awkward moment with Olympic Diving legend Greg Louganis. Who can say that every day? Anyways I was busy essentially undressing in a short hallway next to a rollerbag suitcase with 2 mini kegs in it while hidden just past the door to the banquet hall… Greg looked at me kind of funny, smiled and said hi and then went on with his business. I guess that part of it made embarrassing myself in front of like 1200 people a little more worth it :)
During the banquet I made one other appearance, but this time it was in a video for USMS. I’m sort of in the middle and my disembodied voice is with you for a while…
While I was out in Dallas I saw lots of friends from all over the country. Some I was meeting in person for the first time after connecting online, some I was seeing again after swimming with them in various lakes and oceans this summers, some I was meeting for the first time ever, and some I was seeing for the first time in about 15 years! I recently reconnected with a friend I swam high school and age group with (and lived across the street from when we were really young and I didn’t swim yet) on Facebook and as luck would have it we’re both still involved in swimming. He’s coaching in Iowa and came as to Dallas for the USA Swimming festivities. It was super cool to catch up in person after such a long stretch of time! Hopefully I start seeing him in Masters events too… I tried to sell him on Masters Nationals in Mesa, AZ next year, no commitment yet but I’ve still got like 8 months to work on it :)
If you want the highlights on the convention check out the press release from USMS over here. Eventually all the meeting minutes should pop up on the USMS sites as well if you want to dig deeper into what went on and what got accomplished at convention. If you have an interest in getting involved and going to the USAS Convention ask around at your LMSC level. The convention is a good time and there’s a lot to be learned by going.
I normally swim on Tuesdays at the pool in Santa Maria, but today it was announced on Facebook that we’d be celebrating Mike’s birthday a little early with some cupcakes which absolutely confirmed my attendance! Last time there were baked goods on deck I missed out completely so this time around I was taking no chances!
I was the first one of my group at the pool and started with about 200 yards before anyone else got there. Once some of the other kids did show up instead of actually swimming we all ended up talking about each other’s races. Dani recapped her half ironman from the weekend and I gave them the full rundown on Big Shoulders. It became obvious pretty quickly everyone was in slacker mode today and honestly I was ok with it because my right shoulder is a little angry with me and could only handle so much excitement anyways.
shadow breaststroker
By the time Mike, who wrote the workout, got to the pool at 12:30 we’d yet to finish the warm up :) We basically decided to do one of the larger sets from his workout and just call it a day. I mean there were more important things to attend to… like cupcakes.
200 swim
mess around…
200 swim
4 x 50 scull/swim
2 x 50 drill
100 @ 1:30
2 x 50 drill
200 @ 3:00
2 x 50 drill
300 @ 4:30
cool down – eat cupcakes
1500 yards and 1500 calories… whoops
messing around while sculling
It was nice to hang out on the deck in the sun and demolish some chocolatey delicious cupcakes made by our own Danilu. I think we need to recruit more people to our workout group in order to increase the birthday density and hence the cupcake density of our workouts :)
Tomorrow I’ll be up at like 4am to start my trek to Dallas for the US Aquatic Sports Convention. If you see me running around make sure to say hi!
floating off the left side of the pier soaking in some 57 degree salt water
After a really excellent weekend in Chicago I landed in San Luis Obispo late Sunday night. I’ll be leaving town again early Wednesday morning for Dallas which means I only had 2 days to find my way into the ocean! Normally I swim Wednesday nights in Avila Beach, but I managed to talk my regular ocean swim buddy Niel into a special Monday night trip so I could get my cold salt water fix. I’m glad he was available because it was a beautiful night for it! No fog, just sunshine and a little wind. You could see the water moving pretty quickly right to left but the resultant chop wasn’t too big. We settled on the classic triangle course in the clockwise direction because it would involve the least amount of time staring into the soon to be setting sun.
not bad right? I could think of worse places to be Monday night!
Getting in the water took me a little while. I’m still tired and probably a bit dehydrated/jet-lagged from this weekend’s festivities and anytime I’m not feeling 100% the acclimatization process always seems to be a little harder than usual. Luckily Niel was in no hurry and let me ease my way in. Eventually I picked a wave that looked big enough that it couldn’t be avoided and dove through it to get all the way wet. Once I’d been officially dunked I was ready to go. We swam out to the first buoy and then stopped there just to make sure we were both ok and on track. I was still a bit cold but it was fading.
Niel at the first buoy
From that buoy it was a short jaunt to the end of the line and then we turned towards the top of the pier. On this leg we were going into the chop a bit but the angle we were taking made it not so bad. Plus the wind was really starting to lay down as we made our way through the swim. We took a break at the end of the pier to regroup and chat a little bit. I like talking out in the middle of the ocean… partially because it’s just a weird place to have a conversation and partially because the people on the pier staring at us think we’re totally nuts :)
Eventually we figured it was a good idea to embark on the second half of our route. We angled for the far buoy on the other side of the pier out by the creek. Again we were moving towards the chop but at an angle that made it not too bad. We settled into a pretty good rhythm on the way down but we did make one very brief unplanned stop. Niel was in front of me a bit and had to stop and refind the buoy we were aiming for because he lost it in the glare from the sun. Those skinny white buoys are nearly invisibly when the light hits the water the right way!
Out at the creek buoy we made our last stop and planned how we wanted to finish the swim. Since there were guys fishing on the side we started from and their lines were floating way out thanks to the wind we decided to stay on this side for our finish to avoid getting hooked. While we were figuring this out I saw my first couple seals of the evening. I thought it had been suspiciously wildlife free. 2 heads popped up off to our right and just sort of checked us out. When we made the turn back to the beach I noticed we had another one follow about 15m behind us all the way to the surf. They really are like big curious chubby dogs… it’s too bad they’re also shark bacon. On the one hand your brain is going “oh hey cool seals!” on the other hand it’s also thinking about who eats the seals. So they’re really just friendly harbingers of doom :)
there's 2 little black seal heads out there
All told we got in about a mile tonight. It was a great swim and I really didn’t want to get out at the end once I started to realize it’d probably be over a week before I hit the ocean again because of my trip to Texas! Ahhh! After we got dried off we grabbed some dinner at a place facing the beach and chatted until the sun dropped behind the mountains and into the water. Tomorrow I’m off to the pool for a workout there and then Wednesday it’s Dallas for the US Aquatic Sports Convention…
choppy, windy, rainy and cold... what's not to like?
One of the best things about open water is you never get the same race twice… even if it’s the same course… today’s Big Shoulders swim was totally different from last year! We had wind, rain, chop, and 62ish degree water. I had no idea Lake Michigan could get this stirred up and gnarly inside the breakwater off of Ohio Street Beach. Needless to say I totally dug this version of Big Shoulders :) Not to say I wouldn’t have appreciated a little sunshine on my back, but I think overall this was a great experience.
everyone getting signed in and numbered
I started my day with a walk from the hotel to the beach. As I neared the lake front I could feel the wind really kicking. I started to smile to myself because I knew the water was going to be a mess which would make the race exponentially more interesting. This year I made sure to be there right on time to speed up the standing in line portion of the morning. With 800 people registered it can take some time to get everyone checked in and marked up. While I was getting numbered, and they were really thorough in their marking this year… both arms and both legs… I ran into my friend Ben who is the guy who has been doing all the great video editing for USMS. He’s the one who put together my open water video a few months back that was on the USMS homepage for a couple weeks. We caught up a little bit and did a little pre-race interview so hopefully you guys will see my smiling bearded face in a new video sometime soon :)
Getting numbered up... photo from the USMS Facebook Page
After hanging out and talking with folks on the beach for a bit I decided to go get wet. No one else had really gotten in that I had seen so I figured I might as well be “that guy” and break the ice. I swam out a couple of buoys and messed around with my new camera to make sure it works underwater and figure out how everything works. The water felt great, it was a touch colder than yesterday but good for me. A lot of the other kids swimming today didn’t really share my opinion however. I think the wetsuit rental tent was doing some pretty brisk business today!
experimental aquatic self portraiture
Once I got out of the water pretty much everybody I passed asked me about the water temperature. The stock response was something along the lines of it’s plenty tropical just like Hawaii… I don’t think anyone believed me :) Around 10 minutes later they pulled us together for a race briefing and then sent the first wave off into the water. This year started with an “Elite” wave that was supposed to be the 50 fastest swimmers in the race. There were definitely some legit people in the mix this morning… this has got to be one of the most competitive masters events in the country (don’t read that as fast people only btw, if you’re not super fast don’t worry you’ll still have fun too). I hopped in the water for the start to get some video and take a couple pictures…
the elite wave getting in the water
Once I was done shooting video I had to hurry back to the beach and run across the start mat for my timing chip. I was the last dude in my heat to get in the water! The downside to this was I started way in the back of the pack. Once the horn went off for us to go I had nowhere to go! Major traffic jam-age was in effect that first couple hundred meters. Even though it was tight I didn’t get hit too bad by anybody. Someone did scratch me up really good with their timing chip though. He swam like diagonally across me and scratched me on my back and arm with the edges of it. I think that’s my weirdest mini injury of the year. As we got closer to that first turn it started to separate out decently but it was still pretty dense. This is a good thing though because sighting to that buoy was nearly impossible, I let the pack lead me and just hoped that they were right. I fell into a pretty good rhythm but it didn’t feel too fast, probably because you had to adjust fire so much for the water conditions. The chop was really impressive and unpredictable so you really had to go with the flow when picking when and how to breathe in order to not inhale lake water.
The rest of the triangle course is pretty easy to navigate since you can use the Chicago skyline as your guide. I never really saw buoys 2 and 3 until I was right on top of them. Once I got going with lap 2 I had plenty of room to do my own thing but I could always see somebody to make sure that I was on course. Once I came around the 1st turn buoy for the 2nd time I decided to take a quick photo break. I figured I was in no danger of winning anything, a minute wouldn’t kill me, and if I had a camera in my swimsuit I might as well get a little use out of it! I moved myself far enough away that I wouldn’t impede anyone’s progress and started to take pics/video. I think some of the lifeguard types in one of the rowboats started yelling something at me but I have no idea what they were saying. In case it was “are you ok” I flashed a thumbs up… but I don’t think that’s what they meant because they kept yelling something. After a minute I was back on my way, but in the meantime here’s the only video of the race from way out in the water!
The rest of the race was pretty mellow, but I did fall in pace with a random breaststroke kicker for a while that I put a lot of effort into avoiding. This is a pet peeve of mine… if you need a break or to pop your head up, please don’t frog kick until you KNOW there isn’t someone’s head/chest/stomach/etc within striking distance! I saw a lot of this today because of all the chop. What I try to do when in that situation is breaststroke hands with a light dolphin kick. You get to see and no one get kicked, it’s a win win. Anyways… once I hit the last turn I tried to pick it up a little bit. I took a line a little closer to the wall this time, I’m not sure that was the best call however. The water seem rougher the closer you got to it.
I ended up finishing around 9:44 which would put my time around 1:41 which is waaaay slower than last year. Luckily everybody was way slower. They announced that the winning times this year were something like 12 minutes behind the year previous! A lot of people I talked to added 15-20 minutes to their previous times.
I hung out on the beach for a while afterwards talking to people in the drizzle. Apparently it had rained pretty hard while we were in the water and the jacket I used to cover up my stuff was soaked! Luckily I didn’t have anything water sensitive in there! Even with my jacket as cover my shirt got wet but my race tshirt didn’t so I wore that on my way home… only to get that soaked on the way there!
I love the view here! such a cool venue!
Eventually I went back to the hotel to wash the lake off me and then venture back into town. I went back to Michigan Avenue to do a little shopping and then hopped a cab to the Shedd Aquarium. It’s pretty good, worth the trip. From there I put some mileage on my flip flops… I walked up the lake front to the Navy Pier and then back to the hotel. I finished up my evening with dinner in town with my buddy Evan and his wife. Now my big internal debate is what to do tomorrow morning before I split town… sneak in one last swim or sleep in? I really want to do both, we’ll see which one wins out :)
I landed in Chicago around 5 this morning and hopped on a train towards downtown. According to my phone I should have gotten off the train and then taken a bus to the part of town my hotel was in but I decided that it was close enough and walked the rest of the way there instead… just me and my roller bag at 6am in downtown Chicago :) It turned out to be a really good idea. There was almost nobody on the street except for the occasional jogger and I got to watch the sun come up through all the big buildings and light up the river. The day before I had planned out a swim with my buddy Evan (he blogs over at freshwaterswimmer.com) at the site of Big Shoulders for around 8am. I figured I’d check my bags at the hotel and meet him down by the water. Much to my surprise they let me check in which was incredibly awesome! This made my day substantially better.
view down the bike path
I walked over to the beach a little later and met Evan on the sidewalk along the side of the water. The lake shore was looking really beautiful and sunny today. The water was a little textured though… wasn’t sure how that would translate once we got in. Evan had a thermometer with him and measured 60.5 degrees in the water but after swimming and talking to other people we’re pretty sure that wasn’t exactly on point. It was probably closer to 61-62 when we swam and it sounds like it got warmer as the day went on.
Evan letting it be known I was in for a beating :)
We decided to swim down the buoy line that runs parallel to the sea wall. Evan is quite a bit faster than me (he’s your 10k, 2 mile, and 3-6 mile USMS Open Water National Champion for his age group!) so he stopped every once and a while to let me close the gap a bit so we wouldn’t get too spread out. The thing that really stood out when we started swimming was how choppy it was. The interesting part of the choppiness was how messy it was. There was no pattern, it just came from everywhere. It got worse the closer you got to the breakwater. I think the water bouncing off the seawall, breakwater, and the wake from the boats was combining to make for a really interesting time in the water.
it doesn't look that dramatic from above but it was pretty formidable while you were in it
Back on the beach we ran into another swimmer who was out scoping the conditions at the lake. He let on that he was a little nervous about the swim, but when we asked him a few questions about his open water experience he mentioned a few channel crossings in passing so I think he’ll do just fine with this! After we left Ohio Street Beach we made a stop for breakfast and chatted for what turned into a couple hours. Evan also made the trip out to all 5 USMS Open Water National Championships this year so we’ve seen a lot of each other this summer despite living 2000 miles apart.
Later in the day I went exploring Chicago’s Magnificent Mile and found myself a new waterproof camera to replace my old trusty Pentax that I just killed this week. The new one is an Olympus Stylus Tough 6020. So far it seems pretty good but I haven’t gotten it wet yet. Tomorrow it’ll get the best test I can think of… swimming Big Shoulders with me! In the evening I went and hit a social held for the meet a few blocks away from my hotel and had some good conversations with other swimmers that are going to be out in the water tomorrow. This swim is really drawing in people from all over, besides me out from California we had people from Kansas, Michigan, and Ohio at my table. I’m stoked to get out and swim tomorrow… but first I need to sleep!!! Hopefully tomorrow I have some cool pictures for you all from in the water with my fancy new camera :)
tomorrow will look about like this but with an extra 800 people!
So it finally happened… I managed to break my waterproof camera after what was probably literally 100+ miles tucked into my speedo in the ocean along with numerous trips to the pool. The good news is I got my money’s worth out of it and I get to buy a new camera! The bad news is I leave for Chicago in less than 24 hours and my prospects of replacing it in time are poor. I managed to find one I liked at Best Buy but they didn’t actually have one to sell which was a little not so convenient. The other local chain type stores sell them online but not in person which is lame, so who knows how this problem will get solved… I’ll figure something out. In the meantime I couldn’t do a post without pictures right? So instead you get the MS Paint Illustrated version of today’s Ocean swim :)
Anyways, so there I was right….
Avila was super fogged in tonight and only 3 of us made the trek out. The left hand side of the pier was as good as non-existent. There was however a break in the fog on the right hand side of the pier so we planned a course out on just that side. We would swim to the buoy line and follow it to the end, then swim to the Poly Pier, cut back to the Avila Pier and then swim down the side of it back to the beach. It’s probably about a mile or so.
if you can't tell.... that's fog, water, and sand
Niel Measured the water temp at 58… my body disagreed strongly with this measurement! I think it was just the fog but it felt really cold today. It took me a lot longer than usual to warm up and get comfortable without any solar assistance. The further out we swam towards the Poly Pier the colder it got too… that part wasn’t in my imagination, the other guys were feeling cold spots through their wetsuits. The actual ocean conditions were really calm and I didn’t see a single seal today. Since it was pretty cold feeling there wasn’t too much chit chatting at our regrouping points. The only real conversation was where to go once we hit the midway point. How we finished the swim was going to be dependent on the thickness of the fog.
Me, Ryan and Niel negotiating the second half of the swim
On our way to the tip of the Avila Pier our path was crossed by a bunch of outrigger canoes! Luckily they were paying attention and saw us out there in the fog! There’s a local group that practices in Avila and apparently tonight was a big night out for them since they were like 6 or 7 boats deep. We chatted a bit with one of the boats while they were lining up for something and we were getting ready to swim down the pier to the beach. The gist of it was they couldn’t believe we were in the water today, and we were just happy they didn’t run us over. Soon after we were off and running for dry land.
On the way down to the beach the fog started breaking up and the sun was breaking though… figures. By the time we were all standing on the beach it had turned totally gorgeous with Avila Beach full of sunshine while the fog of the marine layer lay just far enough off the coast.
naturally the sun came out right at the end of our swim!
Tomorrow I’m probably going to get in one more pool workout and then I’m hopping a plane after work to fly to Chicago for Big Shoulders. I’m stoked to be off to a far away swim… it was nice to have some time at home in California but I’m ready to get back out in the world for a while.
The guy who usually runs our noon workouts is finally back in full effect this week. He’s been off to coach places and ASCA and all that stuff, but now we’ve got his full attention again. Since this is kind of the start of his “season” we’re dialing the yardage back a bit and focusing on technique… not exactly where I was planning on being right now but I’ll take technique days where ever I can because my stroke is definitely not perfect!
I think we had about 6 swimmers today and we put in about 2000 yards. Most of it in small pieces and some of it with fins on. There was a lot of different versions of one armed swimming drills and stroke counting going on. On the 100′s stroke count I swam 13,13,12,13 each time so I guess I’m pretty reasonably consistent. At one point in there we did 10 x 37.5 dolphin kick which I thought was kind of fun. I’ve always liked doing 25′s from mid pool to work on turns so this was kind of up my alley.
Although we didn’t go far today I feel like I got a pretty decent workout. I’m a very uncomfortable driller so when we drill I try to slow way down and do it right. It’s hard for me to do things differently from how I want to do them and I really need to think about how to isolate a movement or stop myself from doing something I’m not supposed to. It sounds like Thursday’s workout is going to be more of the same and then as the weeks go on we’ll pile more yardage on top of this thing again.
Chilling (in multiple meanings of the word) out at the end of the pier
Today was round 2 out at Avila. We had essentially the same conditions as yesterday, there just weren’t as many birds or seals patrolling the water today. We ended up with 8 swimmers total and one of the guy’s kids on a paddle board following us around. A lot of the faces today were new to me but not to the group. They had been regulars back in the day but hadn’t been around in quite some time. I think there was an impending Alcatraz swim coming that had gotten them out and into the ocean.
marching into the ocean
Getting in the water today was just as hard as it was yesterday but at least I had more company in the non-wetsuit department! I think we were half the group today! That’s pretty major for our Avila Beach swims. The front end of our plan was to swim out to the right hand side of the buoy line and then swim way down towards the point and eventually swim to the top of the pier. From there it was negotiable.
On the way out to the point I kept running into free floating chunks of kelp. I swam through one section that was all kelp bulbs and it felt like I was swimming through slimy Christmas ornaments… a very odd sensation for sure. Since there was a big spread in speeds today I spent a lot of time just waiting and treading water. Luckily I was doing pretty well with the water temps after I managed to get adjusted. Once we swam to the pier I probably spent at least 5+ minutes just chilling (literally) off the tip. I could feel the cold in my fingers and toes, but as long as I kept them moving I was ok. During this period is where the group split up. 4 swimmers continued on down to the last buoy on the other side of the pier and then back in. 1 swimmer went straight in along the pier. And 3 of us swam way out to the Poly pier and then back to the buoy line and in.
negotiating the rest of today's route
Duke, Niel and myself set a course for one of the big cross braces on the Poly pier and got to work getting there, it’s a pretty decently long stretch. I tried to just hang on to Duke today on the way there but he was pretty quick today. Instead I just navigated off of his bright orange cap. Once we got to the pier I think he was the one to mention that he hadn’t seen any seals yet today, and right on cue we heard a big wet “pfffffffft” behind us. The seals were out, they just didn’t feel like making themselves known until we were at the furthest possible point from the beach! Jerks :)
Duke and Niel out at the Poly Pier
I was feeling pretty good temperature wise at this point but Duke was getting pretty chilly and wanted to split right quick. Normally we would stop and regroup once we hit the buoy line and the pier but he just kept going to keep his insides warm. Me and Niel were fine with this since all 3 of us are Avila regulars and knew where we were going. Plus we all hold pretty similar paces in the ocean and the regroupings would have really been just a formality anyways.
Once back on the beach we were set up for our regular post holiday swim pot luck action. We hung out and ate and talked about swimmer stuff… water temps, sea life encounters, events past and future, and whatever else anyone had on their minds. During this time is also when a couple thousand birds decided to swirl back into a big ball off the left hand side of the pier. Luckily they showed up after our swim this time! The fact that they keep showing up makes me a little uncomfortable though… how many little fish are there out there to eat right now?
After hanging out on the beach for a while I made my way down to Port San Luis to meet up with a friend for a quick Stand Up Paddleboarding excursion. We rented some boards from SLO Coast Kayaks (“hey aren’t you that guy from yesterday?”) and after some brief instruction they pushed us off into the water to go do our thing. Although I’m not actually good at it I had the advantage of doing this once before and tried to keep things real slow while my friend got her bearings on the board. We ended up cruising through the parked boats and out towards the Poly Pier. The sun never broke all the way out but it was still pretty nice on the water. There was a bit more wind than I would have liked though which made paddling a little harder in some spots. Like yesterday we had plenty of seals and pelicans diving and popping up all over the place. At one point I had like 30 seals aimed right for me jumping and diving over the tops of each other and then like 20m from my board the all just disappeared underwater. I really wonder where those guys go when they dive and never come back up.
each black dot is a seal head and they were all pointed straight at me!
Although I had a few “balance challenged” moments today I never took a tumble… probably because I already knew how cold the water was! But I did take a knee a couple times to reboot my balance-o-meter because I almost took a swim a few times :) As we made our way back to the rental shop I tried to paddle a little more aggressively just to see if I could build up any real speed. I think I did pretty well… I got some really solid pulls and cruised along quite nicely. Next time I go out on one of these I’ll have to really attack it and see what happens.
me in the heighth of paddling fashion... rash guard, pink kangol cap, adventure beard, and $5 girl's sunglasses
After our SUP excursion we went back down to the touristy part of Avila and got some smoothies and stood in the ocean drinking them. Our feet and calves were pretty tight from holding our balance on the boards and it felt really good to let the cold water rush over them! Tomorrow I’ll be back to work and hopefully back into the pool with my Santa Maria friends… in the meantime I need to sleep off all the fun I had this weekend in the ocean!
