Egypt swimming

Christmas week was brutal! Lots of travel and seeing the sights. Had
no swimming even though was on the Nile at one point for a couple of
days. Asked to swim out in the Nile but was told about the crocs put
there. So that did not go over well!
However got over to the Red Sea in a resort town called Hurgadha.
Have a 55m at it's longest part freezing cold pool all to myself! It
is 17c and always training ground! Go out twice a day in the pool and
usually once in the red sea at blistering 20c for salt training for
Perth. The best part about the training here is about a 300m lazy
river! I swim against it for kicks and it is a great trainer wish I
ha one back home! Some points it must kick up to about 4kph!
Will post pics when I get back to home base!
Happy New Year!

I got my invitation to Lake Zurich Marathon Swim!

Last evening I got my email from Sri Chinmoy Marathon Swim committee and I have been invited to the Lake Zurich Marathon Swim!  Training all summer is now a GO!  No other information but that is good enough for me!

Also squared our boat deposit out with our English Channel Swim!

We will be going with Eric Hartley and Pathfinder Charters!

During my sick days - I studied...

While I was sick I watched and read as much as I could on fixing my stroke and kick.

Here are some good video's that I have played a million times.  The video are both a critique of the great Ian Thorpe.



The second video gives you a great demostration of HIGH ELBOW.





During yesterday's warm up and cool down, I worked on HIGH ELBOW.   What a world of difference both with breathing and stability in the water.  I look to use this in the future!

Been out of the Water!

Last weekend I started to feel a bit rough after the freezing of extermities.  I stayed out of the water Monday and went to practice with the sharks.  That was a bad move, we were doing 400m reps and I almost died, could not breath, felt as though I had a lead brick in my ass.  Got through it and the rest of practice.  I went home and just wanted to eat and go to bed.  The next day all hell broke loose and did not go to work.  Long story short, I just got back into the water last night for some kick work but felt great.  Lots of mucous, hehe, but I got through it with no issues.  Tonight however is going to be the ass kicker!

First Case of Hypothermia

Swam on Saturday morning at 6C/42F. 

Did 1.4k of the perimeter of the lake and 550m of the buoys with a wetsuit!  Can not tell you how cold my hands and feet after this swim.  They throbbed at first and quickly after that there was absolutely NO FEELING AT ALL!

I wanted to get  a quick dip in without a wetsuit just so I can acclimate to the cold.  I went to do a 100m but as always in this situation I want to push myself to the limit.  I was able to get a 550m and about 100m.  I was fine getting out but 15 minutes later, I was shaking uncontrollable, slurring, and talking gibberish.  Took me about 45 minutes to warm up.

Next time I am going to do a before and after temperture of my core body to actually see how much my core body temp dropped.

8 Weeks and Over 200 Miles

In the last eight weeks, I have swam 206 miles or 288 kilometers!  So far I am on track to hitting my goals of 15 miles or 25 kilometers per week by the end of the month.  I have 11 more weeks of training til Rottnest Channel Swim with each week getting harder and longer.  The only set back was a quick cold that I came down with over the weekend.  Was forced to call out of practice yesterday.  I don't see tonights practice going very well though, still a lil congested :(

Kicking is it...

I been getting slaughtered in the fast lane when it comes to kicking.  Been trying so hard to figure out what is wrong.  The first two weeks with the team I noticed that my pulls are right with the fastest swimmers but when it comes to kick, I go back to the end of the line.  So we been talking about it and the others have been helping me out with my kick.  So now on my own training days all I do is KICK.  Last night did 2.5k kick and 15 mins tread kick.  Needless to say, my legs are sore!

Long Distance Training Started

Last nights practice was tough. I was at my local pool which is around 30C, which is boiling hot. It takes me an entire K just to aclimate my body to the warm water. It is also quite exhausting.

Was able to get in a little 5.5k, and was quite sore and stiff today. So that is good.

Just keep thinking 20k in one shot is going to be TOUGH!

Chillin in training.

Saturday 21-11

Water Temp was between 7/8 C around 45F, was cold stuff! We did 2.5k w/ wetsuits in great conditions. Hands, feet and face could have fallen off and I would not have even known. I really like going for a long swim and than taking off that wetsuit! I really don't like the wetsuit at all but I really need some distance and to make it worth while I put it on to get that mileage in. So did about 750m w/o a wetsuit and really went off w/o a hitch except for hitting something while swimming. Scared this shit out of me, I am convinced it was one of those monstrous carps from the deep that did not see me coming!

Friday is always empty... UNTIL!

Got out of work a little late today and tons of traffic. So instead of driving I decided to ride tonight but could not find my pants and walk the dog in adequate time to get to York Hall. See I train at three pools, Tiller, Mile End and York Hall. Mile End is the best, York Hall is a long pool but far, and Tiller is really close but too warm to train in. So I decided to just got to Mile End thinking Friday would be totally empty as it usually is in the evening. WRONG. It was so decent from 2000 to 2100 but at 2100 it got obscenely packed and the usually issue. Slow ass swimmers who think they are fast even though they are getting lapped rapidly. Just why... There is two people in the medium lane and 3 in the slow. Ah, more your speed. Could not deal with it and had to leave after 2.5k. It was good though to get in the speed bike there and back, got 8 mile ride in. Well it was a start.

Tomorrow cold water training! Under 44F/8C, YIKES...

Fast Lane is the New Slow Lane...

Training is hard enough but training during open pool hours just plain sucks! Some people don't realize that the fast lane is designed for people that are going to actually swim. Breast Stroke and stopping at the walls does not constitute "FAST" swimming.

So why does one think that is ok?

If you do flip turns on every wall and they seen you do at least 4o turns while they were there, why would one think it is perfectly fine to extend them self across to entire lane wall?

I just have to find a better Monday night pool!

Going on my 6th week of training for Rottnest!

First Post!

I am going into my 6th week of training for Rotto. About two weeks ago signed up for a Master Swim program with a team called the Bethnal Green Sharks. The program is good and I get a lot of endurance/sprint work with likewise swimmers! I almost had a set back last weekend though. Last Friday's practice the had us do about a k of back. I felt my shoulder pop and just ignored it, bad move. Lived with ICE for the entire weekend but had to do a cold water session on Saturday. Only did 1.5k of open water in a balmy 8-9c, in essence I did ice it being the water being that cold. Took Sunday and Monday off. Was back in the water this last Tuesday w/ the sharks, a little sore but was told I could just substitute stroke for my choice. So doing tons of free now.

4 sessions p/w - avg 5k per session