Speed

I broke my Nero 10k yesterday afternoon.

I was told I really should not swim with it without breaking it in first.  I can see why this things are banned now.  In the right hands these things are like a turbo booster in your ass.  The amount of energe that you really have to put in is truly effortless.  I noticed that I really do not have to kick ass much either as you just glide through the water.  To say the least it is tight and I thought it was going to be really bad.  Once I got in the water and wiggled around it fit perfect.  To get the best performance you should really flatten out all the fabric over your body.  I really think the best part is the compression on the upper trapezius muscle.  They always seem to tighten up but with the constant compression on the muscles it seems to be a good balance as I got out of the water very fresh after a very fast 4k.

Coming down to the wire - 30 days till rotto

I got 30 days till the big Rotto swim.  Have two support boats, 2 jet ski's and one and a half paddlers on the 'yak.  Got some great tips this morning on navigation, just did not anticipate a massive current!

Training is going well!  Running 3 days a week, weights 3 days, and swimming 6 days a week.  The masters at the Sharks is getting pretty intense on the long distance.  Coming home shattered almost every time with them.  It is a little under 4k but at crazy fast paces in the endurance sets.  Tonight, I wanted to quit to get a couple of breaths but thought about the sharks chasing me at old Rotto!

Can't even think about the channel or the Lake Zurich training.  Both are going to be grueling as well.  EC will be cold water training as well as getting over sea sickness!  Zurich is going to be getting thru a lake w/o salt water buoyancy!

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 :(

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!