10Kmarathonswim

Now that's a great idea

The DNOWS today has a great little article about great OW swims in each of the 50 states. Hmm...

That's sounds like a fun thing to do over, say, a decade.  There are some swims on that "bucket list" that I'm not interested in, but I'm sure other swims can be found in each of those states.  

So, added to my OW swim bucket list is the 50-states swims.  I think my inter-island swim will count as my "California" swim.  Or is that cheating?

Gunny makes one helluva swim

The article below is worth quoting in full. It's not long. But it's wonderful. 

Oo-rah, Gunny. Semper Fi!

Gunny makes daring swim blindfolded and cuffed

Retired Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jay Platt was blindfolded, hand­cuffed and shackled this past Vet­erans Day. Then he jumped into the Mississippi River. In 50-degree water and high winds, he swam 1.88 miles to the other side.

“I do not recommend it,” he said with a laugh.

Platt made the swim to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project, a charity for military men and women injured in the line of duty.

“Though I’m not combat-wound­ed, I know what they must feel like. Mentally, that can play a big negative role in your life if you allow it to,” Platt said.

In 1998, Platt was forced to medically retire after 15 years, having lost an eye from Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome, which caused brain and spinal tumors, as well as kidney cancer.

Just 32 at the time, doctors told Platt that the best years of his life were behind him. Platt said he made the decision at that moment that he wasn’t going to give up.

About halfway through the Mis­sissippi swim, Platt, 45, began to think he may have bitten off more than he could chew. But focusing on war veterans helped him calm down and push forward.

“ ‘I’m giving these men and women hope,’ ” he told himself. “I said, ‘I’m not going to give up. I’m going to keep fighting this.’ ” It wasn’t the first time Platt performed a feat to help wounded vets. In 2005, he swam from Alca­traz Island to San Francisco with his feet and hands tied, becoming one of three people to make that swim in such a way. He said the swimming style looks something like that of a dolphin.

Platt’s next goal: Climb Mount Everest for his 50th birthday.

And should he ever feel a lack of confidence, he just repeats an old mantra: “Like we say in the Marines: Never quit, never die, always Semper Fi.”

...and makes you sick

I can feel a cold coming on. It's in my throat, a small annoyance when I swallow. I'm starting to sneeze and my nose is getting tickly. That's what I get from all this travel.

Whenever I feel a cold coming on, I start drinking massive amounts of citrus juices, hoping the vitamin C will work some miracle. It never does. But the juice tastes nice. Something else I try to do is load up on yardage.

My goal for this year's Go The Distance challenge is 250 miles. I know, a measley amount. But with my travel and other committments, I know my limits. Plus, last year the Russians closed our pool for about a month to clean it. I figured they'd to the same thing this year, but they haven't. 

Still, I'm cutting it close. I'm usually anywhere from 2-6 miles ahead of the pace. But recently, I've been a few miles under. All this travel is putting a serious damper on my GTD yardage.

Also, I'm measuring our pool today. I've relied on the Russian lifeguards, but even they're giving me different measurements.  I've heard everything from 15 meters per length to 17.  I've paced it out (my pace is pretty consistent) and came up with 50 feet per length and have been going with that. A buddy of mine found a 100-foot tape measure in his shop so finally I'll find out if I've been swimming more or fewer yards than I think. Perhaps I'll have to go update my GTD yardage to meters? Damn, just jinxed myself...

Travel kills

Yes, as stated below, I've been traveling a lot recently, and my circadian rhythm is all kinds of screwed up.

First, I flew to DC for a quick 4 day trip. Nothing quick about that 8+ hour flight, but thankfully I've got enough miles that I'm automatically in United's economy plus section, so I don't get someone's seat in my face.  But still, it is 8 hours sitting in one place. Yuck.

Then, you gotta get used to the time difference. Since President Medvedev's unilateral proclamation against daylight savings, Moscow is now 9 hours ahead of DC. So the Monday I was there I fell asleep on my hotel bed at 5pm and slept until 2am.  That was a long 4-hour wait until the Hampton Inn's breakfast started.

I flew back on Thursday, or, rather, I left DC on Thursday and arrived in Moscow on Friday. A short 30 hours later I was back on a plane flying 8 hours east to Khabarovsk, Russia, one of the nicest cities outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Left Moscow on Saturday, got to Khabarovsk on Sunday.

Me jumping in front of a statue to the city's founder, Khabarov

But my poor body was all messed up the 4 days I was there. I flew back to Moscow on Wednesday and only 2 hours later I was in Moscow. Well, that's what the itinerary said. But you gotta take the 7 hours difference into account. Yes, 9 hours on Aeroflot. And there's no economy plus there, despite the 30K miles I have with them.

Getting back to Moscow, my clock is still not adjusted. On Thursday and Friday I slept 4 hours in the afternoon! But I think I'm getting back in gear. I swam on Thursday and today. Only 8200 for the week, but I feel like I'm getting back in gear, so hopefully next week will be more regular.

I'm back

In the last 10 days I've flown 20,000-odd miles.  I am tired of sitting in small airline seats.  I'll update all of my readers in a day or so.  Keep up the hard work!

Pacing

Dear reader(s) know that I've been working on pacing lately. I'm debating buying one of those pacing aids, but I've already got enough things tucked under my swim cap...I mean, besides my goggles. Do I have room for another electronic device banging on my squamosal suture?

My most recent main set had me doing 2 x 800 at CSS +:10 per 100, followed by 4 x 50 doing 25 fast and 25 easy.  My CSS + :10 is 1:43, or something that Gords calls grandpa pace. Or so it feels to me. Anyway, for the first 800, I set my watch to beep every 1:43, so I knew what time each 100 should be done.  I finished each 100 about :18 to :12 early. It was killing me to slow myself down so much, but I followed the plan. I feel I now know how to swim a 1:43/100 pace.

But for the second 800, I set the watch to beep every :34, making for a 1:42/100.  Why :34 you ask? Well, that's because my stupid pool requires 3 laps for 100 yards.  I know, weird. But nonetheless, that's what I've got to work with, so I've adapted.

And this was even better. I liked the constant pace reminder. I still came in between :05 and :02 before the beep, but that's ok. That's the point of these pace awareness sets. Plus, the watch told me each time it stared a new rep, so if I lost count, I could just look at the watch.  24 laps is tough to remember when you start to day-dream...

I will continue the pace awareness sets, no matter how slow they seem. And they aren't all this slow. I've done a set recently that was 4 x 200 on CSS. That one too I finished early by about :05 for the 200.  Next time, I'll set the watch to :31 to make a CSS of 1:33/100, close enough to 1:32.  All of this in the hopes that the next time I do the CSS test, my CSS will go back down to something sub-1:30!

But meanwhile, I have to consider the pace counters. Any of you use them?

An Incredible Lady

Never really saw this show, until cable television ran out of ideas for channels and came up with the Game Show Network, or whatever. But a new blog I read, The Long Swim, had this video up, and I loved it.  Especially considering the subject.

 

How awesome. Florence Chadwick was an incredible swimmer who didn't give up when she first failed. She is a great example for all of us, especially those of us who want to swim beyond 10K.

Plus, she was quite a looker.

Thirsty and tired

Been working the Swim Smooth way lately, and I've noticed I am much more tired and thirsty throughout the day after the workout. I've found here that I don't seem to need as much sleep, as long as I get a nap in on Saturdays. But lately, I've been extremely thirsty and tired enough to nod off on the couch at night.

I think this is because the Swim Smooth system has you swimming at or near your CSS more often. I probably felt this same way back when I had coaching, but that hasn't happened since 2004/5, one glorious year of coaching from the wonderful Frank Shafroth at Chinquapin Rec Center in Alexandria.

But my latest workouts have had some exciting and fun intervals, like 4 x 200 at CSS +:30 rest. Loved it! I managed to hit 3:01 per 200, despite my CSS-200 being 3:06 (now). The CSS workouts, I'm finding, are all about managing your pace, working on pace awareness. I'm getting a bit better at that. And I believe that if I continue to do this, I will be able to work at my ideal pace for longer. Furthermore, I think my CSS will drop.

And, perhaps, someday I'll hit that elusive 1:20/100. One can only hope...