GSL and morning swim

RI went to the GSL yesterday afternoon to meet with Goody and swim. I got there early and waited around the parking lot and read the new displays they have at the look out. I was looking out into the lake and it was white capping in some spots and I knew it was going to be a fun swim. When Goody got there we greased up and chatted for a bit and got in up to or waist. we stood there for a bit while my watch was searching for satellite's. we swam out into the mouth of the marina and the waves were pushing me back inside so I had to pour it on to get to the first buoy. we got there finally and decided to swim down the buoy line until we got to the 5th one. we made it to the 3rd one and decided to turn around and head back to the first buoy. it took us 32 minutes to get to the third on. on the way back we decided we were going to stop at the second buoy and the way the current was pushing us I completely missed the buoy. when I got back to the first buoy I looked at my watch and it took 10 minutes to get back. talk about a current! we then decided to swim directly into the current for a bit and when we stopped  a big wave came and on the down side of it I could feel the bottom. when I stood up the water was about chest deep. the current was pushing hard enough you could not stand in one spot. when we started back towards the mouth of the marina I knew I had to swim at an angle to hit the mouth, but when I got there the current had pushed me enough that I had to swim into it at a sprint to get into the marina. water was 58 degrees inside the marina and a little colder out in the lake and made for a good swim. the whole time I was swimming all I could think about was the English Channel next year. I cant wait for it to be here! on a side note I also swam 2 miles in the pool this morning and with the 1.4 I finished out at 3.4 miles for the day. A little short of what I wanted to do but with the current I figure I got my workout in.  Here is the link to the GPS for the swim at GSL

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/489559014
   

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This morning I got to the pool late and was only able to get 3000 yards before I had to leave for work. the only good thing about the pool that I go to is its open 24hrs a day so I can go back pretty easy so I am planning on going back tonight for at least another 3000 yards. whatever they did to to pool I am glad because its colder and water is much more clear as well.
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When back to the pool tonight to get my yardage. Ended up swimming another 5000 yards! All I can think about is my English Channel Attempt next year.

A.M. Pool swim

I got to the pool a little later than I would have liked and took my time getting into the water.
I sat in the steam room to help warm my body up for about 10 minutes. while sitting in there I could hear some moaning, singing and yelling. I walked out to see a guy getting out of the pool and he gave me a high five and said "I did it! 10 laps without stopping, Ive never done that before" I said great job and promptly jumped into the water and took off. I wanted to really work on distance and my stroke today to try new things to help with my lower back hurting so much. I really concentrated on keeping my head down and stretching out my stroke. it worked back did not hurt today at all. was not a bad work out just a little short of my planned 5,000 yards but ended up with 4,000 yards in 1:12:41 and not a sore back!

Haven't Gone Anywhere

I was reading thru a few of my freinds blogs and realized that I suck at keeping mine current. I will try to do better and logging my workouts leading up to my big swim.

If anyone reading this has not heard yet, I have the #2 spot on the neap tide for the English Channel in September 2015 I have talked to my wife about this for a couple of years and finnally decided to pull the plug and make the attempt. I know I will give it my best shot because of the people that are behind me. I want to say thanks to Gords for all the insite that he has given me up to this point and I hope that he dosent mind if I keep picking his brain.

As for todays workout I was in the pool at 0430 I decided to pace myself against the clock and see what my mile time would be. I feel I am doing good and if I can maintain 30 minute miles the the EC should be a success. total yardage was 5,500 yards and averaged 27 minute miles

                                           My Muffin top is slowly going away!

GSL 8 Mile Swim

I have had a rough go lately posting anything to my blog, I have been really pool sour dealing with all variety's of people that lap swim here at the Tooele pool. I have not been swimming near as much as I needed to for my race at the GSL yesterday but I knew I would at least finish. I started out the morning heading to the marina  at 5:45 when Chandra and I got there Gords and Josh were already there getting set up. I signed the required paperwork and got all my stuff situated for the ride to the island. I was able to see a few people that I haven't had a chance to see in a while and chatted until everyone was ready to go. Me and Lang got into Josh's van along with Sue and Kate. Chandra and Ryan took his car to the island to help drive the van back to the marina. C.J. rode with me to the island and he kept everyone laughing while in route. when we got past the gate Sue noticed a coyote using the bathroom on the salt flats and told C.j. that it was a kangaroo a few minutes later another "kangaroo" was chasing Antelope along the salt flats. we got to the stopping point and got greased up. I kissed Chandra and C.j. bye and headed towards the water. We ended up walking quite a ways before the water was deep enough to swim. everyone lined up and the countdown was on I started my watch and took off. the chop was pretty rough for quite a while and the way the wind was blowing was pushing us towards Saltair instead of Black Rock. It was quite a fight for a while. about 3/4 way thru the race is smoothed out for the most part and was a great swim. I really was doing better than I had predicted because of the lack of training, but I credit most of it to the time I have spent in the GSL. the longest feed break I took was about 45 seconds which I was proud of. the current pushed me basically to the marina entrance and at least from there I knew exactly how far I had to go. I took one more quick feed and swam the rest of the way to Black Rock. The finish was way different from the previous two years because the water was so low. the last 100 or so yards was walking in calf to ankle deep water, I heard Josh yelling at me that this was a race to get moving. I smiled because I was done no running for me. I probably would have fell down and stuck my head in the mud. All in all this was as usual an awesome race. Josh and Gords work there butts off to give everyone a great experience. and as usual they pulled it off like they have been doing it for years. There were a few things I learned from this race, and in no particular order here they are.

1) Sunscreen you Idiot. I have sun burn in places that should never see sun
2) Train more you will be happier with you time if you put in the effort before hand
3) Did I mention sunscreen.

I want to personally thank my support crew for being there for me Lang for paddling, Ryan for hanging out with my wife, and Chandra for putting up with my grumpy self and pushing me to do better. with out you guys I could never do these swims.

Up next BEAR LAKE MONSTER SWIM! I will remember my sunscreen.

                                            smooth water

                                          the "chop"

C.j on the way to the start

Look who's back

So after a long break from swimming after the 7 mile swim at bear lake to let my shoulder heal, I am back. I went for a swim at the GSL on Monday. I met Sue out at the Marina and I  dragged my wife and her freind Cindy along as well. I got the kayak ready for Chandra and Cindy got them in the water and we were off. I swam out of the Marina and into the lake, I forgot how much I love swimming there. We headed towards black rock, I kept my head down and pushed the whole way and felt pretty good all the way there. When I got as far as I could go swimming because the water level had dropped drastically, which was about 200 yards short of the beach we stopped and grabbed a drink. We chatted for a few minutes and Sue was not as far ahead of me as I had expected her to be. After chatting we headed back to the Marina. I could not believe how clear the water was the whole time. We got out rinsed off and were on our way. I feel a ton better about Slam the Dam I may not be the fastest but I know I can finish in the 4 hours that I have to do it.

Slam the Dam here I come!

Bear lake Crossing

We got up at 5:30 and were getting everything ready to go to the lake and pulled out at 6:00 after a crappy night’s sleep. We got to the marina got the boats unloaded and all checked in. I let my buddy Goody borrow my paddler for this race because his wife had other commitments. I told Goody that taking a guys paddler was like taking a guys wife. It was all in good fun I was happy to help goody out with getting him a paddler. We all loaded up on the bus to go to Cisco beach for the start of the race. On the way there our little group chatted and was joking around. We got to the beach and got thinks ready to go. I chatted more with Matt and Goody. We crawled into the water and the first thing I noticed was how clear and blue the water was. It was amazing. I also heard other people complaining that the water was cold, I just smiled when I noticed that the people that were complaining had wet suits on. After what seemed like forever we lined up and started the race. I started off at what I thought was a good pace and got into a good groove. There was a ski boat that was patrolling the race kept coming by to check on every one. I told Ryan to keep a straight line towards the buoy’s the boat came back after a bit and said to head straight north that the markers had broke loose and we were way off course. I told Ryan to just follow the people ahead of me and that we would go from there. Soon after the halfway point I realized that I had passed all of the people that we were following. Ryan told me that he could see the marina and that he would just go straight towards the rocks. About two miles from the finish the chop started getting really bad. I stopped to take a feed and told Ryan that the chop was killing me. He said that a boat came really close to us and turned, thus hitting me with the wake. As I got closer to the marina I noticed a park ranger boat escorting us past all of the dorks that were coming from the marina. It was an extra security blanket to help keep the swimmers safe. During all of this Ryan was keeping about a 15 foot distance from me until I got closer to the marina then he was about 5 feet from me to help keep me noticed in the water with all of the boats. Also at one time the ranger boat cut directly in front of me to keep a boat away. I finally cleared the rocks and our escort was gone. It was smooth sailing from here to the finish line. About 30 yards from the finish I swam thru some sticks that were just below the surface of the water. The scratched up my chest a little and before I knew it I was done. I walked out of the water to my waiting beautiful wife and her cheers. I had just crossed the width of Bear Lake in 3 hours and 40 minutes. I walked up to the pavilion where we had checked in and there was no bananas water or anything. I shrugged it off as to it being the first race for this group. I also thought that leading up to the race there was questions of what was going on. The buoys that were supposed to be marking the course every mile were not there. It was a good race and I hope next year they have learned from what went wrong and do a better job. All in all it was a great weekend.

                                          I did not know I was a Raspberry Salesman

                                          Me and Goody with our paddlers before the race

                                          Swimming during the race

                                          Me and Goody after the race

                                          walking out of the water at the finish

                                           Me at the finish line

Heres the link to my Hydro Tracker for the crossing

http://www.finisinc.com/streamline/share/workout/view/50314f4042c22

As for the remainder of the open water season I am going to swim the Slam the Dam in Las Vegas and Josh is putting together a length crossing relay at Bear Lake that I am super excited for. I also plan to swim the 8 mile Antelope to Black Rock swim that I missed due to the weather.  I also plan to do a Channel Magnitude swim from Black Rock to White Rock bay this year.

short 10 mile video