Warm GSL swim

I was back in the GSL yesterday for a short 1-1/2 mile swim. I wanted to go further but Josh was delayed helping Rachael change a flat tire on the freeway. The water was 68.5 degrees in the marina and as always is cold getting in. I swam out tohru the marina to the red bouy and chatted with Josh and waited for Etsuko to catch up to us. I have not been in the water as much as I have wanted to because of work so this week is the get your butt in gear week for me so that I can taper for the GSLOW race a week from Saturday. Josh and I swam the 1 mile bouy route while Etsuko swam from the red bouy to the white and back. I used to be able to keep up with Josh but like I said my training has suffered from lack of being in the water. as I was swimming I noticed somthing that I dont normally see the BOTTOM. I was neet to see the sands and the rock formations on the bottom of the GSL. In the channel where the sailboats go out you could see where the boats had scraped the bottom and made their mark. we got done and back to the red bouy and decided to swim to the white bouy and back into the marina. Josh beet me to the bouy and had his camera out and snapped a few pictures. we chatted for a bit and I stated that I would be intrested in doing another open water race at Echo if someone were to help. Josh said he would help so I guess I will start getting information on putting on a race next year. here are the pictures that Josh took. Total swim 1.5 miles roughly

Still Swimming

I havent posted in a while because my Hydro tracker quit working on me. I have been swimming in the sucky pool and in the GSL. But with my open water swims I have been basically guessing at how far I have gone. To put it short I dont like dealing with FINIS they have had mt Hydro Tracker for a week now and I have nothing. Ok rant over I swam with Josh, Jim and the side stroke guy (cant remember his name) at the marina yesterday. the wind picked up when we got into the water and when we left the marina it was choppy. Josh and I swam to Black Rock and back in a Little over an hour including our stops for hydration and chatting. on the way to black rock I could see the waves coming in to me so I could Time my breathing accordingly. On the way back I am one of those swimmers that if I try to breathe on my opposite side I take on more water than normal so I dont do it. the wave were beating me up pretty bad. when I finally got the the bouy I talked to Josh and we agreed to call it. when we got back to the marina there was a guy and his wife loading their sail boat and taking down the mast. It looked like a major pain in the butt. we watched them for a bit and went on our way. funny thing is as soon as we left the wind died down and the chop went away. go figure!

I was a Little early getting to the Marina yesterday. with the weather I did not think any one was going to make it. and right on time here was Gords. I drove over to the bathrooms to get changed and then back to the boat ramp. I got greased up and we were off. we swam to the first bouy and from there decided go do the same route as we did Saturday. the waves were rough getting used to swimming thru but in the same sence it was fun being tossed around by them. we got as far out in the lake as we were going to go and started swimming towards the white bouy and as we got closer realized that it was not there anymore. so we guessed where it was and from there swam back into the marina. we stopped in the entrance and with the way the lake was today it was slowly sucking us back into the lake. it was a cool feeling being able to see the current work like that. somewhere in the swim I asked Gords what the water temp was and he said it was 54 degrees. way colder than it was on Tuesday. all in all a great swim we put in 2 miles in about an hour. heres the link to my hydro tracker that has been a great investment.


http://www.finisinc.com/streamline/share/workout/view/4f8860d1edb46

First 60 degree water swim

After last Thursday's scare we were back out to the GSL marina for another swim. I met Josh Green and Gordon Gridley in the parking lot. I was a little late so I was hurrying getting ready. I got greased up and walked to the boat ramp and everyone was ready to go. we swam out the the bouy and chatted for a minute dand decided on what to swim. Josh wanted to stay close to the marina after what had happened last thursday so we all agreed to swim a box pattern around the bouys. after 1 lap Josh decided that he was ready to call it and swam back to the marina. Gords decided to do one more lap so I tagged along. we got back to the marina after doing another lap and chatted for a bit. I really have met some great people that like to swim as much as I do. I also am glad that Josh is doing well and back into the water with us. about an hour in the water and 2 mile swim complete here is the link to my hydro tracker to see where we swam


http://www.finisinc.com/streamline/share/workout/view/4f85968c95d81

Start of an new idea.

Well here it is. I talked to Chandra and told her I was going to start a blog about my swimming adventures. I finally decided to do it so here it is.

Last year I decided I was getting fat and needed to loose some weight. So naturally I decided that swimming would be the best way to do it. For those of you that dont know me I have swam since I was about 6 years old until I graduated High School. Then I took a 20 year break. I had enough of swimming I felt I was forced into doing it throughout my carreer. Little did I know my Mom and Dad were doing it to keep me out of trouble. While doing this they were trying to raise 3 other kids and barely making ends meet in the process. I just wish I could of understood what was going on so that I did not take it for granted. so back up to last year, I was going thru Facebook and came across Utah Open Water and The Great Salt Lake Open Water Marithon Swim. I Liked both pages and went from there. I signed up for the 1 mile swim at the GSL and I thought I did pretty well for being an old fat guy. From there I decided that I would swim the 5K event at Deer Creek. In the process of training for this event I decided to coach my oldest son's football team so the traing was non exestent. I did do the the swim and finished in 1:47 some odd minutes. I was really proud because I swam the 5K without being in the water in over a month. This year I am doing the GSL 8.12 mile swim and planning on doing the Deer Creek 10 mile swim, the Bear Lake 7 mile swim and the Super Slam at Slam the Dam in Vegas. I have a Full Plate ahead of me and an AWESOME supportive wife and a great family backing me SO here goes here is a story of my open water adventures.