Joe Oakes and team successfully completed the Santa Barbara Channel Relay despite the cold temperatures at the start.  5 of the 6 relay teams finished the swim between 15-16 hours, including Joe’s team. 

Joe will now be preparing for his 4 swims in Ireland in September.

Also a good luck to Curtis, John and Martin as they prepare for their Alcatraz swim on August 4th.  Looking forward to hearing how it all goes. 

This mornings swim started early as I made arrangements to meet Tom W. out at Hagg Lake at 7am.  I’m not going to lie and say that I didn’t seriously consider pushing back the swim so I could get more sleep.  However, I remembered Freda “The General” Streeter’s advice “Train until it hurts”.  Well I hurt and I was tired, but out of bed I got and off to the lake.  This wasn’t going to be a cold water swim as Hagg Lake is up around 76+ degrees, but it would still be good practice.  Well it would have if it wasn’t like glass.  Oh well. 

Tom and I got started and I was glad to hear that Tom planned to be in for the long haul.  That and he brought Shot Bloks of which I was completely out of.  Continuing with my Total Body Confusion training, I decided to swim for 1 hr 30 minutes before stopping for a feeding.  Boy was I glad to get to that food after an hour.  Kim R. and Elizabeth K had also arrived and were going to get in some training for a while.  (Kim and Elizabeth are part of a 4 person relay that is coming to Alaska in August). 

We were halfway through our 3rd lap when we decided to stop and have a quick chat.  I of course told them that the swimming soundtrack today was “Singing in the Rain” with singing replaced with swimming.  It wasn’t raining yet, but it looked like it was going to.  Tom and Kim thought this wasn’t appropriate and started singing “Freak out!”  and “O weem a way.  O weem a way.  In the jungle…”  Sweet apparently my friends are getting me back for every mean thing that I may have ever allegedly done with filling my head with terrible songs.  Thanks guys!

We finished the 3rd lap and Tom went back in for a feeding.  He was going to join me on my last lap.  I was getting into my 2-3 hour…the tough hour for me.  I kept thinking about my parent’s sending thoughts my way and “Long and Strong Michelle and the hour will be over soon”.  This seemed to work as I made it through.  I did want to quit when I finished my 4th lap, but Tom was already in the water and ready to go.  I think if Kim, Elizabeth and Tom weren’t there, I would have called it a day. 

Off we went on the 5th lap.  It was going fairly well until we reached the halfway point.  My biceps and forearms started to cramp.  OK  IT IS REALLY HURTING NOW!  It was at this point that I called the swim good.  I was hurting and I needed to be done.  I didn’t want to push too hard as my shoulder is still in quite a bit of trouble.  (I’m seeing the Doc on August 16th.  I know some of you are thinking…Finally!).  We cut straight across the lake rather than finishing the whole “U”.  When I came in I was at 3 hours and 30 minutes.  A respectible swim considering the lack of sleep and fuel.

Swimming Notes:

• Soundtrack:  “Singing in the Rain”  “Le Freak”  luckily “O weem a way”  didn’t stick.
• Food:  Shot Bloks and water.  Feeding only once during a 3:30 swim is not a good idea, as I was probably already depleted from the prior day’s swim.  I think this next weekend I’ll continue with Total Body Confusion (TBC) training by feeding in shorter intervals.  This should be possible as I’m competing in the Cascade Lake series.
• Swim Buddies:  Man they helped a ton.  They helped me push through and do that extra 40 minutes which was necessary.  Plus they provided some excellent laughs and encouragement.  THANK YOU!!!
• Swimming on a glass lake is pretty nice.  One thing that I must not get used to doing.
• With the pantry pretty much empty from Thursday’s swim, I was in desperate need of food.  Cooking after long swims is not fun!  I can’t seem to cook anything good nor can I get enough of it. 

I decided to drive to Nehalem Bay on Saturday for a 3-5 hour swim.  It was a rainy gray day. Not much really to report on this swim so I’ll do it in bullet point fashion.

• Weather definitely affects mood and general temperature.  As it was raining and gray I felt colder than it probably was.
• Slack tide is fairly easy to swim in.
• When the tide starts to change the swim becomes progressively more difficult, especially when the wind picks up and adds more chop.  Good practice though.
• Swimming soundtrack:  Poi Dog Pondering – Bury Me Deep and Spending the Day in the Shirt that you Wore
• Crabs will dance around on their hind legs with claws in the air when frightened or trying to defend their territory.  I saw at least 2 water ballet dances from crabs trying to protect territory.
• I’m sure that if I wore gloves and carried a bag that I could collect a bunch of crab to sell at a later date.  Maybe that is one way to fund my swim. 
• Warm showers are a luxury that I allow myself after long colder water swims.  Otherwise I only take cold showers.  This is a training technique and not used for other reasons. 
• The hour between 2 and 3 really stinks.  This is the time that I always want to get out and stop.  I’m not far into the swim and I just get frustrated.  I’m sure my crew will have some choice words for me when this happens in the Channel. 
• Hot tea + honey + Carbo-Pro still working for me. 
• Chaffing in salt water hurts a heck of a lot more than in fresh water.  Forgot to grease my neck. 
• I spent the last hour doing a grinder.  I usually swim from the boat launch past bouys 9, 7, and 5 and then back to the beginning.  In my last hour (4), I decided that I couldn’t mentally handle going back to the beginning and turning away, so I decided on a swimming grinder.  Starting at 5, I swam to 7, then back to 5, turn go past 7 to 9, swim back to 7, swim to finish, turn around and swim to 9, turn and head for home.  AH SWEETNESS – 4 hours done. 
• Drive home stinks and then one has to think about cooking dinner.  Ugh!

As part of my training, my coach has decided that long interval sets are a must.  Being the obliging person that I always am, I promptly scheduled some.  Today’s was the first of many long interval workouts to come.

I managed to enlist the help of some of my swimming friends.  Surprisingly I didn’t have to bribe them with beer or anything, especially when I said “Hey feel like swimming 28 – 200s on Thursday?”   Jeff willingly accepted, as did Tom.  Unfortunately Tom has been dealing with shoulder issues as well and couldn’t make the actual day.  However, Marco was at the pool and he said he was game for a few rounds. 

I went over to the pool early to get in my 2000 yard warmup and work through the rice krispies in my left shoulder.  Then began the monster set 4 times through 7×200 on 3:00.  Now I’m sure my coach meant the 3:00 interval for a long course meters pool, but I kept it anyways even though I was in a 25 yard pool. 

The first set went very smoothly.  I was consistently hitting 2:30 on the 200s and Marco, Jeff and I all had time for a little talking before the next 200.  The only unfortunate thing was that on the 2nd 200, I started thinking about food.  Somehow the blueberry bagel that I had for breakfast wasn’t tiding me over and all I had on the pool deck was water.  I knew that a night of eating my pantry was in my very near future. 

2nd set, I noticed that we all got a little bit more quiet.  Perhaps the boredom of the task was settling in.  I of course was mentally catalogging my pantry and trying to determine if 4 shelves of food was going to be enough.  Again my pace was right around 2:30…ish.

As Marco didn’t have the heads up on the set and was a sport to even join in, he bowed out after two sets of 7.  I’m sure I’ll be able to talk him into the next long interval set, as he is always one for a long distance pool challenge.  Jeff moved over into the next lane so that we could swim side by side.  Jeff used the 3rd set of 7 to work on some backstroke and pulling.  I still was holding onto freestyle.  I was a little jealous that he was able to mix it up.  Plus now all the yardage for Jeff was “gravy”, meaning that it was just extra yardage.  Jeff usually swims a very challenging 3000 yards every day.  Today he was staying in for the long haul of 6000 yards. 

On the last set, Jeff was going to act as my pacer, as my tempo was starting to faulter.   Ordinarily this irritates me, as I always feel like I’m back in college racing Chrissy Lefler.  She and I would continually battle for position in a pool.  It was mentally draining.  For this reason alone, I don’t like to swim side by side.  However, something must have begun to change.  I knew my goal wasn’t to beat Jeff but just stay near him.  He stayed right at a 2:25 pace and surprisingly I stayed with him.  I was puffing a little bit more than the other sets, but still felt strong.  We, OK I, finished the last 200 in a 2:24.  (Jeff finished before me).  I began to understand the benefit of a pacer.  I may just have to consider getting one to help on the swim…we’ll see. 

Overall a good swim that was followed up by lots of eating and ice.  Which for all of you investors out there, invest in PEAS.  I think that I will be putting a lot of money into frozen peas over the next few months.   My freezer is already full of them. 

I have been blessed with some great swimming buddies.  For which I’m very grateful.  Thanks Jeff and Marco.  Looking forward to next time.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about “What was that book that pushed you over the edge?” and “Have you seen…?”  I thought I would answer some of these questions.

Books (either read or on the reading list)

So reading about the Channel and open water swimming has become a major past time over this last year.  I take notes, mark passages, send things on to my crew, etc.  Here are some that I have found inspirational, interesting, and fun for the whole family!

• No Opportunity Wasted: 8 ways to Create a List for the Life You Want by Phil Keoghan
  • This is the book that I read that got me thinking “Why am I thinking about if only?  I can do this!”
• Swimming to Antartica by Lynne Cox
• Open Water Swimming: A Complete Guide for Distance Swimmers and Triathletes by Penny Lee Dean
• Wind, Waves and Sunburn: A Brief History of Marathon Swimming by Conrad Wennerberg
• Crossing: The Curious Story of the First Man to Swim the English Channel by Kathy Watson
• The Channel Swimming Association, Ltd. book 
• The Alcatraz Swimmer’s Manual by Joe Oakes
  • Yes this is the Joe Oakes that I trained with down in Nehalem.
• Dover Solo: Swimming the English Channel by Marcia Cleveland
• Haunts of the Black Masseur: The Swimmer as Hero by Charles Sprawson
• Swimming the Channel: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Healing by Sally Friedman
• Nothing Great is Easy: The Des Renford Story by Des Renford

Movies

• There is a recent film that came out from the UK called “On a Clear Day”  I saw this movie shortly after signing up for the Channel and prior to telling my family.  It was so inspirational, I cried.  Of course I now own a copy.

Somehow I believe I’m missing some books or movies so check back as I’m sure I will update this entry with more information.

Day 2 of the weekend training.  I seemed to be in a better mood, even though I had some very weird dreams.  I also received a call from Jen Wicker and she, Steve, Kelby and Keri were all coming to the beach.  I was super excited although I felt bad as it was cloudy and raining.  They said that they would come anyways.  I still felt bad, so I hoped to get in 2 hours of swimming before they arrived to avoid them being in the elements more than necessary. 

I left my little cottage by the river at around 10:45am and arrived at the boat launch at 10:50am.  I was in the water around 11:04am.  I began my swim by swimming against the current.  Since I was starting an hour earlier than planned the currents weren’t as strong, so that took me about 40 minutes.  I shot back the same distance in 10 minutes when swimming with the current.  Swimming with the current is something I could get used to.  Unfortunately, heading back against the current the 2nd time was more difficult.  I spent quite a bit of time swimming in one place.  I just tried to think about it as if I was 1 mile from France and the tides were changing.  It was a “Now or Never” move.  I slowly watched the weeds and rocks slip slowly beneath me.  Oh and the crabs, there were tons of crabs.  And they were moving, as they had chosen to move with the current.  I figured I could actually make a profit during my training as I could tell all the crab fisherman just exactly where to put their pots.  Or maybe I would catch the things myself.  Hey last year I caught a fish in my suit, how hard would a crab be?  Deadliest Catch here I come!  (I’m addicted to this Discovery show). 

On my way back, I spotted my friends on the beach.  I had set my watch for 1:45 countdown.  I was out of the water with 8 minutes remaining.  Not quite the 2 hours I had hoped to get in, but I was able to swim this long without a feeding which was a good sign.  It had also stopped raining!  I took some time to chat and to feed (tea mixture, peaches).  I gave Steve my remaining feedings and told him that I had about 2 hours 30 minutes left.  Little did I know how to heart he would take this.  (2 hours 30 minutes would put me at about a 4 hour 15 minute swim by my watch). 

The Crew:

Steve and Kelby were going to be kayaking with me and feeding me every hour.  Jen and Keri were going to sit on the beach for as long as they could tolerate the clouds and mist.  I warned everyone that watching me swim is sometimes worse than watching paint dry and that they would have to kayak at a very slow speed.  All assured me that they were fine and for some reason I believed them.  I took off swimming as I couldn’t be out of the water any longer as I was starting to shiver.  Steve and Kelby would catch up to me in a few minutes.

Off I went against the current again.  I made it almost to the point before I saw Steve and Kelby.  I thought that they had went for a quick turn about the bay before joining me.  Turns out the current was affecting them as much as me.  Once joined up, I told them I would just follow them where ever they kayaked.   This would be the first time that I really took my feedings in the middle of a swim without exiting the water first. 

Now I had a watch on during the swim and I stopped expecting my 1st feeding.  Steve promptly informed me that I had 5 minutes left and I better get swimming.  Now this was just what I needed.  I thought about protesting, but figured having a 5 minute debate with Steve about a feeding wasn’t worth the effort, so I put my head down and swam.  After 5 minutes, I took on some tea mixture and some Clif shot blocks.  Kelby started to sing “If your happy and you know it” but with different words.  I could have capsized him because now for the next hour, I would have this ridiculous song in my head.

True to form, the song “if your happy and you know it” ran through my head for the whole hour.  I tried getting rid of it by saying the alphabet backwards a trick one of my old coaches taught me to stave off bordom while swimming distance.  No luck there.  It took me stopping for my second feeding to finally rid me of the song.  Again Steve wouldn’t let me stop until exactly 1 hour had passed.  And this time he made sure to stop in an area I couldn’t stand.  Dang it!  More tea and shot blocks.  These things seemed to be going down better.  Sometime in the 2nd hour the sun had come out as well.  I mentioned during this feeding that according to my watch I only had about 20 minutes left on the swim.   Steve’s reply “Well we aren’t swimming by your watch and mine says you have 30 minutes”.    Alrightly then, let’s get going.

Swimming along Michelle and Steve:

Steve and Kelby steered me to the other side of the bay and kept getting in closer and closer to shore.  I thought for sure that they were going to have me inact my landing on the French coast.  Luckily they just turned around and when I popped up for a sighting as only Steve can said “You’re going the wrong way!”  I turned around and Steve made a deal with me.  I could race them across the bay and if I finished in under the 20 minutes left on HIS watch, I could get out.  A CHALLENGE!  Now I knew I couldn’t beat them across, but I thought maybe I could beat the 20 minute mark.  I picked up my pace.  My stroke count went from a consistent 62 to about 68 and settled in at 66.  I finished 4 minutes before 20 minutes were up.  By my watch, I had swum for 4 hours 2 minutes (2 rounds on the 1:45 countdown and 13 showing as remaining on the 3rd countdown).  I was super excited.  And I managed to bring back a small souvenior for the girls on the beach.  It was just a small shell as I don’t have a ton of storage space in my suit.

End of Swim kneeling in Bay:

Jen had packed me a sandwich, which I promptly ate.  Then I ate the 1/2 of someone elses sandwich.  Jen and Keri also agreed to drive me back to Portland, which worried me after a long swim.  We did manage to stop in Cannon Beach for a nice dinner out on the patio as the sun was still shining.  I also got to spend the drive back catching up with Keri and Jen as it has been a while since we talked.  All in all it was a very good day.

Swimming Notes:

• Water temp: 64 degrees.  I remembered the water thermometer today. 
• Tongue again started to swell.  Lips puckered as I forgot to put on grease.
• Chaffing:  Inside of both biceps.  Also some in the left armpit.  Need to grease heavier next time.  So far neck chaffing held to a minimum.
• My neck seems to be the first thing that tightens up during my swims.  I’m hoping that this is due to sighting of which I don’t think that I will have to do a lot of during the Channel.
• Need to up the sunscreen to 45+ as after 4 hours 30 doesn’t do the trick.  May need to do a double layer. 
• Having someone push me and give me challenges helps to pass the time during the swim
• Big pieces of weeds and kelp that bypass my hands and hit me in the face first really freak me out.  Jumped more than once when this happened.  As long as my hand touches things first, they don’t seem to scare me as much.
• My skin will be extremely dry and flaky for a day after the swim, which is really gross. 
• Will not be able to sleep after longer swim as too tired and too sore, every movement wakes me up.  Will have to try ibuprofen after next swim.  I forgot it this time. 

I drove down to Nehalem OR on Friday night and had a great dinner and movie night with Jane and her nephew.  I think that this helped to ease my mind as I know now that I’m getting into the serious training. 

Saturday morning we all got up and had breakfast.  I was testing out oatmeal as the pre-swim meal.  I’m not typically an oatmeal girl, but everyone has been telling me the benefits.  It definitely sticks to your ribs.  I’m sure my mom would be so proud that finally after 30 years I eat hot oatmeal.    I’m still off raw tomatoes, but I don’t think that they will add any nutritional value to my swim. 

Martin met me down at the boat launch in Nehalem Bay State Park for the swim.  He was going to swim for the first hour and then kayak for the remaining 3 hours.  Unfortunately both of us forgot our cameras so there are no photos from today’s swim.  It was a beautiful sunny day with a temp of about 75 and water temp around 62ish.  I forgot my water thermometer too. 

Today’s goals:

• Swim for 4 hours
• Test following foods: tea w/ honey + Carbo Pro, canned peaches, Clif Shot Blocks

Today’s Swim Notes:

• Oatmeal seems to be a good starting meal was able to swim for 1st hour without burping, cramps or feelings of nauceaousness. 
• I know some of you are thinking, “Hasn’t she already tested the tea and peaches?”.  The answer is yes, but I wanted to test them in the salt water.  I will continue to test them while swimming until my body is really used to everything.  So far these are the leading contenders for feedings.
• Clif Shot Blocks – iffy as of right now.  I had an upset stomach after eating, but perhaps I just need to eat fewer of the squares.  Or maybe I shouldn’t wash them down by choking on salt water afterwards.
• Even the best kayaker can still run you into a bouy.  Martin was doing a superb kayaking job, but I didn’t hear the warning yell for the bouy until it was almost too late.  I did pull up just in time, but I gave the bouy a hug just in case it would provide luck.
• After about 2 hours, my tongue and lips really start to feel the effects of being in salt water.  Lips get puckery (is that a word?), and tongue starts to feel rough, especially where it hits my permanent retainer.  (Will have to remember to put grease on lips tomorrow). 
• Your head can really get in the way of a swim.  At 2 hours 46 minutes, I had HAD it.  I was FED up.  I was not going to swim another stroke, even though I could have.  Maybe it was the shift from sunny to cloudy with misting, maybe it was the wind and chop picking up, maybe I wanted to be with my family in MN celebrating my neice and nephews birthdays (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!), maybe… maybe tomorrow would be another day.

Since I’m still doing the Go the Distance Masters event, I figured that I swam about 6 miles.  I guesstimate that I swim approximately 2 miles per hour.  If my racing is any indication, I actually can swim 2.4 miles in 1 hour 5 minutes, but I’ve rounded down due to not being in a race.  (I hope this is acceptable Mary if you are reading this). 

Tonight I’m planning to change my attitude and rest.

This weekend will find me back at Nehalem Bay.  I’ve rented a very small cottage to stay in for the duration.

For anyone looking for something to do, the swimming will be starting from the Boat Launch in the Nehalem Bay State Park. 

Saturday: Meet at 11:30am at Boat Launch.  Swim starts at 12:00pm and ends between 3-4pm for Michelle.

Sunday:  Meet at 12:30pm at Boat Launch.  Swim starts at 1:00pm and ends between 4-5pm for Michelle.

Directions from Portland:

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=97229&daddr=45.70948%2C-123.936526+%28Nehalem+Bay+State+Park%29&hl=en

Nehalem State Park information:

Park fee is $3.00 for the day.

http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_201.php

Alcatraz Photos:

Swimmers coming into Aquatic Park

 Alcatraz Swimmers coming into Aquatic Park – 2:

Michelle swimming Alcatraz – upper right corner:

Michelle and Dave Radcliff after Alcatraz:

 The only type of heels that Michelle thinks are worthwhile:

Thanks to Anne Cleveland for the heels photos.  Good Luck on your swim!

(ps – click on the photos to see an expanded view).

Now I’m not one to regularly check my mail, as it usually consists of bills and junk.  And who really likes looking at bills and junk mail.  Not me!  I fully expected to find plenty of bills in my mail today as it is about that time.  Today brought many surprises though.  At first I quickly went through my letters.  Bill, junk, potential bill, more junk, and whoa what’s this a package from the Channel Swimming Association.  YEA!  Then just as quickly a key fell from the stack.  Hmm, what the heck I’ve never had a key in my mailbox before.  According to the instructions, it stated that I had a package and needed to use the key to retrieve it.  Most of the time the packages that I receive are from…well….me.  I know not very fun, but still fun for me to get.  I knew that I hadn’t sent (ok purchased) anything lately, so it wasn’t from me.  I was on the phone with my parents and they confirmed it wasn’t from them and there was no return address.  A mystery package that states This End Up, now I’m intrigued.

Once I finally made it back to my house I opened the CSA, Ltd package.  My swim caps with the CSA, Ltd logo had finally arrived.  A bright yellow and a bright orange.  I can now add these to my collection, as I’ve taken to posting my race caps on my wall.   I may even use one for the swim, but I’m leaning towards using my 100 mile Go The Distance cap in honor of the swimming I’ve been doing and to recognize the event.  Both caps will be tested before the actual swim…I’ll keep you updated on the selected uniform for the Channel.

Now the mystery package.  Since it did state This End Up, I decided shaking wasn’t a good plan.  I went in search of a scissors and slowly opened the box all the while thinking “Did I order something and not remember?”  I quickly found the card and ripped it open and glanced at the signature.  It was from one of my cousins.  I then skipped to the rest of the package and burst into laughter.  There was a photo of my cousins, Alyssa, Bill, David, Raegan, Andy and Jenny with huge grins and thumbs ups.    It makes me laugh every time I look at it.  This is just the stuff that I need and one of the reasons that I knew that it was right to come clean about my Channel attempt (again you were right I was wrong).  These mementos, quotes, emails, etc are the things that will buoy me (hopefully literally) during those tough training swims and in that long Channel attempt. 

Thank you to all the messages to date.  I read each and every one of them and have them filed in a special folder that I can quickly access anytime I start to need that pick me up.  You all have become a part of my attempt on the Channel.  I hope you are all prepared for the swim!