Man people are really behind this swim.  The support has been overwhelming.  Now people are looking for t-shirts to show their support to everyone.  I would love to do t-shirts, but all t-shirts require a catchy slogan.   Get on your creative caps and think of slogans for my Channel swim.  If there is a stand out winner, t-shirts will be created for a small fee. 

Today I headed out to Roslyn lake for a longer training swim.  3-4 hour swims on Saturday and Sunday are going to soon become the norm.  I thought might as well head to Roslyn to hit the cold water as well.

Upon arriving at Roslyn Lake and walking down to the dock, I had the pleasure of watching 2 bald eagles fishing over the lake.  I thought this was a good sign.  I was busy taking a water temperature while watching the aerial acrobatics of the eagles.  As I was filled with feelings of good omens, I pulled out the water thermometer.   My good vibes were short lived.  Again the warm weather played havoc on my training grounds.  Lake Temperature = 72 degrees.  Within one week, Roslyn went from 58 to 72 degrees.  One of the park officials mentioned that my trout fishing was going to be ruined.  I tried to gently explain that I was there to swim around the lake for Channel training.  His reply “Holy Shit!”  Sorry for the language, but I wanted to quote him exactly.  He then recovered and said that if it looked like I was getting tired someone would kayak out to help me.

Since I was already here, I planned to get in the water anyways.  It was quiet with the exception of a few duck and geese families.  Oh and the eagles were still around.  Plus this would provide a good opportunity to test my feedings. 

Every lap of the lake took me about 55 minutes, which provided the exact time I needed before coming in for a feeding.  Feedings consisted of hot tea with honey and Carbo Pro and canned peaches.   Both seemed to sit very well during the training.  I had a small side ache after each feeding, but it quickly subsided.

Swimming thoughts for the day:

• Budweiser and Coors Light seem to be the unanimous beer of choice for fisherman, as I have seen a plethora of these on the bottom of the lakes I’ve swam in.
• The trout fisherman were not going to have any luck as I saw no evidence of fish.  Only some small salamanders
• Chiggers are nasty little bugs that bite while swimming. Unfortunately you don’t know that they are there until after the swimming is done and you itch like crazy.  I look like I have the chicken pox.  For this reason alone Lake Roslyn is off of my training schedule.

Next weeks plan. 

• Heal from the chigger bites.
• Swim 3-5 hours on both Saturday and Sunday.  This time down at Nehalem Bay.
• Test the following for feedings; hot tea with honey and Carbo Pro, canned peaches, fruit filled Newtons and Clif Shot Blocks. 

I’ve been working on getting my training schedule posted so that people can sign up for swim buddy, beach buddy, and/or kayak buddy.  My coach and I are just working out the particulars.  Keep checking back as my goal is to have this posted within the next few days.

Hagg Lake is my normal training ground.  Unfortunately every week drives the water temperature higher.  I’m guessing the water is at a stiffling 70 degrees +.    And with this next week expecting temperatures in the high 90s, I imagine the temperature will continue to climb.

My plan was to get in a 2 hour swim prior to the start of the Hagg Lake triathlon.  I was all set to hit that time frame when I realized that I couldn’t find my grease and I couldn’t find my goggles.  Once both items were located a 2 hour swim was out the window.  I still managed to get in a very quiet 1 hour swim.  The lake was like glass (not to be expected in the Channel). 

All in all a good training swim.

Generally, Thursday’s have become my day off from the pool and lake.  This gives my shoulder it’s much needed break.  I only need to make sure that I do my physical therapy exercises to help strengthen the rotator cuff muscles.    This was the plan when I sat down to a day at work.  That was until I received an email from Dave Radcliff and Joe Oakes discussing an afternoon swim in Nehalem Bay.

Joe Oakes, aka Alcatraz Joe, is an extraordinary endurance athlete performing a non-motorized circumnavigation of the globe, swam in the Bering Strait, started the Escape from Alcatraz and Alcatraz Challenge events, etc. etc. etc.   Last summer, Joe provided me some invaluable information regarding open water swimming.  I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to swim with Joe and other swimmers in Nehalem Bay.  (Nehalem Bay is out on the Oregon coast and tends to keep Channel like temperatures.)

Unfortunately I had a small glitch…work.  I’m already pushing the limit on my vacation days with my 3 week excursion to England.   I don’t have any extra vacation days to spare.  My manager has been incredibly flexible with my training schedule to date and I was hoping that today was no exception.   I spoke with my manager to discuss a trade in work.  I would make up my hours by working in the evening and weekend, if I could head to Nehalem Bay for this training opportunity.  He was very understanding and agreed!  I couldn’t have been more pleased. 

Now came the next hurdle, I was a swimmer without a swimsuit.  I know that this may come as a surprise as I usually have approximately 5 swimsuits with me at all times.  Today happened to be the exception.  A quick call to Linda at J.D. Pence aquatic store was all the help I needed.  I quickly ran in and purchased a thin strapped workout bikini, as I was not going to repeat my chaffing from the day before.  And I was determined to swim in as little coverage as possible up until the Channel.

I made the meeting time with Joe and Martin.  I was so giddy to be headed to the beach as I have heard that this is truly the place that I needed to train.  Turns out that all of us in the car had our swimming goals in mind.  Joe is preparing for a Channel Island relay beginning on July 21st and Martin is getting ready for his first Alcatraz swim – competing in the non-wetsuit division. 

We arrived in Nehalem and I took my first look at the Bay and thought….”Oh no!”  The wind was quite strong and there were the fun little signs of white caps.  Not a lot of white caps, but white caps none the less.    I just kept thinking that this wasn’t the rest that my shoulder needed, but I needed to swim in the bay with people knowledgeable about tides and open water, which Joe and Martin had.    We parked and did some scouting of the water.  Ok they scouted, I tried to look like I knew what was going on.  The other two swimmers, Curtis and John, soon joined us at the boat ramp.  They too were training for Alcatraz.   WOO HOO look at all these open water swimmers!

After a quick discussion with a fisherman, we found out that the water was a whopping 62 degrees.  I was hoping for colder, but this would have to do.  We all changed into our swimming attire.  I’m beginning to understand that when I change into swimming gear and there is only cold water around to swim in I’m going to get that weird green monster look for people.  Now if only that tail would also show up with those stares.  I keep thinking about how smoothly those salamanders moved through the water at Trillium Lake. 

The swim began with us marching down the beach with the plan to swim with the current back to the boat launch.  I slowly entered the water in my methodical way, which basically consists of me inching my way into the water.  I know that this is a torturous method, but it seems to work for me.  It allows me to wrap my mind around being cold.  I started my swim by heading straight into the current, while the others swam towards the boat ramp.  Let’s just say that we had a fairly strong current as I was swimming against it and making very little ground.  I actually thought it was funny, as I was finally experiencing what it was to swim on a treadmill.   I couldn’t wait to turn around and swim with the current as I was going to be super fast!  Ok, not super fast, but I would definitely move.    The way back held a few surprises though, upswells and wind.  Yep didn’t know about upswells and the fact that they carry water from the very bottom and at a temperature much colder than the surface.  Ah here was the 59-60 degrees that I really needed, but it caught me off guard.  In addition, I kept getting water in my face whenever I breathed to the left side.  Like an idiot, I kept breathing to the left side thinking I would get a different result.  No such luck.  Funny thing is when I breathed to the right, I had no problem.  Again lesson learned; “When the wind is coming from the left, breathe right as the waves will be pushing in from the left”  [sigh]  So much to learn.

We all swam for 30 minutes.  Once we were all dressed and beginning the goose bump stage of warming up, we all agreed we could have gone longer.  But that is for another day and now I have even more swim buddies to help me along the way, as I hopefully help them in their goals.

Here is to that jar of honey, Joe!

What better way to start a holiday than with an early morning swim?

It was a beautiful morning when Jane, Kim and I met for a quick workout.  The weather forecast was predicting holiday highs of 90 degrees.  I could only hope that Hagg Lake hadn’t reached the same temperature.  With such beautiful weather, Jane and I decided to swim “naked.”  And by naked, I mean without wetsuits.  Of course this wasn’t new for me, but I did decide to make the swim with just a workout bikini.   I thought that this might help get me used to cooler water.  In addition, my hope was that when I switched back to a one piece swimsuit that it would seem to provide more warmth. 

I think that the water had already reached 70+ degrees.  I unfortunately don’t know the actual temperature as I forgot to bring my water thermometer.  The two hour swim went much smoother than Saturday’s swim at Trillum Lake.  I think that this made me realize even more that the altitude did play a part in my lat tiredness.  It was only my neck muscles that seemed to tighten up.  That and I now have matching suit hickies on my neck.  For those of you new to suit hickies, they are chaffing marks that occur on the neck.  They are red and quite painful.   I guess next swim I won’t forget my grease. 

On Thursday, I was contacted by Dave Radcliff, a good swimming friend.  He mentioned that he and his wife, Nancy, would be available for a swim on Saturday at Trillum Lake.  I was already preparing to swim 2 hours out at Hagg Lake, but I was not going to pass up the chance to have a kayak buddy, a swimming buddy, and a colder lake.  I honestly had not heard of Trillum Lake.  Dave informed me that it was up by Mount Hood and that the forest service was estimating a temperature of high 50’s.  PERFECT!!!

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