Becoming one with the baby jellies.  (And no these aren’t my hands)

What happens if you pass gas in a wetsuit?

Well here is a photo of the “Old Ditch”  I know that it doesn’t look like much here, but this channel has crushed more military attempts and Channel swimmers dreams than any other.  Marked on the map are some pretty standard points.  The ideal swim is from Shakespeare Beach to Cap Griz Nes.

Today was another trip back to freezing Nehalem Bay.  Luckily some of my friends have started thinking for me.  Jane suggested since I was able to make it until 2 hours before high tide we should use this as our starting point and work backwards.  This would put the start of the swim at 9am finishing at 3ish.  Hopefully the water would have a similar effect and I would be swimming in the warmer river water for more of the swim.  Kim R also decided to join us at the beach, which was great.  Even if my friends don’t swim, it is nice having the support on the beach.  I realize that many people put their own schedules on hold to assist me.  Again just saying thank you doesn’t seem to be enough.

We arrived in Nehalem just on time to start the swim.  Unlike yesterday the weather was overcast.  I checked the water temperature and it sat right at 58 degrees.  I made sure that I was wearing a one piece suit today.  Kim took some I’m sure lovely photos of me getting greased up to go.  I was using more grease than normal just to try to add an extra layer.  Now I don’t grease all over.  I only use it in the thin skinned places and places most likely to chaff.  These include my inner arms, armpits, neck, groin, back of legs, and the seams of the suit.  (Note: my grease consists of 3 part petroleum jelly to 1 part lanolin.  Funny story about the lanolin later). 

I got in the water and started swimming.  I had work to get done.  I took my normal route but to pass the time I started to collect interesting shells.  Since I couldn’t catch the crab, I went for the next best souvenior.  It kept me entertained as I swam up and down the beach.  Jane joined me for the second half of the first lap.  She, Kim, and Elizabeth all took a dip in Nehalem Bay to get in some cold water training before we head to Alaska next weekend. 

Then for the next few laps I would go out for an hour.  The plan was to feed every hour for the first 4 hours.  Then feed every 30 minutes for the last 2 hours.  I thought that by breaking the swim down into smaller sections the task wouldn’t be so daunting.  This a tool that many Channel swimmers have suggested.  Today it really worked for me.  I could just think of it as a swimming set then.  For feedings, Kim and Jane met me at the water’s edge with hot tea, shot bloks, canned peaches and words of encouragement. 

I made sure today that I wore the water thermometer for the whole swim.  I wanted to monitor the temperature when I started to feel cold.  This way I could see if it was my inner core or if it was the water coming in from the ocean.  Well, the swim started at 58 degrees and the last 45 minutes was swum in water 50-52 degrees.  I managed to get in 5 hours and 30 minutes dealing with these extreme temperatures.  I think I was just better mentally prepared today.  And I was able to keep my mind of the numbing cold better than yesterday.

All in all I was very happy with my performance.

Swimming Notes:

• Taking swims in small sections makes it more manageable.  If I think I have to swim for 6 hours it is very difficult mental task, while if I consider it as 4x 1 hour swim and 4×3o minute swims then it all seems possible.  I will have to remember this at the Channel.
• No real song soundtrack of the day today. Sorry.
• Managed to pick up about 20 good shells. 
• I looked very interesting with a water thermometer tied to my front and with shells shoved into my suit.  I’m sure that I provide some humor for both Jane and Kim on the beach.
• Funny side story about lanolin (not for the faint of heart):
  • Now I was provided the formula for the grease mixture from a fellow coaching friend.  Now I assumed that lanolin was some sort of heating agent like Icy Hot.  Armed with this knowledge I went in search of lanolin in the first aid section.  Well it wasn’t found there.  I’m usually pretty comfortable asking questions, so I went up to the pharmacy to get help.  The pharmacist, whom I’ve gotten to know over the past few years, turns to me and asks.  “Do you have chapped or cracked nipples?”  I’m sure I looked horror stricken.  I almost fell to the floor in shock, as I thought “WHAT THE HECK???”  I responded with a resounding “NO”.  He asked what I needed it for.  Now it was time for him to have the horror look on his face.  Turns out lanolin is used often for nursing mothers to tend to their sore nipples.   It can also be found in the baby section of stores.  Good to know, maybe I’ll be a little bit more cautious with my questions in the future.

Now those of you that have seen my training schedule know that I was supposed to get in a 6 hour training swim today.  That did not happen.

Elizabeth and I arrived down to the Nehalem Bay State Park at the required start time and I got in the water as planned, but suddenly something felt different.  The water was cold.  I know it is supposed to be cold, but it felt really cold.  I had my water thermometer on and it was reading 58 degrees.  Obviously the currents shifted or a weather pattern changed things, but this was still a good training temperature. 

I finished the 1st hour and came out for a feed and removed the water thermometer.  It can be a pain dragging it around.  In for hour 2,  on the turn home the water felt even colder.  I thought I must just be having an off week.  I couldn’t hold pace on Thursday and now the water felt like ice.  My hands and feet were starting to really hurt.  At this time the song with the line “Pins and needles, nice to know you. Good-bye” came into my head.  Not very inspirational or helpful.

Elizabeth managed to convince me to go in for another hour after my second feeding.  She managed to do so by just saying, ”Well whatever you want to do.”  Since I was complaining that it was so cold and I didn’t think I could get back in.  I was downing hot tea and shot bloks like they were going out of style.  It was as if I was trying to gain the 15-30 pounds that Channel swimmers always talk about putting on.  (Side note:  I didn’t put on any weight for the Channel as I already have some extra padding, which the pictures will show). 

I went in for the third hour.  Again the water just felt colder and colder.  Now my lips were numb and my ears were ringing.  Perhaps I will have to try ear plugs.  I don’t train with them as I can’t hear well and they cause more irritation for me.  I got out for a feeding and I stated I really didn’t think I could go on.  I was frustrated as 58 degrees is pretty typical for the middle of the Channel and I couldn’t handle it for 3 hours.  This was no way to make it across and I might as well back out now.  Then the shakes started.  Not those nice little ones that you get when you are somewhat chilled, but the more violent ones where at times you feel like your teeth are going to shake out of your head.  I called the swim at that point.  I knew better than to get back in.

I quickly went to the showers to warm up.  I couldn’t get the water hot enough.  After getting dressed I went back to the beach to wrap up in blankets and sit on the warm sand, as it was a very sunny day.  I finally warmed up and had some food.  I decided to check the water temperature one last time…54 degrees.  The water temp had DROPPED 4 degrees with the influx of the ocean water into the bay.  I wasn’t going insane.  It was getting colder. 

Elizabeth was a trooper as I had promised her 6 hours of good studying and now she only got in 3 and had to drive my sorry bum back to Portland.  She did bring along some very delicious cookies which I promptly ate.

Swim Notes:

• The song that I was singing was Incubus – Nice to Know You.  I didn’t know this at the time.  Thank goodness for Google.
• If swimming in super cold water, a one piece suit will be required.
• Perhaps consider taking people’s advice and use ear plugs. 

This is my first night swimming training session and it took quite a bit of coordination.  I received permission from the Park Service as well as the Sheriff’s office (they patrol the lake) for which I’m very grateful.

This was to be a short swim of 1-2 hours.  Jane Barry would be the safety kayak on the water with me and Kim R and Tom W would be safety crew on shore.  Now Hagg lake is pretty comfortable training ground for me, so I thought it best to train at night somewhere I was comfortable. 

I personally love night swimming.  Heck it is one of my favorite songs (Night Swimming by REM – Check it out).  What I didn’t anticipate is being a little freaked out.  Ok more than a little.  I made a realization quickly as it really started to get dark.  I don’t do night swimming for training.  It has always been the tooling around in a lake swimming breaststroke with my head up.  Never before had I actually done night training, head down and get on with it swimming.  This was something new.  The lake started to get more inky black and I started to see less and less in the water.  I even started to get seasick as I was losing my sight lines, which I normally see when I turn my head to breathe.  Yes, Jane was there, but even she was becoming harder to see.  Plus I kept trying to anticipate her move, which she apparently wasn’t really making.  Needless to say my stroke which is normally pretty straight started to pull off to the right.  This didn’t surprise me as it was my right arm that was sore. 

We swam on for an hour and 20 minutes with me stopping pretty frequently to talk with Jane.  All in all a good introduction into the night swim.  The next one will be a longer swim where I swim into daylight, so start at something like 3am and swim into the dawn.  It should be very pretty.  Hopefully I’ll remember to bring my camera.

Swimming Notes:

• Soundtrack:  Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb and Night Swimming by REM
  • Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb has been playing around in my head alot lately when I get swimming.  I just checked out the lyrics and they seem very appropriate
• I never knew that my friends wanted to go by code names.  We had walkie talkies for ship to shore communication.  I don’t recall Jane’s code name, but I do remember “Rosco”
• While on a quiet lake, noises really do carry, especially laughter.
• I now know what it is like to be a lightning bug.  I had a glow stick pinned to my bum.  For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what glut muscles to contract to cause blinking.  Hmmm….something to ponder. 
• Bats are attracted to glow sticks on the water.  Or maybe they are attracted to the bugs that are attracted to the glow sticks on my head and bum.

This Thursday was my second long pool interval set.  I was joined by a fabulous crew of swimmers.  Brianna joined me during the long boring 2000 yard warm-up and into the long interval set.  Tom was there as well.  Jeff showed up in time for the long set.

You can’t imagine how overwhelmed that I have become from all the support that people have provided and today was no exception.  I have been blessed with many friends that sit through long workouts and even join in.

Today’s set was as follows:

500 Choice

100 non-free

400 pull

100 non-free

300 kick

100 non-free

200 drill/swim

100 non-free

100 free

100 non-free

 3x: 10×100 on 1:30 and 5×200 on 3:00

 400 cool-down

Ok for those of you that added that up it comes to 8400 yards, which of course doesn’t match the 7300 yard subject heading.  Well, to say the least life got in the way of finishing the set.  I started the swim with Brianna at 10:30am, but I didn’t quite plan out my timings very well as I had a meeting at 1:00pm.  Now I could have finished the set, but I would have had about 2 minutes to shower, dress and get to my meeting.  Now as there are times that I would love to stay in the pool rather than hit meetings, I still need to pay my bills (that and I really do have a good job that I would like to keep). 

The swim went good…fair…ok.   The pool seemed awfully warm.  I’m guessing that it was running around 84 degrees.  Since I have become acclimated to swimming in colder water, this felt like a hot tub.  It felt incredibly uncomfortable today.  That and for some reason my pace was all over the board.  Tom, Brianna and Jeff all tried to keep me on pace, but I would vacillate from 1:16 – 1:22 on the 100s and 2:28-2:37 on the 200s.  I just couldn’t nail down a pace.  Brianna, Jeff and Tom were all a huge help though.  (It should be noted that Tom has a shoulder injury and swam the whole set kicking with the absolute largest fins I have ever seen.  See what I mean about those friends!) 

Brianna and Tom had to leave a little early due to meetings.  Jeff stayed in until I called the last set after one 200.  It was time for us to get to our meetings.

Lessons learned:

• I’m definitely more tailored to cold water swimming.
• I will have off pace days.  My hope is the next pace set will go well.
• I have some of the greatest supporters of my swimming dream.  I really can’t thank all of you enough.

I didn’t originally plan to compete in the Oregon Open water series this summer after my shoulder started acting up.  This was mainly because I had to choose my “A” races as I was told.   This meant which races was I willing to risk it all for.  The answer was easy…The Channel. 

This changed about a week ago (July 16th to be precise).  Jim Teisher suggested that I join him and Jeanne at a Sun River cabin and attend the Series.  The thought of spending the weekend with a bunch of my masters swimming friends training in a colder lake sounded just perfect.  Plus I thought a weekend of lighter training wouldn’t be bad for me.   I signed up for all 5 events; the 500, 1000, 1500, 3000, and 5000 meters.  These events started on Friday and went through Sunday. 

The event site:  

Jim and I drove up Friday afternoon.  We headed straight to the lake and registered.  I was going to be number 50 for the weekend and Jim was 51.  The first and only event Friday was 3000 meters.   Arriving I realized that this was  just what I needed, I was able to reconnect with the Oregon Masters that I have met through the Associations meet and Nationals.  

My goal for the weekend was to really just enjoy myself and get in some strong swims, not races, but strong swimming.  Plus there was a very competitive field there for the weekend, so I knew I had to be careful with my training.  It is easy to get caught up in the competition.   

The 3000 meter went well.  The course was a 1500 meter loop, so you get to go around it twice.  The struggle is that you have to round past the finish and head back out around one more time.  There are times when this turn is really difficult.  Fortunately Friday night it wasn’t bad.  Plus in the 2nd lap, my left shoulder started to loosen up and not cause me pain.   We all finished the race and then it was time to do what I think I like best…eat.  I may swim so much just so that I can eat…hmm I’ll have to ponder that. 

Saturday’s races were the short ones and there were a ton more swimmers.  I was pretty sure that I would move to the middle of the pack.  We had the 500 and the 1500 meters.  The 500 was run as an individual trial with swimmers starting 20 seconds apart.  Mary Sweat somehow ended up behind me in the line up…not a good thing.  Although when getting in the water she requested that I warm up the water for her.  I told her that was definitely a possibilty.  She promptly retracked her request.  For the life of me I can’t imagine why

The races that day went well.  I took time to swim the 1500 meter course 2 times prior to the actual 1500M race.  I was trying to get in more yardage.  This would hopefully alleviate the need to swim a long swim in the afternoon in the Deschutes River.  I can’t say that there were too many exciting things that happened during the Saturday races.  I did spend the 1500M dragging off of Dave Radcliff which might have affected his time a little…sorry Dave.  Ok not really I was looking for a little lift. 

Michelle swimming – no idea why my foot is out of the water:

Michelle finishing a race – yes she occasionally runs:

Michelle after the races:

Saturday afternoon Jim Teisher and I headed out to the Deschutes.  We went to the Sunriver Marina.  There was a wedding being set up.  I thought about swimming in the river right where the bride and groom were going to stand, but I figured Jim and I in our suits wasn’t the romantic mood that they were trying to set.    We moved further upstream and began the swim.  We headed straight into the current.  We swam for about 55 minutes upstream and made about 100 yards of progress.  I did manage to pick up some souvenirs for Jim and Jeanne of some water logged golf balls.  My suit acted as a great holder of the golf balls.   Jim and I turned around at 55 minutes and floated the 100 yards back to our starting point.  We promptly walked back through the wedding area in our suits to meet Jeanne in the car.  Jeanne had the air conditioning on and Jim asked if she could turn it off.  Of course she was hot due to the warm weather and Jim and I were dealing with trying to warm up from an hour swim in 62 degree water.  I think there was a conflict of interest, but we managed to work it out.

Jeanne and Jim cooked a feast for Saturday night.  I know all of you are sitting there thinking “here we go on the food again”.  That’s right.  They cooked up some awesome spaghetti, salad, garlic bread.  I ate so much I practically burst.    After dinner they planned to walk around the Sunriver Village.  I planned to sit and read.  I had such good intentions to read some of the book Nothing Great is Easy by former King of the Channel Des Renford.  I think I spent most of the time trying to keep my head from bobbing.  I gave up the fight and headed to bed.  This was at the very late hour of….wait for it….7:30pm.  WHOO HOOO I’m a rockstar!

Sunday’s swim started with a 5000M.  We arrived at the lake to find that the wind had not calmed down and there was a pretty good chop going over the lake.  Now swells in the ocean do not really bother me.  Chop on the other hand drives me crazy.  It repeatedly pelts you in the head and swamps you when you are trying to breath.  This would be good training as the Channel has lots of chop.  The 5000 was a 3 lap race; one 2000m followed by 2 x 1500M. 

Thoughts during the 5000M swim:

• I love chop. I love chop. I love chop….NO I DON’T…wait wrong mantra.  I love chop. I love chop.
• Be one with the chop. Be one with the chop.

Don’t get me wrong we were only going into the chop for half of the lap and then it was at our back.  The turns back into the chop were a rude awakening.  But I would just go back to the mantras and also started to visualize that I was in the Channel and working my way across. 

Once completing the 5000M, I decided to go back out for one more 1500M lap.  There were still some other swimmers in the water, so I went out to swim with them.  I know how hard it can be to not have company on the swim.  I thought that I could act as the sight line for some of the swimmers.  (We didn’t discuss this, but it managed to work out).   I had a really good lap.  I felt good.  I was having fun swimming with the other swimmers.  My shoulder was behaving…thank goodness.

The events ended.  Jim Teisher ended up 1st in his age group for the Short Series (500, 1000, and 1500).  I ended up…well shoot I forgot.  I ended up something in my age group for the long series (1500, 3000, and 5000m).  We both finished all the events and received the Survivor mug.  

Jim Teisher and Michelle:

On the ride back to Portland, Jim and I planned to stop at Suttle Lake to do another cold water training session.  Suttle Lake ended up being 70+ degress, so I said it didn’t seem worth it.  I was so tired too, so it was probably good that we didn’t.  We did stop for milkshakes, so that is a type of cold training.

The weekend was just what I needed.  Socializing with a ton of great people.  Gaining a connection to Sybil Fisher, the first Oregon solo Channel swimmer.  Meeting a swimmer that may help me make some t-shirt quilts.   Just a wonderful weekend.  So glad that I was talked into it.