College memories

Just a short note. Went to Bloomington to pick up my daughter, Rachel, from swim camp. What a fabulous swimming pool and facility (the new one...for Katie and Dave oplinger). Anyway had the chance to jump in the outdoor pool and get in a 7200 meter workout partially on my own and then finished up with the Bloomington club team. You will laugh, good news is I was able to keep up with kids likely two ot three times my junior, but bad news is I was in ( with all due respect the girls 15 and older lane)! The coach jeff landue (Sorry for not spelling correctly) was great in letting me swim. Not too often I get to workout in a 50 meter pool. I will get up early and head back for an early workout before I pick up Rachel. I love Bloomington and just had to call Katie ( my sister for those of you who are following butndont know) as she was a real big shot at IU following Dave Oplinger as well a few years before.

Anyway, great time, great work out and just like being home with mom and my apple pie. go Hoosiers.

Swim for the Kids - 10k race

The first step of an adventure is always the hardest.

Jennifer and I made a long, one day, round trip to Culver, IN for the seasons first 10k (6.2 miles) in Lake Maxinkuckee on Saturday.  Course was a 2.5k (1.5 mile) right triangle stretching down past Culver Military Academy and back to the public beach. 

Finished in 3 hours and 06 minutes good enough for third place but more important to me was that I felt like I could easily keep going. Not to say it was not hard work, but there was more in the tank. The lake water and conditions were allot like swimming across old Lake Wawasee through the Channel and to Syracuse beach on July 4th! (You locals know what I mean). 

Due to inclement weather, we slipped the start in between storm clouds and slight over cast skies. Weather at the start was good so lots of boats were making it really wavy about half way down the course in front of Culver Academy. They have concrete sea walls everywhere so the waves were bouncing off the walls back into us. After the race I learned from local guards they call this area the "washing machine"of course my reaction to this was...no shit! The next challenge was the course had unfortunately small marker buoy's and thus everyone spent allot of time making course corrections and looking around for where to go, especially in the waves on laps one and two. Turns one, two and the back stretch waves were very choppy and made it hard to get a good rhythm. On lap two a storm cloud brought a good down pour of rain about the boaters vanished. Laps three and four were much better and made for easier line of sight so my lap time were almost identical at 47 minutes each. At the finish the lake was calm and it was sunny again making for a nice smooth finish. 

Hamming it up for the camera just after finishing...

In the end it was a great experience, learned much about the mental side of longer swims, the kinds of food and liquid carbohydrate fuel I need, things to do different next time and left with thinking about the next months of training, working my way from 3 hours to more than 6 for my English Channel qualifying swim.  

This is doable, it will not be easy, but I am on my way and no small thanks to a bunch of fiends, family and coaches giving me support every day.

Next big swim is Morse Lake, Noblesville, IN for another 10k (US Masters Nationals) and then following that is the 8 mile Boston Ocean swim in August. Thanks to everyone for your support.