62 degree's and Big Surf in Michigan

Had a great swim yesterday morning in lake Michigan at tower park beach in winnetka,IL water was a balmy 62f and pretty wavy. Got to swim with my coach Marcia Cleveland and one of her swim buddies. I was in good company as both are very accomplished open water swimmers. These opportunities to swim with folks like this is so important for me as I learn just how different open water swim technique from the pool.

When we first got in, I was a bit nervous as Marcia said "Oh this is about the worst you would swim in in the english channel". Needless to say I was a bit concerned bordering more on 'what the F $&@(/;... am I doing'! Getting in the cold water was not the challenge and that aspect felt just fine, every swim in cold water accumulates on you and makes the next time easier. The waves took at least 15 minutes to get used to and I swallowed lots of water. As time went on I began to sense the pattern of the waves and then started to relax.

I have three weeks until my first 10k (6.2 mile) swim in lake maxencukie (sorry I know this is spelled wrong)' anyway it's the lake at Culver military. So this should be a calm, relative long workout swim and just doing it to get a sense of the distance. In the coming weeks my trainignwill continually be at 4 - 6 miles a couple times a week with the balance being pool workouts. This should be fun.

58 Degree's of Freedom

Finally got the first open water bare skin swim in today, a brisk 58.8 degrees for about 15 minutes as I swam out and around some buoys in Lake Zurich nearby the house. It was sunny so that helped and after some initial quick strokes began to settle down and relax, thinking about my stroke versus gasping for air and thrashing around like a seal waiting for a great white shark. Although come to think of it, I was probably mistaken by some local kids on the next door pier for just that.

With luck, plan to incrementally add time and days as water temp rises so that during summer I can be in the lake 3 days a week minimum and then plan my longer swims for the weekend. At some point will add in Lake Michigan, I believe it is still in the low 50's!

Ah, the smell of fresh cold water. It Must be Spring

May 5th and everything is green as spring has sprung in Chicago land. I took a dip in the neighbors un-heated pool two days ago at 67f on a stretch code tether for 15 minutes and was just fine. This weekend its down to Lake Zurich which should be around 60f by now for some mileage and the chance to shiver...

I recently surpassed 250 miles of training and am currently 3rd in the nation for my age group (44-49) as part of the US Masters "Go the distance" program where thousands of silly people just like me train and track there mileage year by year. Its a subtle competitive moment for me everyday to log my miles and see where I stack up. Its been a long winter and mostly training by myself, so any motivator is welcomed.

Shoulders seem to be hanging in there. IWhile I have clearly gotten stronger and able to handle faster swim sets for longer periods of time, I still have residual left shoulder stuff going on and will finally get an MRI of the shoulder and neck. We are suspecting that it could be some old nerve impingement and/or muscle issue. Its been hard to diagnose due to the ability to handle the physical workload so we'll see. Maybe just getting older?

I'll be in Plymouth, IN in about a month for the seasons first 10k (6.2 miles race) so looking forward to that and also trying to figure out how to get over to Lake Wawasee near my old hometown for another swim across the lake like I did back in the 1980's. Can't believe it was that long ago?

Mileage & Boston Harbor

Training continues, yard-after-yard, and looking forward to getting out of the pool and into the cold lake water for a change. Mentally looking at the same tile bottom is really a bigger challenge than one might think..teaches patience.

The next two months will see yardage volume increase from an average of 25,000 to 27,000 - 30,000 yards per week as well as the tempo of swims continue to push consistently faster. Despite being tired there is evidence of progress. I can consistently swim a couple thousand yards of 100 and 200's around 1:20 pace now and then continue on with the rest of the workout. I pretty much have stopped taking any rest between sets and just keep on going. For me this good as I can put down 5000 - 6000 in 1 1/2 hours which I try to limit workouts to for work and family reasons. As soon as open water starts, I will also start long, multi-hour weekend swims trying to get up to 6-8 range.

Have decided to add the Boston Harbor 8 miler to the swim race (if your can call it that for me, races? Its really more completion thats the goal). I figured between this, which will be very cold, wavy like San Francisco and the bigger Lake Michigan swims, I will be at least physically prepared for the 8 hour qualifier in October (cold water and mental are the big unknowns yet).

Year to date I have swam a tad over 175 miles.

1 year; 5 months and 6 days

Counting the time....to swim

So you think your in good physical shape, or is it just wear and tear?

Getting in shape, lets you learn just how out of shape you are (were) and then learning that you are no longer that indestructible 20 year old.

As I have continued to average above 25, 000 yards a week swimming I have also continued to be reminded of my age and the wear and tear this training takes on oneself. Left shoulder specifically has been tender. I have been working on very specific shoulder stretching which is helping greatly but this tenderness just won't go away. Welcome to getting older, Oh the joy??

So, I went to an Orthopod guy who specializes in swimmers. After some x-rays and very specific shoulder movement tests I learned that most likely it is not a torn rotator cuff or muscle issue but likely my old C 5,6,7 compression from a car accident back in college that is raising its ugly head due to the workload and probably improper biomechanics (big word for poor swimming technique). Freestyle as many of you may recall was really never my thing, so this pounding has been noticeable.

Learning to breath on both sides, while sounding simple, after 30 years of breathing only on one side is a challenge for me but very necessary to relieve the stress on my shoulders and neck area. You'll laugh but often times while swimming this leads to gaging on water from not rotating my head (actually rotating my body) efficiently from side to side. But with time this will become better too.

Good news is the training will continue and even pick-up a bit in the next two months to prepare for tentative events: Huntington 5k, Golden Gate to Bay Bridge 6 mile in SF Bay, Lake Minnantonka, MN 5 mile, Harbor Springs Lake Michigan 10k, Lake Superior 2 mile, Big Shoulders 5 k in Lake Michigan, Diamond Lake 10k in Michigan and the US Masters Nationals in Indianapolis at Morse Lake. Good news this all counts towards my training goal total yardage but is really preparing me for the big challenge of a 6-8 hour cold water trial in October.

The Charity efforts continue. I have been in contact with Goshen's A.D. and working on some sort of high school fund for student athletes and the Swim Across America Cancer Charity continues to be interested. The only other one I have considered to date is adding something for military vet's. All this should come into better focus once I finish the 6-8 hour trail.

Thats all for now and thanks for everyones comments and support. Take care of yourselves. Don

Just checking in...open water is creeping closer

Workouts keep coming at +/- 5000 yards a day (a little shy of 3miles) consistently now 5 times a week. So I have jumped from the 20k to 25k weekly average and good news is that its mostly being done in single longer workouts of 90 minutes each. While this step-up has been seemingly small I have found that the winter doldrums are here and I'm tired. Its just another step I suspect but even on days when i don't feel so hot I am still clipping off 1:20 - 1:25 100's pace with little to no rest over the entire distance so not too hard on myself.

The left shoulder is slowly getting better as I have been doing inner and out rotator cuff stretch cords consistently as well as stretching specifically for this. Keep working on other core as well and will add in weights slowly. I am back down to my college weight and eating everything in sight. Been starting taking cold only showers and it was horrible but now peanuts. Its amazing how mental some of this stuff is...

Still planning open waters swims but for sure looks like the US masters nationals in Indianapolis (6 miles but in warm dirty lake water, This could tough as warm water swims very different than cold); training in san fran bay for a week or two & golden gate to oakland bay bride race in July which will be a cold water (<60f); maybe huntington mile in Indiana for kicks; possible harbor springs 10k in upper lake michigan which would be cold; Lake Wawasee double crossing late spring while water is cool; big shoulders in lake michigan in Sept. and then in October my 6 plus hours (actually 8 plus just to really test the meatballs) qualifying attempt for the channel.

Finally, Year to date I have booked 99.73 miles of swimming (175,532 yards)...who could have thunk...keeps me out of trouble.