Cold water training

As my taper has begun, I'm focused more on cold water training at this point.  I drove up to the Cabin with Sam and I did one hour of swimming in the Logan River.  I found a nice pocket of water flow that was the same speed as my strong effort pace.  The water was slowly getting colder and by the time I got out it was 57.4°F.

I got a good nights rest and got up and did 30 minutes.  This time the air temp was significantly colder as well as the water temp.  The water temp when I got out was 52.0°F even.  I really had to stay with it mentally on this one.  I felt like getting out after 5 minutes, so instead of thinking about how cold it was, I kept my mind busy on other things, and the time went by much faster.  At 30 minutes I got out, took a quick warm shower and got on the road for work this morning.

I love swimming in the Logan River.  It's even clearer than Causey, and I can see every detail of the small rocks just inches from my reach below me.  I can see a fish every time.  There are specific rocks that I enjoy looking for and using as a guide to my pace.  Lots of fun.  Looking forward to getting back up there on Wednesday evening.

Starting the taper

This morning I slept in completely guilt free.  It was awesome.  Although getting up at 0500 is hardly sleeping in for many folks. I took my time getting ready and was in the NWRC pool at 0645 and did Andy's workout he had on the board:

400 free
200 - 4 x 50's drill
200 - 4 x 50's kick
400 - 4 x 100's free build

1500 - 3 x (200 pull on 2:45, 200 buoy only, 100 fast (< 1:10))
600 - 6 x 100's IM/free straight
300 kick with fins
100 easy

3,700 yards total in 1:00

Tonight I head up to the cabin for a Logan river cold water swim.  Then again tomorrow morning.  My yardage will suffer this week, but I'll get some good cold water exposure and a little bit of night swimming too, (well more like dusk swimming).

Tour of Lakes

Josh organized this event that I've been anticipating all week.

Jim, me, Nathan, Karl, Joelle, Josh, Gary, and Kaitlin at the
start of our adventure at Causey.  Goody joined us after Echo.

Causey Reservoir:  Located east of Pineview in Weber County.  This small reservoir was my favorite of the whole day.  The water was the clearest and we started off the day with some cliff jumping.  Josh, Joelle, and a new swimming friend, Kaitlin, swam to the very south end.  A round trip of 1.27 miles.  It's about 20 minutes past Pineview.  Well worth the trip! I'd love to plan a training swim up there swimming the entire perimeter.  A distance of 6.3 miles.  The fact that there are no motor boats allowed at all on the lake makes it ideal.  Swimming Scale: 9.5

Pineview Reservoir:  My regular training spot during the summer months.  It's great if you get there before the boats.  Even then, there is a large section where boats can only go at no-wake speeds.  Today we did the "Buoy Route" which is a .98 mile round trip, but I typically add some "frosting" to the route to get it rounded up properly to that 1 mile.   Swimming Scale: 8.5

First swim in East Canyon.
Pretty cool place.  

East Canyon Reservoir:  The clouds came in a little for this swim.  It started to sprinkle lightly at the end.  The water was not quite as clear as Pineview and the location of getting in/out was less than ideal. There wasn't much boat traffic where we were (in the northeast arm).  There was a fisherman who I overheard one of the other swimmers say was bad mouthing our decision to swim and messing up his chance of catching a whopper of a whale.  Thing is it started to rain and he took off anyway, while we continued to swim.
Total distance: 1.00 miles. Swimming Scale: 7.5

Checkout Josh's muddy feet in the back
ground.  I'm not a big fan of mud. 

Photo of Josh's feet after Echo
- photo by Josh Green

Echo Reservoir:  This was the dud of the trip.  The water was so low and had recessed about 200 yards further than when I was there a few weeks ago.  It was extremely muddy, and disgusting getting in and out.

Until that water level rises to where it should be, I won't be going there again.  Total distance 0.95 miles.  Swimming Scale: 3.0

Rockport Lake:  When we drove past the dam and saw all the boat traffic a few of us said in unison: "Holy crap!"  The water here is nice.  It's fairly clear, but the boat traffic was awful.  There were jetskis and boaters and they were relentless on that lake.  We stayed right along the shoreline, but they even were going along the shoreline and I wouldn't swim there.  It's just too crowded.  Total swim: 1.01 miles Swimming Scale: 5.0

Kaitlin with Jordanelle in the background.
She typically swims Bountiful Lake.
I may be doing some training with her
next year in prep for MIMS.  Bountiful
Lake is the place for building up your
immune system!

Jordanelle Reservoir:  This was a much bigger reservoir than I remember.  It seemed the biggest reservoir of the day.  This is Josh's typical training place.  He told of us his route and we did it. I felt extra juiced at this point and took it faster than normal.  Even though there were a ton of boats out there, there is a buoy line that stretches along the beach which was great for sighting and keeping boats at a slow speed when coming near us.  Enjoyed this swim!  It was probably my third favorite of the day, just after Causey and Deer Creek.  Total distance: 1.01 miles  Swimming Scale: 8.5

Deer Creek Reservoir: The water level was quite a bit lower than the past couple years.  But that didn't result in lower water quality.  It was quite clear and nice.  Joelle and I swam together on this one.  We were stroke for stroke down to the end of Walsburg Bay.  I kept going past the 15 minute turnaround, because

Deer Creek is always a HIT.

we were already doing very well on our planned stops. We were about two hours ahead of schedule so there wasn't any huge rush.  I wanted to get in just a bit more on this one.  So I turned around at 20 minutes.  Then on the way back, I put a little more effort into each stroke.  Pushed it coming back and at the finish logged 1.37 miles.  Swimming Scale: 9.0

Utah Lake:  I knew this one would be rough for me.  James Jonsson swam the length of this and the pics from his swim and from what I've read in the paper about this lake didn't leave a good impression.  Still, I try to be open minded about where a good swim can be done.  It was very choppy and the waves were pretty bad.  I don't mind them if I can see underwater, but the visibility here was as bad as Echo.  Except instead of it being brown it was chalky.  A little better than brown.  But after swimming half a mile out, Josh, Joelle and I regathered and Josh challenged me to do a surface dive.  I did so, and man was that creepy.  It went from chalky color, to instant blackness.  It was freaky.  The walk out to a swimmable depth was nearly as long as Echo, and it was nearly as muddy under the lake.  On the way back Goody was still swimming towards us.  Josh and Joelle continued back while I stayed with Goody.  It was so choppy and I wasn't very visible not wearing a cap nor having the orange SSD.  My Swimmer Buddy board isn't very visible without the noodle or flag.  So I stuck with him, also so that we can use the buddy system to be safe.  I would freak out just a little being out there in the middle of that lake all by myself.  There was a boat that was speeding past us and around us. I was glad I stuck with Goody.  We got to where we could stand up and it read .96, so we swam a little further till the GPS read 1.00 mile exactly.   I saw a floating catfish and took a picture.  I was going to get a picture holding it, but as I gripped it, the little fish kicked quickly out of my hands.  I assumed it was dead and it startled me a bit.  It was nice talking to Goody on this one.  We had a good chat.

Talking with one of my favorite people
in the whole world.

In fact, when I met Karl for the first time he said, "How's your brother doing?"  I thought, how does he know my brother?  I looked confused, he said, 'Goody?'  I said, "Oh, he's not my brother.  You wouldn't be the first person who thought that. I had someone say, 'I like your blog Goody.'  I had to tell them, that I wasn't him.  Some people take the liberty to call me "Gordy" (which I hate).  It sounds alot like Goody.  I wonder if anyone ever calls him "Goods" like "Gords" and that bugs him.  Hmm?

Anyway, after today, the idea of swimming the entire length of Utah Lake is OFF the table.  Doesn't sound fun at all to swim that far in water of that quality.  Sorry Nathan and Karl, I won't bad mouth it, but there are other options I'd rather pursue.  Swimming Scale: 3.5

The whole gang after swimming the Tour of Lakes!

The full tour according
to SpotGPS

After this we went to Chili's in American Fork and that was a lot of fun.  Karl's wife went ahead of us and got a table ready for us so we just walked on in and sat down.  It was nice.  I ate a full meal, but it barely made a dent in my appetite.  I was still hungry.  8.66 miles total for the day.  Not a bad day, and it was nice to sample as many places as we did today.  I had a great time and look forward to doing it again next year.  Perhaps skipping Echo and Utah Lake, and picking up a few others.

Some suggestions for next year, although I'm not sure they're legally swimmable or not:

• Lost Creek Reservoir
• Smith and Moorhouse Reservoir
• Little Dell Reservoir (Can't swim there)
• Mountain Dell Reservoir (Can't swim there)
• Silver Lake Flat Reservoir (after Deer Creek, instead of Utah Lake)

All the photos of this trip, can be found here.

And here is a video of the trip which I tried to put into a documentary short type thing.

Pressure against the clock

Water was flat and calm, but my mind sure wasn't.

This morning I got to Pineview at 0545 and did a short Goody Lap. During the time I was unable to let my
mind go. I was constantly feeling stressed about work, and home. I'm feeling pulled in so many different places and my attention is needed in so many ways. I try not to feel like I'm being negligent to my employer, or my family, but to be honest I am. I seriously can't wait till Catalina is over so I can get back to other priorities that have been neglected lately. This morning's swim was less than ideal.

Total: 1.98 miles in 1:05

In comparing my swim training month by month with last year, it's nearly similar. It's a good thing I keep this log or I wouldn't have any idea. It eases my mind that I'm ready for Catalina. I'm in better shape and have the confidence to know that given good conditions I should be able to pull it off, God willing.

 I'm excited about Josh's Birthday present. Some water speakers:

Blind, Deaf and Dumb

I've always wondered how straight I would swim if I were blind.  I had this idea a while ago and today was my first attempt.  This could be an online event that anyone can do and post their results to.  I created this facebook page to track this kind of thing.

Here's the event page with the rules.

Oh the bugs!

So this morning I went out with Angela in the GSL and did this.  I spray painted some old goggles a couple nights ago, and for kicks got a black permanent marker and drew some pupils on the white painted goggles.  I should have found a red permanent marker and drew some red lines on them to look like I had bloodshot eyes.

Anyway, I paddled out with her because the water was extremely warm.  I never did take a temp but it was well about 80 degrees.  The brine flies were crazy and they were crawling all over my pre-greased body.  It was very itchy and annoying.  I couldn't wait to get in.

Even though I knew it wouldn't be straight, I was still
surprised at my final location relative to where I thought I
was going.

Once we got about 1.25 miles out I jumped out of the boat.  Set the GPS coordinate, put on my goggles and Angela started the clock.  I was swimming back towards the marina.  Even with the goggles painted, I could very faintly tell when breathing to my left versus my right that the sun was on my left rising from the east.  So in a sense I wasn't completely 100% blind.  Legally blind for sure.  A much more effective test would be to do this event at night when there is no sunlight to influence any possible navigation.  Or at noon when the sun is directly above you in any direction.  At any rate, it was a good first test.  And it worked well.  I wasn't nervous about hitting anything as Angela was right there and I was in the
GSL!  No boats at all on the water.
I definitely wouldn't want to do this test in Pineview or any other place where there were boats or where the lake wasn't big enough to allow me to swim 30 minutes in any direction.

I like the way these look.  If only I could see out of them.

Here's my GPS coordinates:

Start:  N 40° 44.966 W 112° 13.757
End: N 40° 44.081 W 112° 13.683

So the total distance between that for 30 minutes was:  1.02 miles
Total distance swam: 1.17 miles

Not too shabby.  I was hoping for just under a mile and got over it.  I'm pleased with that.  I knew I wasn't going to be terrible.  But I'd like to try this again at night for a more accurate test of being 100% blind.

After the 30 minutes, I switched to normal goggles and swam the remaining amount to the boat ramp.  GPS read 1.98 miles total swimming.  There were two busloads of asian tourists who were gawking at us.  I filled my empty Gatorade bottle with tons of brine shrimp that were swimming around the surface in the marina for Angela to take home to show James and Morgan.  They were full grown, many brown and red ones.  Pretty little things. 

Special thanks to Angela for kayaking for me today! 

Getting stared down

This morning was a beautiful calm morning at Pineview.  Got in two really Goody Laps with frosting.

My shoulders held up exceptionally well.  No soreness and my mind was loose so the swim went by quickly without any pain physically or mentally.  In fact on the way to work after the swim I called the Dr. and cancelled my afternoon appointment to get a cortisone.  Apparently it isn't necessary as there wasn't any tightness or soreness at all this morning.

I'm getting really excited about Catalina!  Yesterday I realized I have 2 more Sundays here before we leave for California.  Lynn posted this video of Kim's swim.  It makes me excited for my swim!

Good thing these guys crossed the road in front of me
AFTER my swim and not before when it was still dark.
Wouldn't want another incident like last summer up at Pineview
where I hit a deer in the dark this time last year.

On the way to work after my swim, I was at the very top of Trappers Loop, and up ahead in the road was a Cow Moose and her calf.  The were standing right there in the middle of the road and were staring me down.  I didn't know how protective that mother was, so I kept my distance.  Didn't know if she would go nuts and ram my car.  I snapped a few pics.  This is the second mom/baby moose pair I've seen in less than a month.  Good to see they're thriving.

Total: 5.16 miles in 2:43

Results of the 2013 Bear Lake Monster Swim

As you know I didn't swim the event today, but helped Josh with directing it.

We set up a schedule and kept it fairly well, we were only a few minutes off of our scheduled plan, but that's not too bad.  I've organized a swim meet before where we were off schedule by 45 minutes and that can be REALLY embarrassing.  After checking everyone in, which went really smoothly, we had our safety meeting and then directed everyone to meet at Cisco beach for the start.

I made sure to check people again as they started to enter the water.  There were a few people who weren't there on time.  Josh made some phone calls and we were in danger of not hitting the schedule start, so we decided that the two remaining swimmers would still be able to swim, but just with a delayed start and we would just adjust their time at the finish to get a net time.

We took a photo at the start (which I need to get from Connie Hubbard) and then did a count down for the relay teams.  I thought it would be a good idea to give them a head start just to get their motor boats out of the way instead of having the entire group in a mad rush at the start with all those propellers it made me nervous.  So we did a countdown for the relay teams.  Then two minutes later they had their boats far enough out to not be in the near vicinity of the larger group of 19 solo swimmers.

Then about 10 minutes after the solo swimmers started our two late comers appeared and we got them started exactly 15 minutes after their fellow soloists started.  Everyone was accounted for and safely departed.

When I got to the other side at the finish Josh told me that one swimmer was pulled, but the rest were going strong.  I got my binoculars out and noticed that from under the big red arch that I couldn't even see the field of swimmers.  I was confused where they were so I walked down to the end of the marina wall on the north side and noticed that from the angle of the course that they had to swim north slightly.  Enough that the marina wall was blocking the view.  Oops #1:  The finish wasn't even visible from the course.  At least I told the swimmers and kayakers at the start to swim for the marina and that the arch would just be at the north end of the marina.  Unfortunately, they wouldn't actually see the arch until they were practically there.  Next year we will put the arch at the end of the marina wall so it can be seen from the start.

Josh and I spotted the first wave of fast swimmers as they were coming in.  Using the binoculars we could tell that the first swimmer was wearing a wetsuit.  We didn't have a clue who it was from that distance, but realized that our policy of having no awards for wetsuited swimmers was probably flawed.  Typically wetsuited swimmers at the GSL race don't stand a chance, because they don't really have that advantage with the buoyancy since everyone is already buoyant.  But here in Bear Lake, that wetsuit actually does make a big difference and the first place person was wearing one.  We realized it might ruffle some feathers with that policy even though we did make it clear in the registration that awards were for the non-wetsuit division male and female.  And then for relay's it didn't matter because wetsuit or not since it is a "for fun" division anyway.

Oops #2: Instead of appearing to be antagonistic towards wetsuited swimmers, just get an award for those divisions.   

Next year we'll have a first place award for male and female wetsuit and non wetsuit division, and then first place relay, so five awards.  Problem with this year is that we didn't expect to have a good turnout.  It really makes it hard to budget an event when people sign up last minute.  We end up being short on shirts, and don't have the money on hand to buy awards in advance.  Hopefully the fact that we only had two "Oops" that weren't huge issues, but still allowed the race to be pretty successful, that we will have a better turn out next year and that we can make some modifications to make it an even more enjoyable swim next year.

The biggest surprise:  Sue took first place for the female division.  In fact she kicked the butt of the time that Josh and I were able to do yesterday.  We did 3:17 and she got 3:10.  That was very impressive!  I didn't expect her to get such a great time.  Congratulations Sue!

Cleanup:   The biggest pain of the event is cleanup.  This year it appeared to include shuttling swimmers to the east side.  The website apparently says that we will shuttle swimmers, but the details of that Josh and I never discussed.  It ended up being Cathi making two trips over, which is quite a bit of driving while I stay behind and clean up, and also make sure we get every swimmer in.  It's a time consuming process and seriously takes ALL DAY.

Afterwards we drove back to the cabin to unwind and eat some dinner.  Cathi was kind enough to let me get in another 30 minutes in the Logan River.  That felt so good especially with feeling overheated there at Bear Lake.  The water temp was 59 degrees and felt wonderful.  I wish I could live there and get up everyday for a cold water endless swim.

Total: 30 minutes in 59 degrees (3/4 mile to be conservative)

Pre-race director swim

The Gridley Van - This is how we roll (minus Jacob who is
at scout camp)  Lucy didn't want me to tag her on facebook
so I could only capture her forehead on the second row.

Last night we left for the cabin up Logan Canyon to prepare for a morning swim with Josh on Friday morning.  Josh and are organizing the second year of the Bear Lake Monster Swim race on Saturday.  We both felt like we wanted to swim it, but couldn't do it on Saturday with the swimmers and still pull off a good event.  So we decided to swim it the day before.

Josh came up to the cabin with his family and spent the night and we left early this morning for a swim across Bear Lake.  We drove to Cisco Campground on the east side and parked there and Austin was our paddler.  Josh and I swim very close to the same pace and agreed that we share Austin as our paddler.  This worked out great.

Me, Austin and Josh about to start as we head west to
the other side.  The water felt great!

The water was 71 degrees when we got in at 8:35 am and moved slowly up to 74.8 when we finished.  The water was flat as glass the whole time except for the occasional speeding boat which caused a small wake for us to deal with.  But it was a Friday and was only occasional until we got closer to the marina on the west side and it became more frequent, but not too bad.  It was comforting to have Austin there just in case a boater got too close.

When we got half way to the other side I noticed a few columns of bubbles coming up from the bottom.  I kind of hand a split second freak out thinking that the famed Bear Lake Monster was real.  The water was crystal blue and was so pretty and mesmerizing.

Swimming stroke for stroke
with Josh.

We could see the marina walls from the other side from the campground, but once we got down to water level it was difficult to locate so we spotted off the group of white condos just up the hill from the marina.  As we got closer we spotted a yellow trampoline which I figured was just off the beach.  Except it was the wrong beach.  It was a beach that was about a half mile north of the beach operated by the State Park.  We stopped the clock at the point where we at knee level water at that beach, and then did a warm down swim through the sharp impaling water reeds along the beach.  Ouch!

Our time ended up being 3:17:21 on my watch.  That's a respectable time.  It beats my own PR for a width crossing by quite a bit.  My old PR was 3:43:12 set July of last year.  It really helps when you have a fellow swimmer to go with.  This is my first time swimming in Bear Lake where it felt like an event where time was a factor, rather than a long distance swim, or a training swim.  The last mile or so felt like a sprint.  I wanted to get a good time and that elusive west coast seemed to not get any closer!   My shoulder after the swim felt so tight!  I'm so glad to have setup an appointment to see Dr. Bell for a cortisone shot on Monday.

When we got back to the cabin, I was SO TIRED.  My left shoulder was shot and I felt like I hadn't slept for days.  I sent Cathi to Logan to get the food for the race, while I took a nap.  Man that felt great.  When she got back I thought another 30 minute swim in the Logan River would do wonders for my shoulder, so I did another cold water swim.  Felt great!

Looking forward to having the swimmers have a great swim tomorrow morning like Josh and I did!

Total: 7.0 miles in 3:17 (and warmdown time around 5 minutes) + 30 minutes in the Logan River water temp was 59 degrees Fahrenheit!

Logan River cold water swim

I brought my recent H2Open mag hoping I'd have time to read
it sometime this weekend, but Cathi was the only one with
some spare time.  

This evening we got to the cabin and the sun was nearly setting.  I didn't get a swim in this morning cause I had to get off at a decent time to depart for the Cabin, so tonight was the chance!

I waded into the river and it felt chilly, but terribly so.  I got in 30 minutes of quality cold water exposure.  My watch read 57 degrees when I got out.  It really felt good.  And I really enjoyed having Cathi and the kids watch.  I swim better when I have someone there to observe.

Total: 30 minutes (distance unknown, but I'll project about 3/4 mile to be sure)

Jonas took this picture on the other side of the bridge where
the creek comes into Logan River.  This really is a beautiful
piece of land.

Even the dogs want a piece of the swimming action.

I love my post cold water swim with a reheat
in the hot tub with my boys.  Oliver, Isaac,
Jonas and Me.

This morning was a real drag

You wouldn't think this creates much drag, but it certainly
does!  I would say at least 10% more effort just to maintain
the same speed.  Oh well, chalk it up to some resistance
training.

I met Joelle at Pineview at 0545 and we started on our swim.  Right before we started she asked me if my Swimmer Buddy board caused much drag.  I told her I could barely tell.  Then we started out swim.  I noticed that it was really causing more drag than normal.  I stopped real quick cause I was sure the cord was wrapped around the bottom of the fin, but it wasn't.  I was really confused why all of a sudden I get some considerable drag when pulling it.  Was her comment messing with my head?  Did the lack of a good nights

sleep affect me so dramatically physically?

I was really struggling to keep up with her.  We usually are stroke for stroke.  It's weird how close we are in pace, but today she was really pushing me!  My shoulders were burning and I was sprinting just to not get left behind.  I know I put on some weight at the family reunion, but not that much.

About 1.5 miles into the swim I stopped for a quick drink and noticed that my full gatorade bottle wasn't under the netting on the board and was dragging behind the board in the water the whole time.  Mystery solved!  I sure was relieved that I wasn't just imagining my weakness.  After that stop I made sure it was stowed properly and I was finally able to keep up with her and my shoulder strain went away.  Whew!

I love those mornings when the air is misty and smells so fresh!

After doing two laps I went out for just a bit more to get my 5 miles.  Water pretty cool getting in, but by the time I got out I'm betting it jumped several degrees.  Josh and I are making final preps for the Bear Lake Race this weekend and are planning to swim the course ourselves on Friday morning.  That's a bonus.  I feel kind of gypped missing out on local races because I'm directing them.  Looking forward to it being over too, cause the next weekend has a crazy fun event in store!

Total: 5 miles in 2:31

Unidentified Floating Object (UFO) on the water

Picture one: nice view of the sun rising

This morning I swam out at Pineview, and it was a beautiful morning.  Not even a breeze and the water was like glass.  I realized when I got there that I forgot to pack any shoes to wear to work, so that bummed me out.  That gave my brain a reason to cut my swim short, which I eventually did.  I did one lap to the dam buoy and back.  A distance of 1.91 miles according to my GPS.

I took about 5 minutes to do heads up non goggles breaststroke, to take in the cool summer air and enjoy the outdoors.  Rarely do I do this.  Usually I'm all in and stroking like mad focused on training.  It was nice to take in the surroundings for their beauty instead of always focused on the workout.

Picture 2: See the green glowing UFO off in the distance
on the surface of the water?

I took a couple of quick photos near the dam buoys, and noticed afterwards that one of them had a really strange glowing object off in the distance on the water, but the other one did not.  Now that is strange.  Probably a reflection off of something, but it doesn't really look like it.  What do you think?  Could we have visitors floating on the water in Pineview?

Total: 1.91 miles in 1:00

Starting a swim already in an exhausted state

Isaac and Jonas about to paddle
5 miles in Pineview.

This afternoon we got home from our family reunion and man was that fun.  I overate a ton and ate a bunch of pure crap, and it made me feel like a real glutton.  I only got in a decent swim on Friday morning.  Saturday's swim at Bear Lake was lame, and I got home and helped get things unpacked and finally was able to take a break at around 3pm.  At that point I knew that if I swam today it would be tough.  I was just going to take my Swimmer Buddy board to pineview, but Cathi talked me into taking Jonas and Isaac on the kayak.

Isaac and Jonas paddling along the
dam buoys to the south end.

That worked out great cause they were a great team and worked together.  They had a fun time and were also able to provide a good support.  We did two extra large Goody Laps for a total of 5 miles even.  This swim was perfect.  My sore muscles were probably from being a complete bum and laying on my back and simply hanging out with the family.  The swim worked out all those tight muscles and I was able to sprint the last half mile.  I yelled out to the boys, "if you beat me to the beach I'll give each of you a $5 bonus!"  So I'd sprint side by side with them and when they started to pull ahead I take a few strokes diagonally towards them and grab on to the boat and push them backwards and then continue on.  They laughed and paddled again madly to the beach, this time keeping their distance.

When I started to swim towards them to pull them back they angled further away from me and paddled faster.  I wasn't able to catch them and they beat me to the beach.  What a fun afternoon with them!  They were great!  I'll have to use them more often.  Eleven and Nine year old boys.  Who woulda thought they would be competent kayakers.

Total: 5 miles in 2:28

It's a Bear out there

Got to Rendezvous beach at noon today and the wind was going pretty strong.  Lots of white horses coming right from the north.  I didn't like the look of it.  Especially with all the boats and jetskis.  I didn't think going out was going to be a good idea, so I waited until it calmed down a little.  Unfortunately it didn't calm down at all until about 3pm and only slightly.  

It looks tame, but it was pretty windy out there.

Today was a family reunion day at Bear Lake with Cathi's family.  It was fun taking the kids out about 100 yards or so on the kayak and riding the waves in.  It was fun!

At about 3pm things were winding down a little and we had to leave at 5pm.  So I went out with Jared as my kayaker.  He's a 18 year old stud and told him that I'd only be out for 15 minutes out, and 15 minutes back in.  The water temp on my watch read 71 degrees.

I went out and tried to go strong, but the chop was coming right at us at the 12 o'clock and it was insane.  I ended up going one mile.  Afterwards we went to a restaurant in Garden City.  It was pouring!  I've never seen it rain that hard in a long time.  I sure hope the weather next Saturday is good.

Total: 1 mile in 31 minutes

I want to move to Logan

Every time I visit the Logan Sports Academy I want to move here.  This is the best facility I have ever been to.  It has everything and then some.  The outdoor pool temp was 78.4 degrees.

This morning I was in the water at 0600 and did this workout that I wrote down previously:

400 easy
800 - 2 x 400 IMs
1500 - 5 x (100 free strong, 50 kick, 100 sprint, 50 stroke)
1600 - 4 x 400's odd free, even IM
3200 - 8 x 400's pull (first four ankle band, second four without, each set switch to smaller paddles) :10 ri
800 - 2 x 400's kick with fins
800 - 4 x 200s odd free, even IM
900 - 3 x 300 ascending effort

10,000 yards total in 3:15

Reenactment of the invasion. I was in the lane closest to
the outside of the lane lanes. Hugging the line
as close to the rope as possible, but still not given much mercy
until the coach stepped in.  Thanks Coach!

At 0700 a bunch I was asked to move over to the other side of the pool for the age group kids.  They did a lot of game playing and talking and very little swimming.  Not that I care, but just a interesting observation.  At SDRC they're constantly going, no goofing off there.  Then at 0800 the other side of the pool was invaded by about 30 geriatrics layered in floaties.

They tried moving into my little vertical space in the pool and I noticed the kids were still playing their underwater tag game so I moved back over one lane into their area cause the water aerobics instructor was giving me some serious dagger looks.

Then I heard the age group coach yell out, to the instructor "He's with us, he can take that lane!"  Then one of the kids said I could move back over and take the lane I was in.  They old folks moved over 2 feet and let me continue.

During one of my interval breaks the coach came over and apologized and said that they usually take three lanes, and he didn't want the water aerobics folks thinking they could get that extra lane for free.  He was very cool about it.

The first 1000 or so my shoulders were stiff, but after those IM's they felt great and I was in for the long haul.  After I got out I went and did my lifting and fell in love with this place.  Every time I visit Logan, I'm coming here!

Fast pace with Joelle

Love this view.

This morning I met Joelle at Pineview for two Goody Laps.  Started the swim at 0555.  She was swimming at pretty fast pace and wasn't really allowing me to dog it.  I did get a few mouthfuls of water which ended up getting swallowed.  Probably not best with that water although it does seem pretty clean, it's not treated.  Plus I definitely can't do that in the ocean, I'll get sick.  Need to practice spitting everything out.

This is kind of freaky.
I don't really like pain,
but this is a training
technique that I need to
get used to.

My triceps are sore from a lifting session two days ago and my glutes are sore from yesterday's squats.  I also got a shocker in the mail yesterday to help me overcome my 'wimpyness' for those times when I'm bound to get hit by a jellyfish in the Catalina Channel.

My GPS read 4.77 after two laps so I did a little warmdown to round off my mileage today to 5.00 miles exactly.

Total: 5.00 miles in 2:31

I'm not exaggerating

This morning I swam at SDRC and was in the pool at 0540.  I did my prescribed workout that I wrote up when I woke up:

400 free warm up
200 kick
500 free strong
400 IM

At this point an old lady came up to the lane I was in which I was already sharing and asked how much longer I was swimming.  Every lane was being shared and she was just looking for an opening.  I said, "I have about another hour and a half."  She probably thought I was exaggerating cause most other folks are in an out in well under an hour.  Usually around 20-30 minutes. She was able to find an opening and get in another lane in less than 3 minutes.  

1000 - 5 x 200's 2 free, 1 back, 2 free
800 - 2 x 400 IMs descending
2000 pull large paddles
1800 - 2 x 900s first one finger paddles, second one no equipment strong!
850 - 600 kick with fins, 250 kick no fins
1000 - 10 x 100's free odd sprint (@ 1:07), even easy
250 warm down

9,200 yards total in 2:35

Happy birthday to one of my favorite internet swim friends: Lynn Kubasek.  She's such a neat lady.  Here's video of her Catalina swim a few years back:

What a load of crap

Saturday evening I was hoping to do a night swim at pineview, but I was watching the weather and there were a couple of thunderstorms and one that would have caused problems for us, so I had to cancel that swim.  Boo!  Didn't get a swim in at all on Saturday thanks to that.

Last night my neighbor jokingly said, "You better watch out in Pineview there are tiger muskies in there."  Goody also mentioned the ugliness of this fish breed last week.  So I Googled this fish breed and how it relates to Pineview and found this page:  What They are Not Telling You About Pineview

This is so fake it's hilarious.  There is no bloody way a tiger muskie chewed that guys hand off like that.  Here's a video of a tiger muskie actually biting someone's hand and it's because he deserved it.  And no it didn't cause the kind of damage to remotely be concerned with.

What idiot would take that long to release a fish with that piece of crap tool?  I'd bite his hand too!

While I like clear goggles to swim in.
They really don't look good for picture taking.  

This morning's swim was fantastic.  The sunrise was breathtaking and I did two Goody Laps (with frosting) totaling 5 miles in 2:37.

I got there at 0545 and waited around a bit for Sharon, but she didn't show, so I went ahead.  I saw somebody at the top of the path just as I was starting, but they didn't wave down and I couldn't tell if it was her or not.

I did see a few wetsuited swimmers throughout my two laps, only one with a yellow cap.  That may have been her. It was a rather calm morning.  Not much issues with wind.  No issues with boats.  It was a really nice morning.

I'm planning to come out here again on Wednesday and Friday morning, and then a swim at Bear Lake (if Cathi will let me break away from the family reunion for a couple hours) on Saturday.  Otherwise, I'll do a long swim in Bear Lake on Monday.

Independence Day Swim in Pineview

This morning I got to Pineview at 5:30 am.  I was meeting Goody, Joelle, Annie and Sharon (who I never met before).  Ogden Canyon was supposed to open to traffic at 5am (according to the electronic signs), but it was delayed until 6am.  That didn't affect me, because I come up through Trappers Loop.  But Joelle and Goody were stuck in Ogden Canyon until it opened up.

I discovered that I misplaced my goggles and ear plugs from last night's clinic in Echo.  I was able to scavenge through my crap and find one ear plug, but not two.  That was really annoying.  It delayed my 0545 start by about 30 minutes.  When I was in the water and about to start I saw Goody up at the top of the path going down waving his arms yelling for me to wait up.  He came down and we talked for a bit, and then I took off.

Swimming with one ear plug was messed up!  It was strange.  I have grown so used to not having water in my ears while I swim that its now a hinderment to swim without them.  And having only one ear protected was even worse.  I felt a little dizzy, but kept on going.  After about 5 minutes I looked back and saw Goody's orange SSD back at the beach area.  He must have seen Joelle coming down and waited for her.  I kept going.  I was severely depressed about the ear plug situation and was considering only doing two Goody laps instead of my 4-5 planned.

By the time I finished the first lap I was starting to get used to the one inner ear wash.  I was still in a pissed off mood about it though.  Goody took a shorter loop and was already at the beach waiting.  He said Joelle was about 500 yards behind and we waited for her.  Then we did another lap together.  Her pace is very good.  We're almost identical in speed.  I asked her after her second lap if she wanted a pace swimmer.  She said her siblings were pacing her.  So that's good.

I got a call on the way this morning from Sharon telling me she would join me later in the morning.  At this point I wasn't going to stay much later.  I called to let her know that if she wasn't on her way that I was going to leave in about 45 minutes.  She said she was just pulling into the parking lot.  So I waited at the beach for her.  She came down and got into her wetsuit.

Sharon and I swimming to the Dam
Buoys. 

She realized that the water was warm enough without it, but she has a couple triathlons coming up (including Echo next weekend), and wanted to ensure that her new wetsuit fit properly, and she was used to it. We got in and did a straight out and back to the dam buoys.  A course of 1.8 miles.  I gave her the tip about alligator eyes sighting, but she is still learning it and needed practice with it.  Her stroke looked good and her speed was pretty good.

Coming back she slowed down and I tried to get her to draft off me, but she wasn't able to hold the pace.  I reassured her that more and more practice and she would feel more comfortable and get faster.  She said she might join me next Wednesday.

I love my paddler!

Jacob was such a patient paddler.  He did a good job, and on the way back from the dam buoys I played around with him a  little.  I would try chasing him to see if I could hang on to his stern, but he could hear me close by and speeding up so he would paddle faster to avoid my "attack".  Sometimes he would try running me down and I would laugh and duck down underneath the surface while he went over the top of me.  I then would push up on his boat underneath and make him topple just a bit, not enough to tip him, but scare him a little.  Fun times!  I'm so grateful for his support!

Total Distance: 6.8 miles 

After today's swim, it is official that Pineview is my second most swum in lake.  Bountiful up till now was in second place (with 135 miles accrued), but now Pineview has 140 miles, so move over Bountiful Lake!

I went and lifted at the gym afterwards and man am I sore!  

BAM's Echo Clinic

This evening I met Wes, Dominique, Tom and Mike at Echo's south resort.  This is where the Echo Triathlon is held.  Wes was holding a clinic to review the course with those who are racing next week.  He introduced the four group instructors and I quickly gave a plug for Salt Lake Open Water and the Bear Lake Monster Swim.  Kevin Mortensen told me he has a relay put together, but just needs to register.  There were a total of about 25 swimmers

We broke the group up into 4 and I took one group and we covered lots of topics:

• Goggle care
• Sighting and staying in as straight a line as possible
• Lubrication
• Safety in Open Water while training
• Mental anxieties and how to overcome them

Then we practiced sighting.  The water at Echo is extremely muddy.  Visibility was very poor.  Worse than Bountiful Lake.  It didn't seem dirty in a polluted sense, just muddy.  There was a couple dead carp on the shore.  I assume this reservoir has its fair share of carp which makes it resemble Utah Lake.  Whoever though introducing carp to lakes and reservoirs ought to have his head examined.  The water was also very low.  Probably about 15 feet shallower than when I last swam there in 2008.  

Then we had a combined group exercise.  We simulated a race.  Wes had us all line up and go around two "buoys" which were the two kayaks helping watch the swimmers.  A total course of about 500 yards or so.  We took off and I was right next to Rory Duckworth.  With the poor visibility we collided a couple times, nothing big, but I sprinted to get ahead and out of his way.  It was a little more difficult going straight because of the inability to even see my hands and it was messing with me mentally because I was concerned that I wasn't going straight because of that.  But I just need to trust my stroke.  I pulled ahead and kept a fast pace.   The water was so shallow that you could touch the bottom even several hundred yards out.  

The beach was very muddy.
Probably very disgusting to OW
newbies.  Really too bad that it
is in this condition.

I feel bad for those triathlon participants who have this as their first triathlon.  What a terrible first impression of open water.  The bottom was extremely muddy so when you stand up to run out of the water, your feet sink in about 4 inches of mud.  I told my group that they really should experiment with different bodies of water in the Wasatch Front, especially Bear Lake.  (hint, hint)

There was one swimmer in my group from Mountain Green who I talked to about swimming in Pineview.  She may join us next week.

Total distance: about .5 miles including the race

Short sets

This morning swam at NWRC, and Andy had us do a workout that was already on the board.  Lots of IM, kick and sprints:

200 free warm up
200 - 4 x 50's swim on 1:00
200 kick
400 pull
2 x 100's kick
400 - 2 x 200's IM (kick 25, 25 drill)

Paul and Adam after their swim in the GSL.

4 x 100's (25 fly, 75 back/free)
200 pull
450 - 9 x 50's free desc 1-3 on :50
300 - 6 x 25's IM order sprint on :30
200 kick with fins
300 finger paddles focus on catch
650 large paddles warm down

4,100 yards total in 1:10

Paul Newsome updated his blog with his travels.  What a cool trip that would be, and nice way to start it off winning MIMS!

Today is a shorter workout cause I plan on doing 12.5 miles tomorrow @ pineview.

Jellyfish blooms in the pool

It's official: SDRC has been demoted as "Best showerhead in the Wasatch Front".  It is now awarded to NWRC.  The water pressure is more than half of what it used to be and it no longer is the highlight of my visit.

Today I came up with the workout, and wrote it down beforehand:

400 free
400 kick
1000 - 2 x 500's free descending
2000 - 2 x 1000's pull maintain same pace 1st one large paddles, 2nd - agility paddles
4500 - 10 x (200 IM, 150 free build, 100 sprint)

Got many 100s on 1:06, got a couple under 1:03, and a few on 1:05

 700 - 100 IM, 100 kick, 100 free, 100 kick, 2 x 150's IM no free

9,000 yards total in 2:35


About halfway into the main set I noticed ALOT of boogers in the pool.  Some were thin, some were clumpy, some were even bloody.  I looked up and the age group kids had invaded the pool.  We're talking dozens of snotty nosed kids.  They really ought to have the coaches check the kids at the door for showers and also hand each kid a tissue before they get in the pool.  Reminded me of swimming in Catalina (for the short time I was in the water last summer)

Now that's a lot of boogers!

Getting caught up

Last night I got to bed at 8pm.  It was so nice to get to bed early.  I planned to get up at 4am and head out to Pineview this morning.

On the way over Trappers Loop I barely saw a cyclist off to the side of the road.  He was wearing black, wasn't wearing any reflective gear with no lights on.  It was 0530 at the time and the shoulder on that road is about 12 inches wide.  Crazy!  He's gonna get himself killed!

Got there just before the sun came up.  I was able to get to the dam buoys before it finally popped up over the mountains.

 It was a great swim.  Did two oversized Goody Laps to get a full 5 miles.  About 5 powerboats were all tied up together and just anchored in the very middle of the bay.  I stayed clear of them.  I never saw anybody on deck.  It was too early for them.

Water was glassy and again it was really nice to see the sun rise.  Felt great.  Fantastic morning.

Panorama shot

Total Distance: 5 miles in 2:39

I also passed the 500 mile mark for this year. USMS' GTD is sending me a new speedo. 

At this rate I'll pass my 1000 mile goal by the end of the year.  Bonus!