I'm officially back to being "Chunky"

I like to pretend that my wife hurt my feelings today when she said, "the old chunky Gordon is back" comment.  OK I admit I've been making really bad food choices lately and I have been thinking that putting on a little is OK with the cold water training I've been doing and plan to do.  The GSL swim in the end of May is still going to be pretty cold and that is for about 8-9 hours at a time.  But based on the comment at the OW Safety conference by Paul Asmuth, the excuse to put on extra weight in his opinion isn't necessary.  He said that if you simply put more time into swimming as fast as you can for as long as you can, that is the best way to prepare, not just put on more weight.

I'll miss you Sausage Egg McMuffin!

Today's swim was troubling and here's why:  My Father in Law called me a few days ago to inform me about some water damage that apparently occurred at the cabin that he was told about.  I'm in charge of taking care of the cabin, and I've been somewhat neglectful in getting up there as much as I should.  So during my swim today I kept envisioning all this water damage in my head and fretting over it.  Here's what I did get in:

1000 - 1 x 1000 free
1800 - 2 x 900 free
2400 - 3 x 800 free
2300 - 4 x 700 free (except I only got 200 yards into my 4th set)

During most of this workout I couldn't focus really well on my stroke or going fast.  I was constantly thinking about the cabin and I was feeling guilty, and curious about what action needed to take place to get it in good order, so I jumped out angrily, got dressed and drove up there.  I had to call in to work to take the day off, but I needed to do something!

Come to find out, it wasn't as bad as I thought, and I did some cleanup and made some notes for future visitors to help reduce the odds of further damage occurring.

Went back home and cleaned the house a little, and then went to Bountiful Lake for a very cold half mile swim.  The water temp came to 46.1° F on the digital thermometer.  I used the SSD again.  I love that thing.  It really is unnoticeable to me as a swimmer.  Did the half mile in 11:31.  Cathi took some vid again per Goody's request.




8400 yards total (900 yards being open water)

Half Mile in 11:20 @ 48° water

Today I brought my Mom along with me on this afternoon's swim.  The sun was shining nicely, but the air temp was still pretty cool (49° F).  The water warmed up just a little from yesterday afternoon from 45.5° to 48.2° F. Nice!  The wind was calm at about 5 knots I'm guessing.

I went out and around the island again and back.  This time I used the SSD with nothing inside of it.  Just air.  Man I didn't feel any tug whatsoever and it never hit my butt or legs, I didn't even feel it.  It probably behaves differently when it's packed full of stuff, but it was awesome.  I'm definitely taking it with me from now on instead of the rescue tube cause its a brighter color, and fits nicely right around my waist and again because its so unnoticeable to me when I'm swimming.

Today's swim was almost a full minute faster because I was really pushing it.  Last week I stopped a couple times to sight for Goody and Alicia, but this time I just kept my head in and really pulled hard.  Half mile in 11:20.  I'm looking forward to the swim on Thursday.  I'll stick with this distance for a couple weeks and then bump it up a notch as the temp gets in the low 50s.

My mom took some video and I know its the same old thing, so don't bother watching it if you don't want to.  Nothing really different about this swim, but here it is anyway.

Half a mile in 50° with no wetsuit

Swam a half mile at BL tonight.  The temp read 50.0° exactly.  I tried to stay relaxed at times and not push it, and at other times, I really kicked hard and did long strong strokes.  Finished in 12:14  Pretty good.

I was fine while I was in the water, but once I got out, my body spiraled into severe hypothermia mode.  I was shaking quite dramatically.  I was a little dizzy, my jaw was locked and I couldn't talk.  It took about 15 minutes of sitting in a 115° car to get back to normal.  Felt great about the swim.  I think I'll stick with this distance until I'm able to handle the after affects better.  I've never had hypothermia that bad before.

Goody brought a swimming friend, Alicia and they both swam 200 yards from the east fishing dock.   Josh and Jake both swam 400 yards starting from the south fishing dock.  While this swim was fun, the excitement about it being a major challenge is losing its effect.  It's feeling more like a normal thing and the rush is still there, but is turning into more of practice and training for cold water, than a big event.  I'm not sure I'm going to have Cathi do any more videoing just cause it's not a "fireworks event" for me anymore.  Anyhow, she took some video again this week and so I processed it.  Click below to view it:

Tomorrow morning I'll do a swim at SDRC and then catch a flight to SF for the OW Safety Conference!  Should be lots of fun!

400 yards in just under 50° F water

Tonight's cold water swim was fun!  We got two newcomers: Heidi Linton and Goody Tyler.  Today's temp was 5° warmer than last time and nearly 10° warmer than two weeks ago!  At this rate it'll be 70° by Easter.  Yeah right!

I decided that it was warm enough to REALLY step it up.  Today's swim for me was .23 miles = 400 yards

Heidi jumped in at the East dock this time just to see how cold it was, and then she got out, which is great for a first go.  Josh, Jake and Goody jumped in at the east dock and swam along with me to the boat ramp like we did last week.  I bought a navy blue rescue tube and brought it along on my swim, just in case.  I should've stuck with red, but I've never seen a blue rescue tube and thought it was cool.  My swim felt great and I wasn't overly chilled.  I could have gone quite a bit further.  

When I got out I took my sweet time getting dry and dressed and that was a mistake.  I was fine in the water and right afterwards, but a few minutes later I was shaking like a leaf.  The wind chill on my skin felt pretty good, but I'm so numb that I don't realize that I'm probably making myself even colder out of the water, than when I was in.  Next time I need to really hurry into warm clothes.  Once I got my hands on the hot chocolate in the car and started sipping that I was able to reverse the downward spiral and get back to normal in about 10 minutes.  

On the way home I had the heater going in my car full blast.  By the time I nearly got home I look in the back and Sam is sweating profusely!  Like he has heat exhaustion.  I felt great by that time and rolled down the windows.  He gave me the biggest smile as the wind blew over his sweaty face.

Same place same time next week!  Congrats everyone!  At this rate it'll be 52-53 next Thursday. I'm planning to start from the boat ramp going east around the northeastern island and then back to the boat ramp.  A distance of exactly a half mile.

2nd open water swim this year

This morning I got up early, but didn't swim.  I went to work getting the Great Salt Lake Open Water volunteer list and registration made up.  It was OK to miss this morning's swim cause I still was going to get in a VERY SHORT open water swim this afternoon.

At 3:30 pm this afternoon, I was at work and I have an office window.  I heard some tapping and looked behind me and sure enough tiny BB size hail balls were hitting the window.  The clouds were gray and it was a bit windy.  I was crossing my fingers for snow.  Being that it's March, I can barely call this a winter swim.  Next year I'm game for starting this type of thing as soon as the ice melts on BL.

Anyhow I met Josh and his family as well as Cathi and all my crazy kids at the boat ramp and walked down to the east fishing dock.  Cathi said she was feeling lazy and just stayed at the finish and did some recording.   Here's the video of my swim:




I was fine while I was in the water, but once I got out and started to get dressed, that's when I started shivering.  About 10 minutes later after sipping some hot chocolate I was fine.  We then went over to SDRC and let the kids enjoy playing in the pool.  The water in the leisure pool was so warm!  It felt like a hot tub.  The kids had a blast and I got in my swim for the day.  Now for a long one tomorrow.

Cold water swimming is like drugs (not that I know what that's like though)

Ever go swimming in water that is 41°F/5°C?  At first you think, why would anyone want to do that?  Initial impression is "That's so stupid".  But once you do it, you achieve a high that I couldn't reasonably explain.  You have to experience it to relate.

My friend Josh invited me to participate in a fund raising event by jumping in icy cold water at Deer Creek.  I couldn't that weekend.  But Josh and his brother, Jake went and did it while I was applauding from Idaho.  After he finished it, he said it was "fun" and invited me to do a swim at Bountiful Lake today.   My level of nervousness was rising as the time grew closer.  I read up on Lewis Pugh's advice on cold water swimming and decided that I would do 25 yards (about 10 strokes out, flip turn and come back).

After checking for the depth at the end of the fishing pier I decided I wanted to dive in, that way I could just surface and let my momentum keep me going forward.  When I entered, I was very surprised that it was doable.  I mean I didn't explode!  I had worried and fretted about this moment way too much!  When I finished my 10 strokes out, I thought, "I can go much further!"  I didn't want to be perceived as a show off, so I just did my flipturn and came back.  I would have liked to have gone at least twice that far.  But that was a great first winter swim.

On the way back, I intentionally slowed my stroke rate down and soaked in the cold.  I got out and was pleasantly surprised that I wasn't overly chilled.  On the way home I thought, I'm going to do that again next week.  I really would like to do this weekly.  If I can increase my distance each time, and really be careful to avoid too much exposure too quickly, I should get acclimated quite well for my swim in GSL on memorial day.

It's funny how you don't really notice how pudgy you are until you see yourself on video.  The good thing is that being pudgy like I am is perfect for cold water swimming.  So at least I have a good excuse.  Here is some video:

I was worried that my first swim would indeed actually look like this guy's first swim.