Happiness is.....

Happiness is swimming over 4 miles before I would have hit the snooze button at 7 in an alternate universe.  

This morning I actually hit snooze once, but still was in the water promptly at 0500.  Seems like these 2000 sets are something I enjoy, cause its just swim, swim, swim.  Not really focused on speed.

14000 - 7 x 2000's free odd no equip, even pull

100 back

100 grandpa breaststroke

14,200 yards total in 3:38

The last 2000 I really poured it on the last 200 and ended in a full blown sprint.  Felt great!!! 

Goody called me yesterday and he's really got his mind wrapped around becoming a member of the International Ice Swimming Association.  To join, you have to swim 1 mile in 41°F water.   Goody told me that the founder of the association said there are only 2 people who have accomplished the requirements in the United States.  What the?!  

 I also got an email from Jack Bright yesterday and he advised that once the water gets that cold you really should go at least twice (three times max) per week. Staying in the water 10-20 minutes, With a 22 minute absolute max.  Problem is,  I would have to do a full blown sprint to get a mile in under 22 minutes.  My fastest mile in a pool is 22:33.  Now throw in water where after five minutes you can't feel your hands.  I hate to be a realist, but I don't think swimming 1 mile in under 22 minutes in 41° water is possible for me this year.

When you're in the water that long, it's not just a matter of being tough.  You're literally playing with your life.  If your body core dips low enough to the point of no return, you're either gonna pass out and have to be hospitalized, or your dead.  Sure I'll train for it, because the water right now is only around 46° and I haven't come even close to more than 10 minutes in water that cold.  So this week my goal is to do two laps in the GSL for a total of half a mile and see if I can do it under 12 minutes.  I'll have to extend the length of the swim to going just out of the marina, and then back in.  That should give me close to quarter mile laps.  

Virtual High 5 for Scott McDonald

When I got in this morning I noticed that the water temp was lower than normal.  I measure it and it was 80.1°F Right on!  If Scott McDonald were there I'd give him a high 5.  Although I'm not sure it was on purpose.  I felt heat coming out of the vents at the pool floor at about 8am.  Oh well.  Today's swim was one of those "Perfect swims" where you have energy, are able to maintain a good strong pace, and actually swim further than you planed.  Here's what I ended up doing:

12,000 - 6 x 2000's free, odd no equip, even pull
1000 kick with fins
1100 free strong
100 backstroke


14,200 yards (8 miles) total in 3:30

900 miles down for the year

Just passed up 900 miles this evening.  I was going to go for 8 miles, but I kept thinking of the kids at home.  Cathi was still on her way up from Mesquite where she did her last marathon for the year.  Granted Austin and Jacob were babysitting, but I couldn't get the kids out of my head, so I cut my workout short and only did:

8000 - 4 x 2000's odd no equip, even pull.

8000 yards total in 2 hours


Just passed up my 900 miles for the year mark.  Well beyond my pace to hit 1000 miles for the year.  I also met with Dr. Richards yesterday about my shoulder and the ultrasound showed that I'm only dealing with some inflammatory issues, no bursitis and it seems to be healed good.  So I'm pleased about that.  So I didn't take a cortizone.  Will plan to continue icing and taking ibuprofen.

GSL Marina swim

Met Josh and Goody at Saltair tonight at 4:45pm and we drove out to the marina for a cold water swim.  Water temp was 46.7° on my thermometer.  I swam out to the end of the marina near the opening and back: about 350 yards total.  First 25 yards were cold, but I calmed down and it didn't hardly feel that cold at all.  Could have done two laps.  Next time.

Met with Shirley who is doing a documentary on the great salt lake.  She was capturing some video of the clouds when we got to the boat ramp.  She came down as Josh was getting in.  She wanted to film us, but didn't want to interrupt her current time lapse video she was taking. So to accommodate her we'll be meeting out there at the marina next Wednesday at 4:15pm and do it again.   Maybe we'll get to be on the documentary a little.  That would be fun.

Total distance: 350 yards in around 5 minutes

Martine Larios

Cathi runs with Bountiful runner, Martine Larios in the
2009 Utah Valley Marathon

There's this guy that Cathi met a couple years ago at a marathon.  He's a South American guy who is extra friendly and is fit as a fiddle.  He's done lots of marathons and is training for St George Ironman.  Every once in a while I see him a the pool and say hello.  He's a nice guy.  He was there this morning.

Kevin Mortensen also showed up and swam for a bit.  He told me he is going in for major shoulder surgery on Monday.  Looks like he'll be 5-6 months in therapy.  Woah!  Poor guy.  I'd be extremely depressed.  But at least he's getting to the bottom of the problem and hopefully it's as good as new afterwards.

 My shoulders were holding up just fine despite me already putting over 30K this week already on them.  The water was 82.4° this morning.  There is a major swim meet this weekend so hopefully it continues to drop and I'll be able to take advantage of the lower temp tomorrow and Saturday.  Here's what I did today:

12,000 - 6 x 2000s free odd no equip, even pull
500 - 500 kick


12,500 yards total


Looking forward to tonight's Polar Bear swim at GSL.

I have a solution to my warm water woes!

This morning I swam at SLC Sports Complex because I was going to meet up with Dennis Tesch to give him back his USMS Rulebook that he left at the meet.  When I got in the water didn't feel like a hot tub and I enjoyed swimming without feeling warm.  Swam the following:

1400 yards free then joined Masters:

600 warmup
600 - 12 x 50's skull/swim by 25
1000 - 2 x ( 4 x 25's kick with stick on :45, 1 x 100 free strong, 4 x 50's kick choice on 1:00, 100 free)
2400 - 6 x 400's (25 stroke, 75 free x 4)

2000 free relaxed
2000 pull strong
2000 free no equip strong
500 - 200 IM, 100 IM, 100 free fast, 100 easy


12,500 yards total in 3:30

When I got out I noticed a thermostat already dangling on a string by the ladder.  I looked at it also confirmed it with my watch:  80°F!  That is what I'm talking about!  I stopped at the front desk on the way out to get some pricing.  $315 for a yearly membership that includes masters!  That KILLS SDRC pricing.  Plus they have a 50M pool in the summer?  I talked to the head guard on the way out and asked about the temp whether it was a fluke that it was so low and she said, 'We really cater to our masters swimmers.'  My jaw hit the floor.

Just as I was about to leave an old lady came over and looked at the thermometer and said to the guard, seems low.  I jumped in and said, "It's perfect".  She said "Not for old ladies recovering from hip surgery."  I said with a smile, "Makes you move a little faster to stay warm, and if it doesn't work, there's a hot tub right over there."  She smiled back but I don't think she was amused.

The guard then asked, "Is your name Gordon?"  I said yes and she introduced herself and said, "You used to coach me at Northwest when I was a kid."  I only coached there like 3 months.  I didn't recognize her at all.  That was quite a while ago.  Anyway,  I was VERY happy with the 80° water and will go there off and on until my SDRC Membership expires.  If they really keep the water that cool, I'm moving on.  It's only 15 minutes from my work and has so many more good qualities than SDRC.  I'm excited to have an option!

Only thing is weekend swimming means I have to come all the way in to SLC rather than to Bountiful, but with how much time I'm in the water, it'll be worth it!

What's a lap swimmer to do?

Yesterday on the way home I thought I'd stop at Layton Surf N' Swim to take a water temp reading just to see how much colder it is than SDRC.  I was very frustrated to see that it too was exactly 84.5°.  That's a little more justified since that's the only pool they have and they do lessons and water aerobics in there.  But when a facility has more than one pool and the one with lane line and lane ropes in nearly all the time and it's temp is that high, that's poor management.  So looks like I'm still on the hunt for a pool facility that has the guts to stand up to cold blooded grumpy old fat ladies.

This morning's workout was a little rough.  Shoulders are stiff.  Not in pain, but just stiff.  Need to ice.

2000 free
1500 pull
1000 kick with fins
800 free easy

5300 yards total

84.5°

This morning I was excited for a long swim again and was in the water a minute before 0500.  Before I got in however, while waiting for the lifeguard, I took a water temp.  Last Saturday's swim was just a couple hours after the meet and I remember feeling hot water coming out of the vents below me in the lane I was swimming in.  Sure enough Scott brought up the water temp back to its old lady temperature.  84.5.  Very lame! After my yearly membership expires (in a few months), I'm gonna go back to Layton.  They keep it cooler than that.  I already voiced my complaints twice so its falling on deaf ears.  I'm not about to join Masters for speed work in water that hot.  Today's workout was on my own and was nice and relaxed:

4000 - 2 x 2000's free (odd no equipment, even pull)
1000 - 2 x 500 kick with fins
8000 - 4 x 2000's free (odd no equipment, even pull)


13,000 yards total

Tunnelvision

Not a very good way to see
things at the pool.

So last night and this morning was the SDRC Meet that I have been organizing for a few months.  Talk about stressful.  Last night I went to bed and it was like I had shell shock or something.  I was dizzy and felt like my ears were ringing I was so stressed.  I also felt like I wasn't able to see people's body language or really do much outside of my immediate focus.  Truly tunnel vision.

The cause of my stress were mostly just this:

1. I messed up on signing up the USU swimmers, so I had to add several events for several of those swimmers.  
2. I also somehow missed a couple of other swimmers who registered and I had active.com emails from, but failed to get them in Meet manager.
3. A couple of swimmers showed up and wanted to deck enter.  I hate being a stickler and I'm sure they left thinking the meet director is a total jackass.
4. My printer speed was definitely an issue.  I could have handwritten the heat sheets faster almost.
5. The timing system is way too complex and recording scores was too time consuming.

Cody Edwards bobbing in the salt water for a raffle ball.

There were alot of key people that made the night a success and Scott Balling and Kris Edwards were two of the MVPs.  

As far as swimmers go.  I was totally impressed with Wesley Johnson's 1650 swim.  His stroke looks so damn good I could watch him swim all day.  Sure he's super fast.  But that wasn't the thing I was most impressed with.  His stroke was not rushed, but rather appeared relaxed and efficient.  If I end up resorting to getting a coach for help with my stroke, that's the dude I'm going to.  

Kevin Bates wins' the kayak

Josh also did a great job helping prepare the food and manning a station for raffling off all the goods.  He also did a demo of the SSD while I explained the three main benefits of using it in open water swims.   The Kayak that I donated did end up getting awarded until about 15 minutes till the meet ended.  There were alot of prizes!  Scott Balling REALLY stepped up with the scoring and manning the starting while Craig Barnes swam.  There were alot of key people who helped on Saturday.  Kevin Mortensen really did great organizing and keeping the timers going.   Liz Bennett kept everyone entertained with her uplifting comments and tunes.  Kris and Cody helped all day with check-in, and dozens of other things.  This truly was a group effort and I think it turned out really well!

I had some good chats with Will Reeves about the 24 hr postal event he has going.  Then packed all the stuff and cleaned up.  I was out of there at about 2:30pm.  I took Austin home and really wanted to go back and swim since I didn't swim at all yesterday and wanted a good workout.  Cathi pulled up just as I did from running errands.  She was in a good mood and said I could go.  The house was already in a super clean state so there was no stress on her end and she was glad the meet went so well and said I should reward myself with a good swim.

I married an angel.

So I went back and swam:

12,000 - 6 x 2000 (even free with no equipment, odd pulling) on 30:00 quick drink and go!

400 - 2 x 200 IM's easy

12,400 yards total

Self Mutilation Disorder

I have a confession.  When I was 18, I had a very brief stage in life where I was "Crazy" and enjoyed it.   I was cutting myself and I remember getting a rush out of it.  However I was a little embarrassed to expose my upper arms where I typically did the cutting.  That whole thing only lasted about a couple of months before I realized that it was escalating to a point where I seriously thought I'd only get in trouble if it continued.  I mean I was starting to dig it because of the way it made me feel.

I bring this up because I've realized that the feelings that I have after getting out of super cold water are VERY similar.  However, there's no blood, no scars, no chance of infection.  The after effects are addictive and that's why I'm very eager to continue.  So when someone finds out you jump into ice cold water says, "your crazy".  Typically you chuckle with the person and deny that it's really crazy.  But in reality, I would have to say, yeah, you are.  It's borderline self mutilation disorder.  I'd rather jump into cold water as a way of expressing and releasing depression, frustrations and stresses, than becoming an alcoholic or beat on my wife.

Tonight's water temp at Bountiful Lake was between 43.5°(my thermometer) and 46°(Josh's thermometer).  Those who attended:

Josh Green
Jake Green
Matt Gerrish and his wife
Me

It's too dark at 5:30pm.  I swam when it was dark.  Thankfully I kept my eyes on the lights in the parking lot in order to get there.  The water underneath was totally black.  It was like swimming in oil it was so dark.  This week's swim was easier than last week even thought it was colder this week.  The reason - Josh gave me a cap.  I don't typically wear caps when I swim so I don't have any.  I'll have to start wearing it in cold water, cause it makes a huge difference even though its just a latex cap.  When I got out Pete was in his car and jumped out to shake my hand.  What a nice guy.  I had to hurry and get dressed and warmed up.

Total distance: 200 yards in @45°F water (about 2 1/2 minutes)