Swimming at Dusk with Sea Lions

I got back from Utah late Wednesday night and so I was aching to get back in the water. Dave Galli was looking to do a 2 hour training swim at Corona Del Mar (CDM) at 5pm on Thursday night, so I told him I was in. CDM is a nice protected cove with a low sandy beach and even some buoys that rope off the swimming area from the boats and kelp. After a week of staying up late to watch Discovery Channel's Shark Week, I probably would have opted out of any other beach at dusk.

When I arrived at the beach, Jim Fitzpatrick and Dave were at the life guard stand shedding their outer layers and spitting on their googles. I quickly did the same and we headed to the beach. Since we were going out unaccompanied by kayakers, we tucked our water bottles in the back of our suits. Jim noted these were real "crack bottles". Instead of swimming laps around the bay, he suggested we just swim south for an hour and then turn around. I know the area from previous swims and I'm not a huge fan. Even on clear days, the large off-shore reef along Crystal Cove and the kelp beds just south of CDM provide lots of habitat for marine life, which I like when I'm snorkeling, but not when I'm swimming. The water was a murky 5 feet visibility and had the standard afternoon chop with some big swells. I didn't protest and so we started swimming.

After a mile, I looked down to see a spotted gray sea lion staring up at me. He swam along underneath me and Dave for 20-30 feet and the swam off. Soon he came around for a second pass. When he came zooming up from the depths on a 3rd pass, I'll admit for a split-second I was thinking shark ambush. After another 1/2 mile of swimming I saw both Dave's white cap and Jim's yellow cap on my left so I was confused when I saw a black cap to my right. I pulled my head up and saw a big black seal head bobbing on the surface checking us out. I put my head back in the water, only to see a sea lion underneath looking up again. Man, I was thinking, lots of shark food. After seeing another seal, I wondered what was so interesting about us...then I remembered I was wearing mirrored goggles. I had just read that shiny things attract the interest of sea predators- they look like fish scales. I swam on, but the swim wasn't feeling as fun as a minute earlier.

After another few hundred yards and another sea lion encounter, I tapped Dave on the shoulder and suggested we return to the cove and finish our 2 hour swim there. Jim noted we were 9 minutes shy of an hour, but agreed. So at quarter of a mile past the first Crystal Cove parking lot, we turned around. We swam back (without sea lions), did a loop around the cove, and swam into the beach after 2 hours of swimming. My right shoulder was a little sore for the relatively short swim and I scratched all of the scabs from last Saturday's chaffing off, but it was great to be back in the Ocean. I'll be back Saturday- but I'll be staying in the cove after 5pm.

After Swim Recovery in Utah

Well, I didn't realize it until a few hours after last Saturday's swim, but I got pretty "injured" during the 9 miles swimming off Newport. Apparently my lateral breathing caused the skin on my neck, both shoulders and chin to rub together to the point that severe chaffing occured.

I have had some nasty chaffing when wearing a wetsuit, so I am always sure to "Glide" up (apply lubricant) before swims when wearing one. Apparently the folds of skin on my neck and the whiskers on my chin can do some real damage too. See the damage shots taken on Monday night, a full 2 1/2 days later. Warm showers have been painful since I returned Saturday afternoon. For future swims, I know where I need to grease up!

My right shoulder has mostly recovered so I spent the morning swimming with the kids at the Green Valley Spa. I also did a few hundred yards of lap swimming. We took a trip here to St. George, UT on Saturday night to help my in-laws move. Lifting heavy furniture and boxes on Sunday so my in-laws could have both their needed items and a place to sleep Sunday night proved good therapy for muscle soreness.

9 Miles at CDM and Crystal Cove

Had a wonderful 9 mile swim this morning in near perfect So. Cal conditions.

A little after 7am, Dave Galli, Jen Shumacher, and I put into the surf at Corona Del Mar beach in Newport. Scott and "Defro" accompanied us on paddleboard and kayak respectively. We swam south a mile to "Flat Rock" and turned around. Water temp was perfect, wind was almost non-existant and skies were clear. The water visibility was an usually clear 30-40 feet. It allowed us to see the reefs, kelp, sea plants, girabaldi and top smelt swimming among us for most of the morning.

At 8am we arrived back at the beach and met up with Jim Fitzpatrick who accompanied us for an hour and 45 minutes south through Crystal Cove state park. Just shy of the Laguna Beach city line, we turned around and headed back. Dave and Jen were smoking fast and Jim and I brough up the rear not far behind. Coming back, my pace slowed- but I think I kept my form up better than previous swims. Though visibility decreased, we had the wind and current at our back going north. Some drafting off Jim helped me stay with the group until mile 8. The last mile I fell off and my shoulders started feeling like lead. Landed back at CDM after 9 miles of swimming. Dave had put some distance on all of us and he was ready to do 2-6 miles more, so they turned around and started swimming again- incredible. I had to head home before Dave and Defro returned from their extra mileage trip.

Dave is going to have a great Catalina crossing time (easily under 10 hours). I need to hit the weights, but I still expect a 12-14 hour crossing time. I called some boat captains yesterday to see what dates might be available in early September. It will be nice to nail down the new date.

I'm heading to St. George, UT this weekend, so beyond the thanks to Dave, Scott, Defro, Jen and Jim, I need to give a special thanks to my family who let me take 5 hours out of a hectic morning to do this swim. Thanks for understanding Ellie and kids- I love you!

Friday Morning back in Aliso Viejo

I got to bed late after checking out the satellite tracking of Greg Farrier's Catalina Channel swim attempt. He had just left the coast of the island when I hit the sack. When I awoke at 5:40, he looked to be over halfway there and at the time of this post, he is only a 1 1/2 miles from Point Vicente. Here is a link to his tracking:
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?&glId=0phE3rZ4ngA0ZkmnpB1iLAqDIYcFmGcv6

I ran to Soka University where Coach Ahelee was calling the set:
400m warm-up
2 x 100m kick
Something else?
4 x 150 swim, 50 kick
6 x 100m FAST w/fins, 50m fast kick w/fins
200m cool down

It was great to be back in the "home pool" with familiar faces. Tomorrow it is a long swim in the Pacific with Dave Galli starting from Corona Del Mar.

Last Day in Denver

Thursday was my last day working in Denver and I finished it up with a quick swim with the Highland Ranch Masters Triathlon group. Coach Susan Williams coached it. As usual, it was a fun set:
350 warm-up
1 x 200 swim
1 x 100 pull
1 x 200 swim
1 x 100 kick
1 x 200 swim
1 x 100 pull

Repeat 4 times:
4 x 50 on :55, :50, :45, :40

1 x 500 pull, every 5th length fast
1x 250
200 warm-down

I jumped out a little early to meet some great friends from work for breakfast before the our morning meetings.

July in the Mile High

I got some good sleep last night, so the 5am alarm wasn't as intrusive as usual. I spent some time getting caught up on email and the news, so I didn't head off to Highlands Ranch for a workout until 5:45. I shared the lap swim lane with Rob, one of the quickest swimmers there in the Masters program, but did an easy 45 minute swim. I figured I'd get a good workout in the evening at the Cherry Creek Reservoir 2 mile race. The set was:
1 x 500 warm up
1 x 200 kick with fins
1 x 100 kick
5 x 200 pull gear on 2:45
5 x 100 on 1:20
200 warm down
= 2,500 yards

Regular Morning Workout with HRM & Open Water at Grant Ranch

This morning I did the regular 5:45am morning workout with the Highlands Ranch Masters Triathlete group, though I decided to join them midway through the first set. It is the first time I've done the regular workout (instead of the lap swimming lane) since the surgery. I tried to keep pace with Joe Torres, a good swimmer who I was pretty evenly matched up with before the injury. The competition forced me to turn up the effort, which felt good. I guess Coach Susan Williams is just coaching Thursdays now, so we self-coached the following set:

1 x 200 warm-up
Repeated several times:
2 x 100 kicks on 1:55
3 x 100 swims on 1:30/1:25
Repeated 2 times:
2 x 75 (25 Fast, 50 Easy) on 1:10
2 x 75 (50 Fast, 25 Easy) on 1:10
2 x 75 Fast on 1:10
1 x 200 Pull
200 warmdown
= about 3,000 yards

After work, I ran to Grant Ranch and did some open water swimming in Bowles Reservoir. With Matt Beck and Pete Alfino keeping a watchful eye on the folks swimming in the glassy water, I did a 1500m warm-up, a 1500m with paddles, and another 500m with paddles and fins before time was called. Adding those 3500m to my morning swim, I had almost 4 miles (7,000 yards) under my belt for the day, I was hungry. So I ate a buffalo. :)