Week 9: Smooth Sailing

Date: 7/24/13

Yards: 1500

Strait #1 Progress: 8.8 of 9.7 miles

Time: 44 min.
Stroke count: 17-18

Felt: Wonderful. So proud to be on the second endurance workout.  And I had the ability to do it well!

Challenges: At first, didn't know whether I would be able to do a continuous 800.  But I just focused on going slowly, gliding, and breathing every fourth stroke.  I started feeling almost hypnotized.  Before I knew it, I had finished the 16 laps of the main set.  Did backstroke on the last four laps, which worked out a minor cramp in my left neck/shoulder.
Fears: None.
Emotion: Happy!
Learned:
1) I need to go back to the chiropractor. I haven't been in 3 weeks.

The Strait Story, Part I

I think it is time for the silent contributor to break their silence.  You need to know that, for me, this goal was born out of a dream and a school lesson.  I am a husband, father, and high school teacher.  As I began to push deeper into my thirties it became increasingly obvious that I needed to find a way to exercise regularly.  I had tried weight lifting and running with some colleagues,  but this always fell apart at the end of the school year.  Added to this was my apathy towards running.  However, I have always loved the water.  I find it to be a place of peace and refreshment, having been a scuba diver since I was 15.  In January 2012 I joined the local Y and decided that I would begin lap swimming, never having done anything like that in my life.  It was harder and more fulfilling than any physical activity I had done to that point and I found myself actually looking forward to working out!  I loved my nice clear pool water with the handy black guide line on the bottom, always pointing me in the right direction.

Last fall I had a dream one night that was as vivid as any I had ever had.  I was on a plane flying over the ocean and then, all at once, I wasn't.  The plane had gone down and there I was floating in the sea all alone.  Far from being afraid, I took off swimming in the direction that I knew land must be.  I swam and swam, feeling relaxed and free.  Occasionally, I would see a passing ship and wave to them to get picked up, but they would glide by me without even a deviation of course.

Later that week when giving a geography lesson to my 9th grade about Europe, I pointed out the Strait of Gibraltar to them we discussed its importance in history.  I told them how it was such a narrow point between Europe and Africa and whoever controlled it, controlled access between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.  I then wondered out loud if anyone had ever swam across it.  Students, being eager to go down rabbit trails, begged me to find out.  Me, being an eager rabbit chaser as well, indulged them and a quick internet search led us to a video of someone swimming the Strait and while watching the video I couldn't believe it when I saw the first cargo ship off in the distance while the swimmer plowed ahead!  It was just like my dream!  I remembered how it felt in the dream to swim without reaching a tile wall every 25 yards.  After more research, I was hooked.

I teach at an inner city school and I spend a great deal of time within the context of my lessons extolling the importance of LIVING life.  For me this is a quest to do that.  I want to show my students, my children, and myself that anything is possible if you work hard enough.  I have spent my life in awe of the sea.  I have explored the wonders beneath the waters where all is quiet and still.  Now I want the chance to conquer the relentless power on the surface and swim from one continent to another.  I want to spend a day in a Speedo at the mercy of the wind and waves and fight back.  I want to create an international incident when I wash ashore in Morocco in my American flag Speedo, sunburned and tired.

Week 8: After the Storm

Date: 7/16/13

Open water at Smith Lake: 4 laps (out to buoy and back)

Yards: 1000

Strait #1 Progress: 7.1 of 9.7 miles

Time: 30 min.

Stroke count: N/A

Felt: Challenging

Challenges: 

1) Breathing more difficult in open water, even when just a light current.

2) Sighting very difficult. Goggles somewhat foggy. At times couldn't see buoy.

3) Staying on course a bit difficult.  Never realized how dependent on the black line I have become.

4) Having to pull Charles back on my inner tube, because he could swim out to the buoy each of the four times, but didn't have the endurance to swim back on the same leg. 

Fears: Snakes. Stayed well away from vegetation.

Emotion: Peace.  The lake was beautiful, just after rain storm. Sun breaking through clouds. Quiet.

Learned:

1) Smith Lake has a really large outdoor pool in walking distance to swimming section of lake.

2) I need to come here at least once every two weeks.

Date: 7/19/13

Yards: 1400

Strait #1 Progress: 7.9 of 9.7 miles

Time: 48 min.
Stroke count: 18 -20

Felt: Wonderful. Much needed.

Challenges: Learning how to do fist drill. Don't really like it!
Fears: None.Emotion: Triumphant, because just began 8-week-long endurance training.
Learned:
1) How to do fist drill.  Need to buy two whiffle balls for this.
2) I wish I could move this lap-only, saline pool to Decatur.

Week 7: No Swimming

John's father passed away on 7/7/13.

Week 6: A Mile Before the Storm

Date: 6/30/13

Yards: 1200

Strait #1 Progress: 5.5 of 9.7 miles

Time: 37 min.

Stroke count: 15-17 - did coasting, thigh touch drills on every freestyle lap

Felt: Like it was just too easy. Also breathed bilaterally automatically.

Challenges: Longed to go farther. Want to swim in open water. 

Fears: None.

Emotion: Excited about the longterm.

Learned: The BEST time to swim at the Madison Y is Sunday 12-4 ... So peaceful ... Until the schedule changes again tomorrow?

Date: 7/6/13

Yards: 1800

Strait #1 Progress: 6.5 of 9.7 miles

Time: 45 min.
Stroke count: 15-17 - did coasting, thigh touch drills on every freestyle lap.

Felt: Very challenging, because used paddles for the first time during the main set. Used pull buoy at times, which I have not done in years.

Challenges: Learning how to use the paddles to create the most resistance possible. 
Fears: None.
Emotion: Annoyance about crowd and lifeguards' unwillingness to keep random people out of the lap lane.
Learned:
1) Avoid the Y on Saturdays. So crowded.
2) Best is to do freestyle like climbing ladder as swimmers are taught now, not figure 8, as I was first taught.  This was obvious when using the paddles.
3) Must start swimming 3x/week. Have not been, due to caring for Mr. Joseph, being so tired.
4) Must use paddles and pull buoy some each workout.