Qualifying swim scheduled (4/1/2007)

The arrangements have been made for my qualifying swim. It will take place this Sunday at Aquatic Park at 9:30 am. Bob Morelli will be my pilot for the 3.1 open water swim.

I’m optimistic, but have yet to complete the actual course. My last attempt to swim the break wall with Nobu was cut short due to strong currents outside the cove. I expect the swim will take about 90 minutes. I’ll post again Sunday evening with the swim results.

Here is a recap of training this week:

Monday – Rest
Tuesday – Masters swim (1 hour 1,800 yds)
Wednesday – Dolphin Club bay swim (30 minutes, 1 mile)
Thursday – Masters swim (1 hour, 1,900 yds)
Friday – Dolphin Club bay swim (30 minutes, 1 mile)
Saturday – Rest
Sunday – Qualifying SAR swim (3.1 miles)

Above is a picture of Aquatic Park at sunrise I took after a swim with the Dolphin club.

Jaws!

It used to be that all I ever thought about when I went swimming in the bay was Jaws. The visibility in the bay is 12 – 24 inches, so you are pretty much swimming blind. Each stroke I would imagine rows white teeth coming up from below. Not a pleasant thought, but I couldn’t help myself. I blame Benchley and Spielberg.

To quell my fear, I read everything I could get my hands on to better understand sharks and Northern California waters. My two favorites are Benchley’s shark redemption book, “Shark Trouble” and Susan Casey’s book on the Farallon Islands, “The Devils Teeth”. I also scoured the internet for shark facts and figures. Rationally, I came to understand there is no real shark threat in aquatic park or San Francisco bay at large.

Apparently, this NEVER happens. . .


Nonetheless, each time I took a breath and turned toward the darkness, I still saw Jaws.

Who knew, all I had to do to get over my irrational fear of sharks was lose the wetsuit! Now all I ever think about is exposure to the cold. It is like a pyramid of fear. At the base level, I have to concern myself with the most immediate threat, hypothermia. Fear of sharks is way at the top of the pyramid. The cozy wetsuit musings on imaginary sharks have been replaced with questions like “How long have I been in? How am I feeling? How much do I have left? How far am I from shore?” I never get that “sharky” feeling anymore.

Of course, I recognize the irony of replacing one fear with another, but here is the thing. . .

The conditioning to the cold is starting to work. As long as the swim is 45 minutes or less, I now know exactly how my body will react and hypothermia is not an issue. Thus, particularly in the shorter swims, I am having a great time out there!

Manatees and Coach Brant

I swam at Mills College with the Oakland Manatees Master's Club tonight. The Manatees are a great bunch of folks (below is a link to the club). The coolest part about the workout was my 5 year old son, Brant, decided to tag along. He instantly hit it off with my coach and after a few cups of hot chocolate decided to take on the role of mini-coach. It was a bit windy and a tad under 50 degrees, but he hung in there cheering me on until I finished my last lap!

Thanks Brant!



The Manatee Aquatic Masters

Why no wetsuit?!?

In 2004, I read “Swimming to Antarctica” written by Lynne Cox. It is a wonderfully crafted autobiography of the most accomplished open water swimmer in the world. Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz, Ian Thorpe, these great Olympic gold medalists would likely run and hide rather than attempt some of the swims Lynne has completed. Her list accomplishments and world record swims are too numerous to list here so I’ve added a link below if you are interested. The book is an absolute gem.

I was so moved by Lynne’s writing that I signed up for the Alcatraz Invitational in the no-wetsuit division, mid-read and before ever swimming in the bay without a wetsuit. In fact, I tapped my inspiration from reading Swimming to Antarctica again and again as I dealt with the everyday challenges of being a new father and a professional (Lynne's book is about more than swimming).

When the boat left for Alcatraz on the morning of the 2004 swim, I had second thoughts of leaving shore without a wetsuit – it was a big commitment. I recalled Lynne’s swim in Antarctica and how she must have felt in waters 20 degrees colder than San Francisco bay. During the swim, I recalled her description of the final push to shore when she crossed the English Channel at age 15. When I reached the shore, I imagined Lynne stepping onto Soviet soil after swimming the Bering Strait. For those who have read the book, I imagined receiving a handmade Soviet scarf rather than a finishers medal when I completed the swim.

After the swim, I dried off, met my family and started the slow warming process. The atmosphere on the beach was like a 4th of July picnic. The old interior of the South End Rowing Club was empty and quiet. My wife pulled me inside the look out room of the club and said, “There is someone inside I’d like you to meet.” To my surprise, sitting alone at a table was Lynne Cox.

I was still shivering and unexpectedly shy, so my wife did the talking. “You are the reason he swam today, it was his first no-wetsuit swim. He loved your book”, she said. Lynne spoke with us for a few minutes, signed an autograph and stood with us for this picture. It was the coolest!



More on Lynne Cox

Read "Swimming to Antarctica", you’ll love it!
Here are a few reviews I found on the web:

"It would be a mistake to think that Cox's new autobiography is of interest only to swimmers. In fact, the book has more in common with heroic literature of the ancient world--like Beowulf and The Odyssey--than the typical athlete's success story. Her story is a powerful account of clinging hard to a bigger dream."

"Cox's story flows seamlessly to a Rocky-like crescendo as she shares details of her sheer will and daring. This is one spectacular book about one remarkable life. Read it and you will never look at swimming the same way again."

"An engagingly gripping read, an often engrossing tale of an extreme, otherworldly existence. It is this stunning force of will--this relentless dance along the thin line between brave and crazy--that makes Swimming so fascinating."

March 23rd swim report - 90 minutes!

With some difficulty I managed to last 90 minutes in the bay this morning. I was joined by a new swimmer I met on the beach on two weeks before. His name is Nobu and he is training for the swim leg of the Wildflower triathlon. I'm in the lead here with Nobu following close behind.

We tried to swim the break wall which is the wall to the right of aquatic park (you can see the wall is the picture above and on the map on the bottom of the page). We made it within about 20 yards of the end of the wall and got caught in a strong current. We struggled for about 10 minutes before floating back to the mouth of aquatic park. The swim time at this point was about 45 minutes.

As we approached the beach we witnessed no less than 50 wetsuit clad team in training folks wade into the water. It was nice to have the company, it made our training swim seem more 'normal'. Each of the team in training life guards jokingly commented on my lack of a wetsuit. I told them we were only in for a short swim.

At 60 minutes Nobu got out. Moments later I got really cold. I still had 25 minutes to go to reach my goal. I tried to sprint to warm up but it didn't help much. My mind was clear, but my body was giving in. I swam close to the beach to be safe. At 85 minutes, I basically swam in and sat out the remaining 5 minutes in the water to condition myself to the cold. My swim was a success, but I am left wondering if conditioning will delay the effects of the cold long enough to allow me to complete my actual swim (2+ hours). On the bright side, one month ago 30 minutes was my maximum time in the bay without a wetsuit.

Thanks for a great swim Nobu!

Distance, time and temperature. . .

"I left my heart in San Francisco"

Here is a picture taken from the 2nd tallest building in San Francisco. If you follow the diagonal street cutting to the upper left you will see it ends at a protected cove. The cove is Aquatic Park. It is where I train and where the Swim Around the Rock will begin. In the distance is Alcatraz.

The official web page for the swim indicates the distance is 3.25 miles. However, this assumes no current and true course swimming. If you add 10% to the distance for current and off true swimming, the actual mileage is about 4 miles. That is the equivalent of 70 football fields or 280 lengths in a 25 yard swimming pool.

I can make that distance in the pool today. It would take me about 2 hours. However, swimming that distance 50 degree water is another beast entirely. My longest bay swim thus far is 60 minutes. After 60 minutes in the bay, my arms and shoulders ache, my limbs and face are numb and my swim pace is starting to slow.

My goal this weekend is to increase my time in the bay to 90 minutes. This is important to me because one week from Sunday is the 3 mile open water qualifying swim. I expect my qualifying swim to take about 90 minutes. I’d like to know, going into the qualifier, how my body will react to that much exposure.

I’ll post again Saturday night with results of my 90 minute swim attempt.

The Last Day of Winter

Today, the last day of winter, my alarm rang out at 4:45. At 5:45 I was standing outside the Dolphin swim club waiting for my friend and colleague Jon Nakamura. With daylight savings, it felt more like midnight than morning. If it weren’t for the glow sticks we attached to our goggles, we would have lost each other on the beach. We joined two other swimmers and waded into the blackness of the bay at 6 sharp. I swim in the bay on a regular basis, but this was my first “night swim”.

The shock of the cold water, not being able to distinguish the surface of the water verses the black sky and the urgency of trying to get in quickly and keep up with the other three swimmers put me into semi-panic mode. However, Jon swam at my side the entire time and that put me somewhat at ease. 10 minutes into the swim my limbs and face went numb and I started to get into my rhythm in the bay. 20 minutes into the swim we stopped at the mouth of Aquatic Park to check out the lights of a cruise ship. As we neared the end of our 1-mile, 30 minute swim I turned onto my back and was in awe of the star filled sky. Floating in the black waters of the bay it was almost like being in space.

Hot shower and sauna later, I felt human again!

Thanks for the swim invite Jon! It was an unforgettable experience for me.

Here is the link to the Dolphin Club, check it out!

http://www.dolphinclub.org/

Kobold v. the Rock!

During one of my training swims, I had the crazy idea to contact the Kobold Watch Company and ask their support of my swim. I was surprised to receive a response from Michael Kobold, founder and president of Kobold Watch Company!

Kobold has since supplied me with a new custom titanium Soarway chronograph sports watch. It is absolutely stunning! Its beauty is deceiving, Kobold is known for producing superior quality watches capable of withstanding extreme conditions. Kobold watches have been to top of the world and the depths of the ocean. I assure you I will put this baby to the test wearing it on each of my bay swims as well as the Swim Around the Rock.

After the event, I will (tearfully) return the watch to Michael Kobold and it will be placed in the Kobold museum. Here is an ‘out of the box’ picture of my Kobold watch. From now on, only training pictures will be posted!



Check out the Kobold web page, it is really cool!

http://koboldwatch.com

Good times, past Alcatraz swims

There is a certain "mystique" about swimming Alcatraz. That is why I initially signed up for the Alcatraz Invitational 6 years ago. Since then I have swam Alcatraz 5 times. Along the way I got my brother, brother-in-law and wife to do the swim too. Each swim was beautiful, difficult, cold and exhilarating. One swim in particular was absolutely hilarious (more on this later). Here is a picture of me (back when I was smart enought to wear a wetsuit) and my son Brant at the bay on a beauty of a day.

Swim Around The Rock!

On May 26th, 2007 I will participate an elite long distance swim event which begins on the shores of San Francisco, goes out to and around Alcatraz island, then back to San Francisco. I will attempt the swim without a wetsuit. The course map is posted below.

Here is a link to the event webpage http://www.waterworldswim.com/sar/.