I have a terrible horrible no good very bad idea.
It may or may not be about you.
It wasn't a good idea 12 years ago, and it's an even worse idea now.
I could quote Medgar Evers, or the virtuous and invented "V", but they both say the same thing: you cannot kill an idea.
This particular idea has been surprisingly resilient. It is kept alive by two things. Firstly it depends on my mind being void of any other ideas, and secondly it is sustained by a very minimal supply of new fuel, once, or maybe twice a year.
It came bursting into my cerebrum earlier this year, and I think I very nearly forced my idea into life.
Perhaps I should have done. That way I would be left with a mistake, and mistakes are so much easier to forget than ideas.
Monday, December 21, 2015
Monday, July 13, 2015
YES!!!!!!!
KRISTA TEN BRINKE IS OFFICIALLY THE 21ST PERSON TO SWIM ACROSS LAKE ERIE!!!!!
Praise God!!! And I mean that!!!
We didn't even have a boat right up until the evening before my swim. Of course Christine and my parents didn't let me know that! Thank goodness for Anita and her husband swooping in to save the day. Their boat wasn't as big as what was initially planned, but without it I couldn't have crossed.
On the morning of July 12th my alarm went off at 3:30am. I put on my bathing suit, and warm clothes and I grabbed the two jugs of my feed I had mixed up the night before. I had a smoothie and an egg, my typical pre-big swim meal. And my last meal until I got across. I wasn't going to try anything weird at this stage in the game. Mom was waiting to drive me to Fort Erie. Dad was up an hour earlier to head to the marina with the boat. My parents love me. I'm very luck to have had them through all this.
I arrived at the Crystal Beach Marina just before 5am and my whole crew was waiting for me, Dad, Paul, Christine, Trin, Dave, Miguel, Anita, and her husband. I can't even begin to express my gratitude for these people. We had to start so earlier because the forecast predicted the currents on Lake Erie will switch direction around noon and would be completely against. The goal was to be almost across before that happened. After my last on-land pee break and a last minute coating of anti-chaffing cream, we were almost ready to go. Something really important I wanted to do before we left was pray with everyone. So we got in a circle and did that, and then I prayed one more time with just mom and dad, cried exactly 3 tears, and then we piled into two boats and started across to Sturgeon Point on the american side of the lake.
Couple sketchy things to note. 1st: we did not have a navigator. Christine has sometimes done this job but because she'll be in the kayak she can't. So the navigator role fell to Dad, who is also in charge of driving the lead boat. The first task was actually finding Sturgeon Point. Since we have to cross into american waters we're not very keen to use the data on our phones in order to load maps etc. (Also since we're in american waters, we're all praying to not get stopped by US coast guard, especially when I jump out and climb onto their shoreline to mark the start of my swim.) We are driving in what we think is the right direction. We are exactly against the waves. This is good because that means they should be exactly behind me as I swim back in this direction. The problem was that we couldn't drive quickly, it was very bumpy. The funny part I found out afterwards is that everyone in the boats was worried about me, whether this was making me feel sick, whether seeing the waves and the immensity of the distance was making me nervous. Meanwhile, I wasn't in the slightest bit concerned about that! I was in the front of the boat, standing, absorbing the waves with my body the way I always do when boating on Lake O. I was worried about Mom and Paul and about whether THEY were feeling sick. But everyone was fine, even after pounding those waves for 45 minutes. At some point I decided that one of the blinking red lights in the distance was Sturgeon Point. I had no proof to back up that claim, Dad wasn't convinced that it coincided with the map, but we kept driving towards it because we didn't have a better plan. Turns out the blinking red light was just to the right of Sturgeon Point and once we could see land Christine could direct us in. That's all God.
The rest still feels pretty surreal to me. I jumped out of the boat once we were like 25m from shore and climbed onto the land. Christine and Dave got the kayak ready, Miguel held the stopwatch, and at exactly 6am said "Go!" From there I can only tell you my half of the story. I have no idea what conversations happened in the boats, I don't know what problems they encountered trying to keep me on track and keep me safe. All I know is that lake Erie was warm, a very comfortable 70 degrees and that the first 3 hours of my swim passed without incident.
Every 30 minutes a water-bottle attached to a rope was tossed in front of my path filled with my Carbo-Pro mixture and I could stop for a minute to drink that, and talk to the crew, or pee, or eat a couple cucumber slices thrown to me from Mom. The waves were big and the wind was strong up until this point, but it was all pushing me where I wanted to go, and I'm wasn't really bothered by them. Christine tells me that I just completed the first 10km of my swim in 3hour and 9 minutes, my fastest 10km yet! On the downside my shoulders felt tight, and I was pretty sick of my feed already. By the 4hr mark I asked for a tylenol and barely had any of my feed. There was never a point in my swim where I felt like giving up, or felt too exhausted to continue. Some people say that's good training, some people say that's God's grace, I say its both. But if I had to pick the moment that was the toughest, that was it, just over halfway, another marathon left to go and really uncomfortable pain. About a week ago I had asked my chiropractor and massage therapist whether they could foresee any problems occurring during my swim. Whether I should be aware of certain pains and know when to stop. They both assured me that I was going to be fine, and that anything that happened wasn't irreparable, we could rehab any injury, and that I shouldn't allow fear of a minor injury stop me from completing the crossing. That moment in the middle of the lake, I was really glad I had that conversation. So I continued and eventually the tylenol kicked in and the pain subsided. Christine wasn't happy about me neglecting to feed though, so just before the 5hr mark she had me take one of the caffeine gels that marathon runners use. "Gel" is a nice word, "thick gasoline" might be closer to the truth.
At exactly 5 hours, Dave hopped in and helped me pick up my stroke count. He swam next to me for almost an hour and when he hopped out just before noon I could see Crystal Beach. I was close. I was told I was only 1km offshore, 1.5km tops. Well great! That's 20-30 minutes! Unfortunately the pier we were aiming for was playing trick on my crew's eyes and we went a little bit off course, enough that 40 minutes came and went without me touching land. But I knew I was close, and that energy gel had kicked in, and I knew that I could swim another hour at least if I HAD to.
But I didn't have to, very soon after that I could see the bottom, the kayak I had been making eye contact with every 15 seconds was now in front of me taking over from the lead boat. I was allowed to sight forward, and I only had a few hundred metres left. I could hear the people before I could see them and I swam until I was in less than 3ft of water, I which point I stood up and stumbled/ran onto the beach. Miguel stopped the clock at 12:52, 6 hours and 52 minutes. Way faster than the 8 hour mark I had dared to hope for.
I would have loved to hug my parents first, but Christine was there in lieu and after that I was just hugging everybody. Mom swam in from where the boats were anchored and this time she cried. My friends had balloons and signs, and some beach strangers congratulated me, and it was everything I could have hoped for and more. We even picnicked on the beach afterwards and thanks to the disgusting caffeine gel, I had SO much energy for the rest of the afternoon.
Today I had another AM Radio follow up interview and the rest of today was spent doing things that didn't involve me lifting my arms above waist height.
I am exhausted, but not as exhausted as I would have predicated, and very very content. Not everyone gets one of these moments in their life, and its not like I didn't work hard for it. But I never could have had that "running up onto the beach moment" without the group of people who helped me all along the way, and I hope that one day I'll get to be part of someone else living out one of their dreams.
I'm excited to get back to a more relaxed-paced life. I'm excited to spend more time with family and friends and less time with my significant other(s): the pool/the canal. I have no intentions of tackling another Great Lake, just in case anyone is asking, Christine would like me to, but I think I'll chase after some other dreams now.
And so I think the moral of the story probably is: Be careful what you put on your Bucketlist.
Praise God!!! And I mean that!!!
We didn't even have a boat right up until the evening before my swim. Of course Christine and my parents didn't let me know that! Thank goodness for Anita and her husband swooping in to save the day. Their boat wasn't as big as what was initially planned, but without it I couldn't have crossed.
On the morning of July 12th my alarm went off at 3:30am. I put on my bathing suit, and warm clothes and I grabbed the two jugs of my feed I had mixed up the night before. I had a smoothie and an egg, my typical pre-big swim meal. And my last meal until I got across. I wasn't going to try anything weird at this stage in the game. Mom was waiting to drive me to Fort Erie. Dad was up an hour earlier to head to the marina with the boat. My parents love me. I'm very luck to have had them through all this.
I arrived at the Crystal Beach Marina just before 5am and my whole crew was waiting for me, Dad, Paul, Christine, Trin, Dave, Miguel, Anita, and her husband. I can't even begin to express my gratitude for these people. We had to start so earlier because the forecast predicted the currents on Lake Erie will switch direction around noon and would be completely against. The goal was to be almost across before that happened. After my last on-land pee break and a last minute coating of anti-chaffing cream, we were almost ready to go. Something really important I wanted to do before we left was pray with everyone. So we got in a circle and did that, and then I prayed one more time with just mom and dad, cried exactly 3 tears, and then we piled into two boats and started across to Sturgeon Point on the american side of the lake.
Couple sketchy things to note. 1st: we did not have a navigator. Christine has sometimes done this job but because she'll be in the kayak she can't. So the navigator role fell to Dad, who is also in charge of driving the lead boat. The first task was actually finding Sturgeon Point. Since we have to cross into american waters we're not very keen to use the data on our phones in order to load maps etc. (Also since we're in american waters, we're all praying to not get stopped by US coast guard, especially when I jump out and climb onto their shoreline to mark the start of my swim.) We are driving in what we think is the right direction. We are exactly against the waves. This is good because that means they should be exactly behind me as I swim back in this direction. The problem was that we couldn't drive quickly, it was very bumpy. The funny part I found out afterwards is that everyone in the boats was worried about me, whether this was making me feel sick, whether seeing the waves and the immensity of the distance was making me nervous. Meanwhile, I wasn't in the slightest bit concerned about that! I was in the front of the boat, standing, absorbing the waves with my body the way I always do when boating on Lake O. I was worried about Mom and Paul and about whether THEY were feeling sick. But everyone was fine, even after pounding those waves for 45 minutes. At some point I decided that one of the blinking red lights in the distance was Sturgeon Point. I had no proof to back up that claim, Dad wasn't convinced that it coincided with the map, but we kept driving towards it because we didn't have a better plan. Turns out the blinking red light was just to the right of Sturgeon Point and once we could see land Christine could direct us in. That's all God.
The rest still feels pretty surreal to me. I jumped out of the boat once we were like 25m from shore and climbed onto the land. Christine and Dave got the kayak ready, Miguel held the stopwatch, and at exactly 6am said "Go!" From there I can only tell you my half of the story. I have no idea what conversations happened in the boats, I don't know what problems they encountered trying to keep me on track and keep me safe. All I know is that lake Erie was warm, a very comfortable 70 degrees and that the first 3 hours of my swim passed without incident.
Every 30 minutes a water-bottle attached to a rope was tossed in front of my path filled with my Carbo-Pro mixture and I could stop for a minute to drink that, and talk to the crew, or pee, or eat a couple cucumber slices thrown to me from Mom. The waves were big and the wind was strong up until this point, but it was all pushing me where I wanted to go, and I'm wasn't really bothered by them. Christine tells me that I just completed the first 10km of my swim in 3hour and 9 minutes, my fastest 10km yet! On the downside my shoulders felt tight, and I was pretty sick of my feed already. By the 4hr mark I asked for a tylenol and barely had any of my feed. There was never a point in my swim where I felt like giving up, or felt too exhausted to continue. Some people say that's good training, some people say that's God's grace, I say its both. But if I had to pick the moment that was the toughest, that was it, just over halfway, another marathon left to go and really uncomfortable pain. About a week ago I had asked my chiropractor and massage therapist whether they could foresee any problems occurring during my swim. Whether I should be aware of certain pains and know when to stop. They both assured me that I was going to be fine, and that anything that happened wasn't irreparable, we could rehab any injury, and that I shouldn't allow fear of a minor injury stop me from completing the crossing. That moment in the middle of the lake, I was really glad I had that conversation. So I continued and eventually the tylenol kicked in and the pain subsided. Christine wasn't happy about me neglecting to feed though, so just before the 5hr mark she had me take one of the caffeine gels that marathon runners use. "Gel" is a nice word, "thick gasoline" might be closer to the truth.
At exactly 5 hours, Dave hopped in and helped me pick up my stroke count. He swam next to me for almost an hour and when he hopped out just before noon I could see Crystal Beach. I was close. I was told I was only 1km offshore, 1.5km tops. Well great! That's 20-30 minutes! Unfortunately the pier we were aiming for was playing trick on my crew's eyes and we went a little bit off course, enough that 40 minutes came and went without me touching land. But I knew I was close, and that energy gel had kicked in, and I knew that I could swim another hour at least if I HAD to.
But I didn't have to, very soon after that I could see the bottom, the kayak I had been making eye contact with every 15 seconds was now in front of me taking over from the lead boat. I was allowed to sight forward, and I only had a few hundred metres left. I could hear the people before I could see them and I swam until I was in less than 3ft of water, I which point I stood up and stumbled/ran onto the beach. Miguel stopped the clock at 12:52, 6 hours and 52 minutes. Way faster than the 8 hour mark I had dared to hope for.
I would have loved to hug my parents first, but Christine was there in lieu and after that I was just hugging everybody. Mom swam in from where the boats were anchored and this time she cried. My friends had balloons and signs, and some beach strangers congratulated me, and it was everything I could have hoped for and more. We even picnicked on the beach afterwards and thanks to the disgusting caffeine gel, I had SO much energy for the rest of the afternoon.
Today I had another AM Radio follow up interview and the rest of today was spent doing things that didn't involve me lifting my arms above waist height.
I am exhausted, but not as exhausted as I would have predicated, and very very content. Not everyone gets one of these moments in their life, and its not like I didn't work hard for it. But I never could have had that "running up onto the beach moment" without the group of people who helped me all along the way, and I hope that one day I'll get to be part of someone else living out one of their dreams.
I'm excited to get back to a more relaxed-paced life. I'm excited to spend more time with family and friends and less time with my significant other(s): the pool/the canal. I have no intentions of tackling another Great Lake, just in case anyone is asking, Christine would like me to, but I think I'll chase after some other dreams now.
And so I think the moral of the story probably is: Be careful what you put on your Bucketlist.
Friday, July 10, 2015
Training Journal #26
I am so close. Christine is feeling good about Sunday. We may be having a really early start but I don't care. Let's do it. I haven't really allowed myself to think about what it will feel like if I don't make it, and I'm not about to start now. But there's a quote someone shared with me right at the beginning of my training that I just fell in love with and especially now that I'm 2 days out, it feels appropriate.
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt
No matter what happens I am thankful for this journey. I am thankful for the people I've met, trained beside and been inspired by. I'm thankful for the personal growth its caused in me. I'm thankful for the incredible support I've felt from my friends and family, even my family overseas. Whether or not I make it across, whether or not God and Lake Erie allow me to make it across, I still have all that, and that's fantastic.
That being said, I'd really like to make it across, and I'm going to give it my all.
K.
P.S. Did I mention I was on the radio today? :P
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt
No matter what happens I am thankful for this journey. I am thankful for the people I've met, trained beside and been inspired by. I'm thankful for the personal growth its caused in me. I'm thankful for the incredible support I've felt from my friends and family, even my family overseas. Whether or not I make it across, whether or not God and Lake Erie allow me to make it across, I still have all that, and that's fantastic.
That being said, I'd really like to make it across, and I'm going to give it my all.
K.
P.S. Did I mention I was on the radio today? :P
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Training Journal #25/ An Open Letter to Goodlife Fitness
Today was my last swim before the big day. Which is a little risky because if I don't swim Sunday or Monday then I'll have been out of the water for debatably too long. But let's be optimistic and say it'll be fine! Today's swim brings this week's mileage up to a whopping 10km. Okay body, time to go into charging mode, and save up all that energy!
I got my blood results back. Iron levels at 14! Spectacular! Christine hasn't even asked so I'm not even going to tell her. I'll be fine, even Taliano thinks I'll be okay. Some research says that women's iron levels can be in the normal range at as low as 12, so maybe that's me! Too late to turn back now.
I also switched gyms this week. I'll be 24 in the fall and my YMCA membership was going to go up in price. So I checked out Goodlife Fitness and made the switch. Perks include: a pool that is still unreasonably warm, but totally empty most of the day, AND open 24 hours. Also massage chairs. But man oh man Goodlife, even though I'm still convinced I made the right decision, you made me second guess myself today. So here is my open letter to Goodlife Fitness.
Dear Goodlife Fitness,
I recently switched over to your gym from the YMCA. I was greeted by friendly staff, given a great tour of the facility, received a free book AND a free duffel bag! In addition I noticed that the average age of members was well under that of the YMCA, and because I'm 23, I find this is quite nice... for so many reasons. Well done, good start!
Then, I sat down at one of your little discussion tables and was taken through your intro package with a personal trainer. You asked me about why I joined the gym, and what my fitness goals are, and what I'd like to see change in my body. This should have been my first indication that things were headed south. But instead I continued naively, answered all your questions, and even agreed to a follow-up session. This session would be with a different personal trainer who would do a workout with me, and a bunch of health assessments to give me my numbers (BMI, Weight, Body Fat% and composition etc). Well that sounded exciting! After selling out all my closest friends and family in order to get a free water bottle, I left the gym, looking forward to returning the next day for my personal training session.
So I arrived at the gym today and was greeted by a higher ranking personal trainer who took me through a workout which I actually found reasonably informative and challenging at certain parts. I had never used the squat bars before outside of a lifting class, and she corrected my technique in a few exercises. Over all, not a bad session! Next came the health assessment. We went back to the little discussion tables and got started.
Something you should know about me Goodlife -- I'm going to swim across Lake Erie in 4 days. Its approximately a 20km double marathon swim. I can't guarantee you that I will make it across, but the important thing to know is that I've trained for it. I've trained hard for it. For 7 months now I have been working out 8-9 times per week, for usually about 2 hours at a time. I am the fittest I have ever been. I am an athlete.
This was not kept a secret from the personal trainer I was working with. (Could you keep it a secret if you were swimming across a Great Lake in 4 days?!) I thought it was kind of odd that this personal trainer had almost no reaction to this piece of information, but I quickly took myself off of my high horse. I'm sure many more-impressive athletes than myself have walked through those doors, and I'm sure Goodlife has been the training ground for much more impressive athletic feats. So we plowed onwards as if I wasn't any different, which, I reasoned, was true. I was again asked questions about my fitness goals and what I would like to change. But we got really specific this time, and I felt myself start to get defensive. When I wasn't providing very detailed answers, (ex. I guess I'd like to continue to see more muscle tone), she tried to suggest some for me;
"Where would you like to see more muscle/less fat? What parts of your body do you feel uncomfortable with? Would you like to lose inches somewhere specific? Is there a dress size or pant size that you're aiming for?"
Now, I'm going to give my one-off personal trainer the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure these questions are scripted and its not her fault that they're terrible. I'm looking at you corporate Goodlife - those are NOT good questions!
I actually took a few moments and a couple breathes before I answered. I said, "You know what, I'm probably never going to be 100% satisfied all the time with how I look, or how I feel my body looks, and I think that's normal. But right now I just can't hate on my body. Right now that actually feels wrong! I have been pushing my body to its physical limits, I have being seeing tangible evidence of myself getting stronger, I've been asking for a lot, and my body has been doing absolutely everything I've asked it to! I'm very happy about that!" And then I asked if we could move on.
The next part of the health assessment was blood pressure. I know what my blood pressure should be. I used to take it all the time, ever since I was 12 in Shoppers Drug Mart. I have used my brother's cuff for at-home monitoring, and I have it taken every time I donate blood. You know what it says every.single.time? 110/70. OCCASIONALLY 120/80. Resting heart rate of 60bpm. Suffice it to say that my pulse and blood pressure are fine. Sometimes low, like so low that workout machines give me an error message because they can't find my pulse, but nevertheless, perfectly healthy and fine. This was not what the machine at Goodlife found. My numbers were through the roof! I was initially shocked and for a split second I was truly worried. I waited to see what the trainer would say, but she didn't react, just wrote the numbers down. I mentioned how odd that was, and what my normal range usually is, but she didn't seem to think it warranted a re-test, or that anything strange was afoot. Now I realize that my pressure and pulse were so high because my blood was already boiling at this point but I was bottling it all up inside of me! I had just had my healthy body- image assaulted and was forced to defend it, and now we're going to see what my heart is like in a calm, resting state?!
Next, I allowed the personal trainer to wrap a measuring tape around certain body parts and then I stepped onto a fancy scale that was going to tell me my weight, my body fat percentage, and the break down of my body composition (fat mass, bone mass, muscle mass etc.) For a moment before I stepped on the scale I was self-conscious. I knew what the scale was going to say, and I knew I wasn't going to be thrilled with the number. I knew I had gained over 10lbs since the beginning of my training and had never weighed this much before in my life. I also realistically had continued to tell myself that most of that weight had to be muscle, that I still fit into all of my clothes, some even better than before, and that no matter what the number is, I am not defined by it. So I stepped onto your scale, and was greeted by the expected number, and I came to terms with it. Then the scale gave my personal trainer a print-out and we went back to the table to enter the last numbers from my assessment into a computer and go over what it said.
It said that I am made up of 35% fat. To MY credit I didn't react to the number, "What do I know about body fat percentage, I'm sure its fine!" My personal trainer however, was more than happy to interpret the number for me. "35%, well that, along with your blood pressure results puts you in the very unhealthy zone." She then pointed to a column on the computer for me. I scored 62/100 on my health assessment and it was concluded that significant lifestyle changes needed to occur. In addition, 35% body fat puts me in the obese column of every body fat percentage chart. What?!
My personal trainer smiled at me, handed me the package of paperwork, detailing how unhealthy I am, and how I am at a high risk for heart attack and stroke, and then she tried to sell me 8 different personal training packages ranging from $1000-$6000, all of which I declined, before she said goodbye and left for her next appointment.
Goodlife, I am afraid. I am not afraid for me. I am not afraid that I'm going to die young from heart disease or stroke. I'm not even afraid of what 35% body fat means for me, my swim, or my overall health. What I AM afraid of is how your personal trainers are interpreting your health assessment results. If your employees can sit for an hour with me, do a workout with me, listen to the details of what my training has included over the past year, and at the end of that can point to a chart telling me I'm considered obese -- that's terrifying!! It's terrifying because I'm not obese! I'm not even close! And if you can look at a high performance athlete and ascribe that word to them without any qualms, I shudder to think what is being told to the men and women, especially young men and women who do not have the knowledge of how strong they are to fall back on. What about your clients who may not have my amazing support group and people in their life who consistently tell them they're beautiful and help build up their self-esteem?? What are you telling to the other people who look like me but might look in the mirror and actually think they are obese, and then you CONFIRM their deepest fear?! It's possible that 35% of my body is fat. I'm skeptical, but its possible. Even if that IS true, clearly in my case that number does equal an individual who is living an unhealthy lifestyle, clearly 35% does not always equal obesity.
Here's my point. I am not against your health assessment. I am not against your gym. I am actually very happy with almost everything I have experienced at Goodlife. What I AM against is the blanket, one size fits all, black and white way in which my health assessment was explained to me. Healthy doesn't always look like 18% body fat, 120lbs, and a size 2 waist. It certainly doesn't look like that for me. Healthy looks different for everyone, and that's why it's really difficult to make any kind of judgement calls based on a person's appearance. That's why fat-shaming is so problematic!
As an organization whose goal is to "give every Canadian the opportunity to live a fit and healthy good life", I'm asking you to please redefine the way you see people, and the way you're telling people to see themselves. Please stop telling healthy people that they're obese. Please stop forcing people to tell you all the things they hate about their bodies. Please stop viewing the numbers as absolute truth, to be weighted as worth more than the story of the person sitting across from you.
Sincerely,
Krista
Update: December 23rd 2015. I made it across Lake Erie! I am still a regular Goodlife Member. I am still 35% body fat. And that is still okay.
I got my blood results back. Iron levels at 14! Spectacular! Christine hasn't even asked so I'm not even going to tell her. I'll be fine, even Taliano thinks I'll be okay. Some research says that women's iron levels can be in the normal range at as low as 12, so maybe that's me! Too late to turn back now.
I also switched gyms this week. I'll be 24 in the fall and my YMCA membership was going to go up in price. So I checked out Goodlife Fitness and made the switch. Perks include: a pool that is still unreasonably warm, but totally empty most of the day, AND open 24 hours. Also massage chairs. But man oh man Goodlife, even though I'm still convinced I made the right decision, you made me second guess myself today. So here is my open letter to Goodlife Fitness.
Dear Goodlife Fitness,
I recently switched over to your gym from the YMCA. I was greeted by friendly staff, given a great tour of the facility, received a free book AND a free duffel bag! In addition I noticed that the average age of members was well under that of the YMCA, and because I'm 23, I find this is quite nice... for so many reasons. Well done, good start!
Then, I sat down at one of your little discussion tables and was taken through your intro package with a personal trainer. You asked me about why I joined the gym, and what my fitness goals are, and what I'd like to see change in my body. This should have been my first indication that things were headed south. But instead I continued naively, answered all your questions, and even agreed to a follow-up session. This session would be with a different personal trainer who would do a workout with me, and a bunch of health assessments to give me my numbers (BMI, Weight, Body Fat% and composition etc). Well that sounded exciting! After selling out all my closest friends and family in order to get a free water bottle, I left the gym, looking forward to returning the next day for my personal training session.
So I arrived at the gym today and was greeted by a higher ranking personal trainer who took me through a workout which I actually found reasonably informative and challenging at certain parts. I had never used the squat bars before outside of a lifting class, and she corrected my technique in a few exercises. Over all, not a bad session! Next came the health assessment. We went back to the little discussion tables and got started.
Something you should know about me Goodlife -- I'm going to swim across Lake Erie in 4 days. Its approximately a 20km double marathon swim. I can't guarantee you that I will make it across, but the important thing to know is that I've trained for it. I've trained hard for it. For 7 months now I have been working out 8-9 times per week, for usually about 2 hours at a time. I am the fittest I have ever been. I am an athlete.
This was not kept a secret from the personal trainer I was working with. (Could you keep it a secret if you were swimming across a Great Lake in 4 days?!) I thought it was kind of odd that this personal trainer had almost no reaction to this piece of information, but I quickly took myself off of my high horse. I'm sure many more-impressive athletes than myself have walked through those doors, and I'm sure Goodlife has been the training ground for much more impressive athletic feats. So we plowed onwards as if I wasn't any different, which, I reasoned, was true. I was again asked questions about my fitness goals and what I would like to change. But we got really specific this time, and I felt myself start to get defensive. When I wasn't providing very detailed answers, (ex. I guess I'd like to continue to see more muscle tone), she tried to suggest some for me;
"Where would you like to see more muscle/less fat? What parts of your body do you feel uncomfortable with? Would you like to lose inches somewhere specific? Is there a dress size or pant size that you're aiming for?"
Now, I'm going to give my one-off personal trainer the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure these questions are scripted and its not her fault that they're terrible. I'm looking at you corporate Goodlife - those are NOT good questions!
I actually took a few moments and a couple breathes before I answered. I said, "You know what, I'm probably never going to be 100% satisfied all the time with how I look, or how I feel my body looks, and I think that's normal. But right now I just can't hate on my body. Right now that actually feels wrong! I have been pushing my body to its physical limits, I have being seeing tangible evidence of myself getting stronger, I've been asking for a lot, and my body has been doing absolutely everything I've asked it to! I'm very happy about that!" And then I asked if we could move on.
The next part of the health assessment was blood pressure. I know what my blood pressure should be. I used to take it all the time, ever since I was 12 in Shoppers Drug Mart. I have used my brother's cuff for at-home monitoring, and I have it taken every time I donate blood. You know what it says every.single.time? 110/70. OCCASIONALLY 120/80. Resting heart rate of 60bpm. Suffice it to say that my pulse and blood pressure are fine. Sometimes low, like so low that workout machines give me an error message because they can't find my pulse, but nevertheless, perfectly healthy and fine. This was not what the machine at Goodlife found. My numbers were through the roof! I was initially shocked and for a split second I was truly worried. I waited to see what the trainer would say, but she didn't react, just wrote the numbers down. I mentioned how odd that was, and what my normal range usually is, but she didn't seem to think it warranted a re-test, or that anything strange was afoot. Now I realize that my pressure and pulse were so high because my blood was already boiling at this point but I was bottling it all up inside of me! I had just had my healthy body- image assaulted and was forced to defend it, and now we're going to see what my heart is like in a calm, resting state?!
Next, I allowed the personal trainer to wrap a measuring tape around certain body parts and then I stepped onto a fancy scale that was going to tell me my weight, my body fat percentage, and the break down of my body composition (fat mass, bone mass, muscle mass etc.) For a moment before I stepped on the scale I was self-conscious. I knew what the scale was going to say, and I knew I wasn't going to be thrilled with the number. I knew I had gained over 10lbs since the beginning of my training and had never weighed this much before in my life. I also realistically had continued to tell myself that most of that weight had to be muscle, that I still fit into all of my clothes, some even better than before, and that no matter what the number is, I am not defined by it. So I stepped onto your scale, and was greeted by the expected number, and I came to terms with it. Then the scale gave my personal trainer a print-out and we went back to the table to enter the last numbers from my assessment into a computer and go over what it said.
It said that I am made up of 35% fat. To MY credit I didn't react to the number, "What do I know about body fat percentage, I'm sure its fine!" My personal trainer however, was more than happy to interpret the number for me. "35%, well that, along with your blood pressure results puts you in the very unhealthy zone." She then pointed to a column on the computer for me. I scored 62/100 on my health assessment and it was concluded that significant lifestyle changes needed to occur. In addition, 35% body fat puts me in the obese column of every body fat percentage chart. What?!
My personal trainer smiled at me, handed me the package of paperwork, detailing how unhealthy I am, and how I am at a high risk for heart attack and stroke, and then she tried to sell me 8 different personal training packages ranging from $1000-$6000, all of which I declined, before she said goodbye and left for her next appointment.
Goodlife, I am afraid. I am not afraid for me. I am not afraid that I'm going to die young from heart disease or stroke. I'm not even afraid of what 35% body fat means for me, my swim, or my overall health. What I AM afraid of is how your personal trainers are interpreting your health assessment results. If your employees can sit for an hour with me, do a workout with me, listen to the details of what my training has included over the past year, and at the end of that can point to a chart telling me I'm considered obese -- that's terrifying!! It's terrifying because I'm not obese! I'm not even close! And if you can look at a high performance athlete and ascribe that word to them without any qualms, I shudder to think what is being told to the men and women, especially young men and women who do not have the knowledge of how strong they are to fall back on. What about your clients who may not have my amazing support group and people in their life who consistently tell them they're beautiful and help build up their self-esteem?? What are you telling to the other people who look like me but might look in the mirror and actually think they are obese, and then you CONFIRM their deepest fear?! It's possible that 35% of my body is fat. I'm skeptical, but its possible. Even if that IS true, clearly in my case that number does equal an individual who is living an unhealthy lifestyle, clearly 35% does not always equal obesity.
Here's my point. I am not against your health assessment. I am not against your gym. I am actually very happy with almost everything I have experienced at Goodlife. What I AM against is the blanket, one size fits all, black and white way in which my health assessment was explained to me. Healthy doesn't always look like 18% body fat, 120lbs, and a size 2 waist. It certainly doesn't look like that for me. Healthy looks different for everyone, and that's why it's really difficult to make any kind of judgement calls based on a person's appearance. That's why fat-shaming is so problematic!
As an organization whose goal is to "give every Canadian the opportunity to live a fit and healthy good life", I'm asking you to please redefine the way you see people, and the way you're telling people to see themselves. Please stop telling healthy people that they're obese. Please stop forcing people to tell you all the things they hate about their bodies. Please stop viewing the numbers as absolute truth, to be weighted as worth more than the story of the person sitting across from you.
Sincerely,
Krista
Update: December 23rd 2015. I made it across Lake Erie! I am still a regular Goodlife Member. I am still 35% body fat. And that is still okay.
Friday, July 3, 2015
Training Journal #24
Georgian Bay was beautiful! We were camped on a Native reserve which was a bugger to get to and I think I destroyed my car, but the location was lovely. There were two islands really close to our site that we swam around and the waves were lots of fun! I've always loved playing in the waves at Sauble beach and maybe I just naturally know how to swim in them. In theory I shouldn't have to swim against the waves on Erie. I can swim N to S or S to N. My preference would be S to N so that I can end at Crystal Beach, but at the end of the day its not up to me. So the waves should be behind me, or slightly to the side of me. The important thing to remember is to brace your core when you're swimming in waves so that you can hold your line and stay on plain. The other thing is that sometimes the waves will mess up your breathing. I breathe every 3 strokes, but if I turn my head into a wave or get hit in the face, I need to be able to relax and just wait to breathe a little later. Some of the drills we used to do in practice required us to breathe only every 5 or 7 strokes, so again, in theory I should easily have the lung capacity to deal with unpredictable waves. We'll see. I'm feeling good though.
Mileage is way down this week, only 12 km. It hasn't been that low since February I think! One freaking week left!! Still not sure about the whole boat situation. Christine isn't freaking out yet so I guess it'll be fine. Erie is high 60s which is all I can ask for. Please let conditions be prime for the 12th!
Mileage is way down this week, only 12 km. It hasn't been that low since February I think! One freaking week left!! Still not sure about the whole boat situation. Christine isn't freaking out yet so I guess it'll be fine. Erie is high 60s which is all I can ask for. Please let conditions be prime for the 12th!
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Training Journal #23
3 weeks to go! I'm up at camp, I brought Trin and Michaela with me, partly to give them a crossroads experience, and partly so they would help me focus on continuing to train. I've been teaching Bronze Med/Cross and on the break times I've been swimming in Black Lake. The girls have done some of it with me and some of it on paddle boards beside me. Yesterday we went across to the far side of the lake and back, and then to pine tree point and back twice. It was funny to see the staff reactions. For Bronze Med/Cross they all have to swim to pine tree point and back (round trip 600m), and its a real struggle for some of them. So to see me, with a 15 and 13 yr old beside me just doing the lake like its nothing seems crazy, and then to know what my actual goal is, and what Trin has already done. I don't actually need people to be amazed at me, I really really don't. This is a very personal goal, and I'm doing it for me and nobody else. But it is nice for people to be able to understand what I'm talking about and to have some perspective on it.
I'm bringing Trin and Michalea up to Georgian Bay next week where we'll meet Christine and I'll camp with them for a night. Apparently there's some good spots to swim there, and waves! That would be the only thing I feel unprepared for. I've never training in actual waves. The canal is flat, even when its windy its flat with a bit of a current.
I sent in blood work one last time before leaving for camp so I'm curious about those results!
Mileage this week: 20km.
I'm bringing Trin and Michalea up to Georgian Bay next week where we'll meet Christine and I'll camp with them for a night. Apparently there's some good spots to swim there, and waves! That would be the only thing I feel unprepared for. I've never training in actual waves. The canal is flat, even when its windy its flat with a bit of a current.
I sent in blood work one last time before leaving for camp so I'm curious about those results!
Mileage this week: 20km.
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Training Journal #22
30km this week! This is the peak of my training. From here on I'm tapering til the big day. Its looking like July 12th will be the first day we shoot for. If conditions aren't what we want then we try every day after that. I'd really like it to be the 12th though. Its a Sunday and so way more people are available, not just for my cheering section at the end, but also to be part of the crew. Paul is going to join us as a back-up boat driver. Mom will be in charge of feeding the crew etc. Christine and her girls will be there too. Trin and Michaela have been so great to me through the whole thing. The rest of the crew, (other than Miguel) is kind of up in the air for now.
I had a really cool swim today. I've been in KW for the weekend visiting friends. Its my last free weekend before the swim and I've definitely prioritized my training over pretty much everything else, so it was nice to be with people again. But just because I'm not in Niagara doesn't mean I can take extra days off. So I found a pool here at the Moses Springer Centre, and its awesome. Its outdoors, and its 50m! I've never swam long course before. The temp was like 75 which was the best!! Since swimming in the canal I've really struggled swimming at the YMCA because I find it SO warm! 65 to 85 is just not ideal. Anyways, I did 4.5km in this pool and it was both challenging and a lot of fun. You only get to push off the walls half as often, and that totally changes your times for 50s, 100s, 200s. I don't think I've enjoyed a workout that much in a while.
The canal is fine but its not always the most pleasant experience. Its basically a giant trough with big cement walls and plants growing all up the side. Because the canal is shared with rowers and other non-motorized boat activity, the swimmers are supposed to stay close to the edge on the left side. The issue is that there isn't just plant growth on the walls, there's all sorts of growth underwater too, so you have to swim through seaweed at certain points. There are fish too...big fish...big gross fish...I think they'e called carp. I've seen a few of them, and I have a scratch in my goggles that sometimes looks like a fish out of the corner of my eye. I'm glad I grew up swimming in lakes and playing with seaweed and fishing with Dad. This stuff doesn't freak me out or make me not want to swim, its actually kind of interesting to see everything....like going snorkelling with the world's nastiest selection of wildlife. I just don't want to touch any of it. And that's the problem with the warm weather. As the sun is out more, the seaweed starts growing and reaching for the surface, so where it used to be 3 ft under me at the end of May, its now only 1ft beneath me. When Christine isn't with me I move further out into the middle of the canal, but its frowned upon so sometimes I'm forced to get all up and personally with the seaweed. That isn't the worst of it though. There's also this algae stuff that floats on top in big globs. Since I'm only supposed to breathe sideways you never see it coming. I've thankfully never breathed the stuff right into my mouth yet, but I've stuck my face into a bunch of times, and its like swimming through phlegm. I'll take my suit off after a canal swim and I will find the stuff everywhere. Everywhere. Christine's WPAC swim team has been training in the canal too, and they are really vocal about their hatred of the stuff. So when I swim with them I try to be a big girl about it and set an example, but its totally all show. Lake Erie should be cleaner, so that's a plus.
I had a really cool swim today. I've been in KW for the weekend visiting friends. Its my last free weekend before the swim and I've definitely prioritized my training over pretty much everything else, so it was nice to be with people again. But just because I'm not in Niagara doesn't mean I can take extra days off. So I found a pool here at the Moses Springer Centre, and its awesome. Its outdoors, and its 50m! I've never swam long course before. The temp was like 75 which was the best!! Since swimming in the canal I've really struggled swimming at the YMCA because I find it SO warm! 65 to 85 is just not ideal. Anyways, I did 4.5km in this pool and it was both challenging and a lot of fun. You only get to push off the walls half as often, and that totally changes your times for 50s, 100s, 200s. I don't think I've enjoyed a workout that much in a while.
The canal is fine but its not always the most pleasant experience. Its basically a giant trough with big cement walls and plants growing all up the side. Because the canal is shared with rowers and other non-motorized boat activity, the swimmers are supposed to stay close to the edge on the left side. The issue is that there isn't just plant growth on the walls, there's all sorts of growth underwater too, so you have to swim through seaweed at certain points. There are fish too...big fish...big gross fish...I think they'e called carp. I've seen a few of them, and I have a scratch in my goggles that sometimes looks like a fish out of the corner of my eye. I'm glad I grew up swimming in lakes and playing with seaweed and fishing with Dad. This stuff doesn't freak me out or make me not want to swim, its actually kind of interesting to see everything....like going snorkelling with the world's nastiest selection of wildlife. I just don't want to touch any of it. And that's the problem with the warm weather. As the sun is out more, the seaweed starts growing and reaching for the surface, so where it used to be 3 ft under me at the end of May, its now only 1ft beneath me. When Christine isn't with me I move further out into the middle of the canal, but its frowned upon so sometimes I'm forced to get all up and personally with the seaweed. That isn't the worst of it though. There's also this algae stuff that floats on top in big globs. Since I'm only supposed to breathe sideways you never see it coming. I've thankfully never breathed the stuff right into my mouth yet, but I've stuck my face into a bunch of times, and its like swimming through phlegm. I'll take my suit off after a canal swim and I will find the stuff everywhere. Everywhere. Christine's WPAC swim team has been training in the canal too, and they are really vocal about their hatred of the stuff. So when I swim with them I try to be a big girl about it and set an example, but its totally all show. Lake Erie should be cleaner, so that's a plus.
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Training Journal #21
Holy Moly what a day!
Ability to move my neck comfortably in all directions -- CHECK
Final Trial Swim -- CHECK!
Up at 6am today to get to the canal for a 7:30am start. Dad and Christine came with me and paddled a double kayak. I've been feeling kind of off the last few days, like cold symptoms. We were in KW all yesterday for Ingrid and Paul's 25th anniversary, and I could tell by the end of the evening that I was gonna be feeling it the next day. So this morning I had the aches and the sniffles and all that good stuff. But the canal doesn't care how I feel, it was sitting at 65 degrees and my health is irrelevant, I already made it wait a week for me. I couldn't push it another week because you're not supposed to do anything big when you're within a month of your swim date. So I had to do some major psyching up this morning. I think my most effective piece of motivation to myself was, "If you can do 10km when you feel like shit, then you can totally do 20km on a good day!"
Well, I managed to do 11.2km, so we'll see if the second part comes true in a month from now.
We started from the South Niagara Canoe club dock and went right in the direction of downtown Welland. I had never swam in that direction before so that was a good way to start. At least I was looking at new trees and new slabs of concrete. Then it got way more interesting because I was swimming under cool bridges and seeing actual buildings and parks and people. The plan was to go further in that direction to another bridge in our sights, but then we realized that it was the weekend of the Welland Triathlon. There was a swimming course set up right in front of us, and luck would have it that it was starting right as we approached it. I couldn't see the swimmers, but Dad and Christine could from their kayak vantage point. So I quickly swam up and touch a big green inflatable buoy that marked their course, and then turned around and swam away. I swam all the way back to the place where we started and then Christine told me that I'll now have to swim out to the 406 bridge and back. Quick pee break for the kayak crew.
Side note: Christine wants me to be able to pee as I swim so I don't waste time by stopping. EASIER SAID THAN DONE. Try relaxing enough to pee while still moving all your limbs. This will not happen. She's convinced I'll figure it out in the next month. I will not. I have no intentions of doing that.
On that second leg of the swim I was really glad for the kayak beside me. Its just a nice distraction. Its not like I can talk to them while I swim or hear what they're saying, but its something to focus on other than my stroke, and I haven't had much luck with singing to myself or doing much else on the long swims so far. Every so often Dad or Christine would smile at me and give me the thumbs up. Sometimes Christine would have this really concerned look on her face which would give me a heart attack and I would launch into self-assessment mode: "Am I kicking? Is my hand entering the water straight? Am I doing a full recovery? I'll do a few obnoxiously full strokes and splash some water up behind me just so she knows I'm not tired yet. Is my elbow high enough? Am I rotating my body enough?" I asked her about it afterwards and 99% of the time she wasn't thinking any of that, I think it was just her resting face lol. When I turned around at the 406 I was starting to get tired and I was starting to feel the cold. At some point on the way back my hands went completely numb. The last 2km was tough mentally. I'm glad Christine didn't make me do the trial swim in Lake Erie. I think if I swam out into the middle I would just want to get it done once I'd come that far.
The important thing is I did it. I'm not even sure what my time was, but its done, and Christine is happy, which means I'm allowed to be happy. I felt the after-drop on the way home, I'm glad Dad was driving. I went immediately into our hot tub and it took me a good 30 minutes in the tub before I got even close to the point of feeling too warm. For the first 10 minutes I couldn't even feel the heat, I still had goosebumps on my skin!! Then I went to Julie's bridal shower right after that. Can't stop, won't stop.
Last week's mileage: 21.5km (that doesn't include today :)
Ability to move my neck comfortably in all directions -- CHECK
Final Trial Swim -- CHECK!
Up at 6am today to get to the canal for a 7:30am start. Dad and Christine came with me and paddled a double kayak. I've been feeling kind of off the last few days, like cold symptoms. We were in KW all yesterday for Ingrid and Paul's 25th anniversary, and I could tell by the end of the evening that I was gonna be feeling it the next day. So this morning I had the aches and the sniffles and all that good stuff. But the canal doesn't care how I feel, it was sitting at 65 degrees and my health is irrelevant, I already made it wait a week for me. I couldn't push it another week because you're not supposed to do anything big when you're within a month of your swim date. So I had to do some major psyching up this morning. I think my most effective piece of motivation to myself was, "If you can do 10km when you feel like shit, then you can totally do 20km on a good day!"
Well, I managed to do 11.2km, so we'll see if the second part comes true in a month from now.
We started from the South Niagara Canoe club dock and went right in the direction of downtown Welland. I had never swam in that direction before so that was a good way to start. At least I was looking at new trees and new slabs of concrete. Then it got way more interesting because I was swimming under cool bridges and seeing actual buildings and parks and people. The plan was to go further in that direction to another bridge in our sights, but then we realized that it was the weekend of the Welland Triathlon. There was a swimming course set up right in front of us, and luck would have it that it was starting right as we approached it. I couldn't see the swimmers, but Dad and Christine could from their kayak vantage point. So I quickly swam up and touch a big green inflatable buoy that marked their course, and then turned around and swam away. I swam all the way back to the place where we started and then Christine told me that I'll now have to swim out to the 406 bridge and back. Quick pee break for the kayak crew.
Side note: Christine wants me to be able to pee as I swim so I don't waste time by stopping. EASIER SAID THAN DONE. Try relaxing enough to pee while still moving all your limbs. This will not happen. She's convinced I'll figure it out in the next month. I will not. I have no intentions of doing that.
On that second leg of the swim I was really glad for the kayak beside me. Its just a nice distraction. Its not like I can talk to them while I swim or hear what they're saying, but its something to focus on other than my stroke, and I haven't had much luck with singing to myself or doing much else on the long swims so far. Every so often Dad or Christine would smile at me and give me the thumbs up. Sometimes Christine would have this really concerned look on her face which would give me a heart attack and I would launch into self-assessment mode: "Am I kicking? Is my hand entering the water straight? Am I doing a full recovery? I'll do a few obnoxiously full strokes and splash some water up behind me just so she knows I'm not tired yet. Is my elbow high enough? Am I rotating my body enough?" I asked her about it afterwards and 99% of the time she wasn't thinking any of that, I think it was just her resting face lol. When I turned around at the 406 I was starting to get tired and I was starting to feel the cold. At some point on the way back my hands went completely numb. The last 2km was tough mentally. I'm glad Christine didn't make me do the trial swim in Lake Erie. I think if I swam out into the middle I would just want to get it done once I'd come that far.
The important thing is I did it. I'm not even sure what my time was, but its done, and Christine is happy, which means I'm allowed to be happy. I felt the after-drop on the way home, I'm glad Dad was driving. I went immediately into our hot tub and it took me a good 30 minutes in the tub before I got even close to the point of feeling too warm. For the first 10 minutes I couldn't even feel the heat, I still had goosebumps on my skin!! Then I went to Julie's bridal shower right after that. Can't stop, won't stop.
Last week's mileage: 21.5km (that doesn't include today :)
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Training Journal #20/ FRIG AGAIN
Something I am learning about this sport of open water swimming is that I can plan and train and decide when something is going to happen, but at the end of the day you are not in control. If the elements are against you, if the water isn't warm enough, if the waves are too big or too strong in the wrong direction, then you change your plans.
Not only can I not control the weather, I also can't control my own body! This week I had tapered in preparation for my big official 10km trial swim in the canal. But on Wednesday morning I woke up and started to get dressed at which point my neck seized. Really painfully I might add. I couldn't move. I called both Christine and my chiropractor in tears. I went in to see Rebecca 3 times this week plus a massage. I had electro-pusle therapy on my neck. One of the more bizarre things I've experienced. Its this machine that forces your muscles to tense up and then release. By the third treatment I was doing much better, but not to the point where I was going to do a 10km. I was worried about the breathing aspect where I have to rotate my neck a thousand times. I have to stretch like crazy and I still don't have the full range of motion back. I guess I'm glad this happened now and not any closer to my swim. My mileage this week was 18km because I took 3 days off for recovery. Today I did 5km in the canal which was pretty ambitious considering my week but no issues. Christine wants me to do another good canal workout tomorrow, but then I still need to do my trial swim next weekend so hopefully I'm back to normal by then.
All my Masters programs finished this week. It was actually pretty sad, I really felt like part of a team by the end of it. It was a good end though. My last workout with them was 20x100m and I held 1:25 the whole time. It was exactly what I wanted :) I even beat Dave!!
Started from the bottom now we here. ;)
I feel like I might consider doing Brock Masters again in future....probably not in the fall, I'm gonna take a break from swimming after all this. Its not that I'm sick of swimming, but sometimes I'm just over being wet all the time.
5 weeks out. A lot more planning has been happening about the actual swim. Miguel will be joining us as Swim Master (the person who makes it official and enforces all the rules). We're going to take our boat, and we need another one, preferably bigger, so we're working on that. Christine will be in a kayak beside me. We've been practicing that. I'm not supposed to look forward while I'm swimming, as tempting as that's going to be. I'm just supposed to look at the kayak when I breathe and make sure I'm staying the same distance away from it, and if the kayak changes course then I need to adjust my direction also. At first I only liked sighting to the right, but now it doesn't really matter. There are all sorts of other rules I've learned about too. The kayak thing isn't a rule, but I'll wreck my neck and probably mess with my own head if I'm constantly looking to see how far I've gone/how far I have left to go. But outside of that, for a swim to be recognized:
-- I can't touch a boat at all during my crossing
-- I can't touch a person at all during my crossing
-- I can't wear a watch, or use a waterproof ipod or anything else that I might use to pace myself
-- I can't have anybody in the water with me for the first 5 hours. After that I'm allowed a pacer.
-- The pacer cannot be ahead of me at any point
-- The pacer cannot be in the water for longer than an hour
-- If there are multiple pacers they must be an hour apart (an hour gap between them where I'm by myself again)
-- I cannot wear a wetsuit
-- My bathing suit cannot be one of those speed suits they wear in the olympics, no material past the shoulder or groin
Most of this stuff isn't a surprise to me anymore, but knowing about pacers is important. I might ask Dave to be my pacer, its really nice to see a familiar face beside you when you're pushing yourself. There are obviously points where I want to be by myself, like for most of it. But especially at the end I think.
Not only can I not control the weather, I also can't control my own body! This week I had tapered in preparation for my big official 10km trial swim in the canal. But on Wednesday morning I woke up and started to get dressed at which point my neck seized. Really painfully I might add. I couldn't move. I called both Christine and my chiropractor in tears. I went in to see Rebecca 3 times this week plus a massage. I had electro-pusle therapy on my neck. One of the more bizarre things I've experienced. Its this machine that forces your muscles to tense up and then release. By the third treatment I was doing much better, but not to the point where I was going to do a 10km. I was worried about the breathing aspect where I have to rotate my neck a thousand times. I have to stretch like crazy and I still don't have the full range of motion back. I guess I'm glad this happened now and not any closer to my swim. My mileage this week was 18km because I took 3 days off for recovery. Today I did 5km in the canal which was pretty ambitious considering my week but no issues. Christine wants me to do another good canal workout tomorrow, but then I still need to do my trial swim next weekend so hopefully I'm back to normal by then.
All my Masters programs finished this week. It was actually pretty sad, I really felt like part of a team by the end of it. It was a good end though. My last workout with them was 20x100m and I held 1:25 the whole time. It was exactly what I wanted :) I even beat Dave!!
Started from the bottom now we here. ;)
I feel like I might consider doing Brock Masters again in future....probably not in the fall, I'm gonna take a break from swimming after all this. Its not that I'm sick of swimming, but sometimes I'm just over being wet all the time.
5 weeks out. A lot more planning has been happening about the actual swim. Miguel will be joining us as Swim Master (the person who makes it official and enforces all the rules). We're going to take our boat, and we need another one, preferably bigger, so we're working on that. Christine will be in a kayak beside me. We've been practicing that. I'm not supposed to look forward while I'm swimming, as tempting as that's going to be. I'm just supposed to look at the kayak when I breathe and make sure I'm staying the same distance away from it, and if the kayak changes course then I need to adjust my direction also. At first I only liked sighting to the right, but now it doesn't really matter. There are all sorts of other rules I've learned about too. The kayak thing isn't a rule, but I'll wreck my neck and probably mess with my own head if I'm constantly looking to see how far I've gone/how far I have left to go. But outside of that, for a swim to be recognized:
-- I can't touch a boat at all during my crossing
-- I can't touch a person at all during my crossing
-- I can't wear a watch, or use a waterproof ipod or anything else that I might use to pace myself
-- I can't have anybody in the water with me for the first 5 hours. After that I'm allowed a pacer.
-- The pacer cannot be ahead of me at any point
-- The pacer cannot be in the water for longer than an hour
-- If there are multiple pacers they must be an hour apart (an hour gap between them where I'm by myself again)
-- I cannot wear a wetsuit
-- My bathing suit cannot be one of those speed suits they wear in the olympics, no material past the shoulder or groin
Most of this stuff isn't a surprise to me anymore, but knowing about pacers is important. I might ask Dave to be my pacer, its really nice to see a familiar face beside you when you're pushing yourself. There are obviously points where I want to be by myself, like for most of it. But especially at the end I think.
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Training Journal #19
We opened the pool. Dad has been heating it up to 70 so I can swim tethered. I broke the tether twice before finally swimming for the equivalent of 1km. I really don't like doing it, but Christine says its important, even for me to mentally have to endure something I hate.....just like kick sets!
A couple big workouts this week, 5.2 and 5.6. But most significantly this week I got into the old Welland Canal today which will be my new training space now that we're heading into summer. I did 2km with Christine and the girls beside me. No wetsuit, and the water was again around 60 degrees. I felt really good afterwards even though Christine said I should experience an "after-drop". Basically that's where your body temperature actually reaches its lowest point (potential hypothermia) after I'm already out of the water. This is dangerous if you're not used to it, especially if you're alone, or driving. I was neither this time, but felt fine anyways. Christine was pleased and impressed by how I handled cold water, so those are the feelings I'm choosing to have about it to. Now I'm off to a Car Wash to raise money for Jumpstart Kids Campaign which is the charity that Christine's family and the WPAC relay have chosen to support, and which I will be sending a donation to after my swim.
Mileage: 29km!!!!
A couple big workouts this week, 5.2 and 5.6. But most significantly this week I got into the old Welland Canal today which will be my new training space now that we're heading into summer. I did 2km with Christine and the girls beside me. No wetsuit, and the water was again around 60 degrees. I felt really good afterwards even though Christine said I should experience an "after-drop". Basically that's where your body temperature actually reaches its lowest point (potential hypothermia) after I'm already out of the water. This is dangerous if you're not used to it, especially if you're alone, or driving. I was neither this time, but felt fine anyways. Christine was pleased and impressed by how I handled cold water, so those are the feelings I'm choosing to have about it to. Now I'm off to a Car Wash to raise money for Jumpstart Kids Campaign which is the charity that Christine's family and the WPAC relay have chosen to support, and which I will be sending a donation to after my swim.
Mileage: 29km!!!!
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Training Journal #18
Lots to report:
May 10th: 5km swim, first time trying out the parachute at the YMCA. Got a bunch of interesting looks from the lifeguards and other swimmers.
May 14th: Kiwanis version of a test set (15x100m). Christine found this guy who coaches on another day to swim with me that day and he's fast. He's training for Brock varsity try-outs and he was exactly what I needed. While Christine gave everyone else a mid-way break this guy got me to swim 2 extra 100s, so I actually did 17x100m and all on 1:24-1:25. My lungs felt like they were going to explode. I have such a love-hate with those kinds of sets. SO DIFFICULT in the moment, but really satisfying afterwards.
Then we went up to Chesley for the weekend. On the Sunday I did a double crossing of the lake (there and back) for a whopping 2.2km. But do not be fooled by the low amount of km, those were probably some of my most important kilometres so far because they were cold. I was in a wetsuit and the water was hovering around 60 degrees. The wetsuit however was not designed for actually swimming and on the return trip I peeled it off and swam the rest bare-limbed. The open water season has officially begun. Christine will be pleased. All the cottagers thought I was nuts. I am a little bit nuts.
Mileage last week: 23.8km
May 19th: We did the most bizarre and extreme sprint set 30x50m I managed to hold 0:39.
May 22nd: Brock Masters 20x100 in 1:27 or under. I'm swimming neck and neck with another guy named Dave. He still beats me 90% of the time, but he's the only one faster than me now.
Mileage this week: 22.6km
May 10th: 5km swim, first time trying out the parachute at the YMCA. Got a bunch of interesting looks from the lifeguards and other swimmers.
May 14th: Kiwanis version of a test set (15x100m). Christine found this guy who coaches on another day to swim with me that day and he's fast. He's training for Brock varsity try-outs and he was exactly what I needed. While Christine gave everyone else a mid-way break this guy got me to swim 2 extra 100s, so I actually did 17x100m and all on 1:24-1:25. My lungs felt like they were going to explode. I have such a love-hate with those kinds of sets. SO DIFFICULT in the moment, but really satisfying afterwards.
Then we went up to Chesley for the weekend. On the Sunday I did a double crossing of the lake (there and back) for a whopping 2.2km. But do not be fooled by the low amount of km, those were probably some of my most important kilometres so far because they were cold. I was in a wetsuit and the water was hovering around 60 degrees. The wetsuit however was not designed for actually swimming and on the return trip I peeled it off and swam the rest bare-limbed. The open water season has officially begun. Christine will be pleased. All the cottagers thought I was nuts. I am a little bit nuts.
Mileage last week: 23.8km
May 19th: We did the most bizarre and extreme sprint set 30x50m I managed to hold 0:39.
May 22nd: Brock Masters 20x100 in 1:27 or under. I'm swimming neck and neck with another guy named Dave. He still beats me 90% of the time, but he's the only one faster than me now.
Mileage this week: 22.6km
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Training Journal #17
We're at 9 weeks away from my swim! I've been learning how to look at water temperature and waves on Erie. Most of the lake is still high 40s, low 50s but I'm told it will warm up fast once it starts. At some point this month I'm supposed to get into open water. Maybe Chesley will be warm enough on the May long.
100m in 1:18 this past Wednesday!!
Mileage: 21.7km
A new element that has been added into my training is called resistance training. It all started on Thursday morning with what Christine calls Cords and Buckets. The work out is two-fold. For the Buckets part of it you have 2 buckets, attached to a bungee cord, attached to your waist. And then you swim, and then buckets catch the water creating resistance, and then you hate your life. For the second part - Cords, you have these same bungee cords attached around the handles of the deep end diving blocks and then attached around your waist. And then you swim, and the bungee stretches, but only so much creating resistance, and then you hate your life even more than when you were dragging the buckets. The whole idea is that by creating extra resistance you are not only strengthening your muscles to be able to handle things like waves/currents. In addition, when the resistance comes off you should be able to do some sprints and pull off some awesome times since your "new, lighter body" will feel so easy to move. Christine is letting me borrow her "parachute" to swim with. Its basically like the bucket idea, it just looks slightly less ridiculous and is easier to carry in a backpack. Something I have to be aware of is getting too comfortable in my workouts. If I'm not uncomfortable for at least some of it, I'm not improving. There's something deep and philosophical about that.
100m in 1:18 this past Wednesday!!
Mileage: 21.7km
A new element that has been added into my training is called resistance training. It all started on Thursday morning with what Christine calls Cords and Buckets. The work out is two-fold. For the Buckets part of it you have 2 buckets, attached to a bungee cord, attached to your waist. And then you swim, and then buckets catch the water creating resistance, and then you hate your life. For the second part - Cords, you have these same bungee cords attached around the handles of the deep end diving blocks and then attached around your waist. And then you swim, and the bungee stretches, but only so much creating resistance, and then you hate your life even more than when you were dragging the buckets. The whole idea is that by creating extra resistance you are not only strengthening your muscles to be able to handle things like waves/currents. In addition, when the resistance comes off you should be able to do some sprints and pull off some awesome times since your "new, lighter body" will feel so easy to move. Christine is letting me borrow her "parachute" to swim with. Its basically like the bucket idea, it just looks slightly less ridiculous and is easier to carry in a backpack. Something I have to be aware of is getting too comfortable in my workouts. If I'm not uncomfortable for at least some of it, I'm not improving. There's something deep and philosophical about that.
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Training Journal #16
10km in 3:14. I'm tired this time.
Mom, Dad, Christine, Trin and Michaela were all there cheering me and Anita on. 10km is considered a marathon in swimming, so there you have it, I just swam a marathon.
Something weird happened about half way through. I had this deep pain in my elbow. I told Christine about it, and she thought I putting my hand in on a slight angle. I tried to correct it and the pain mostly went away. Crazy how a tiny technique error can be a crippling issue when you do it thousands of times.
I have no plans of getting into the pool tomorrow.
Mom, Dad, Christine, Trin and Michaela were all there cheering me and Anita on. 10km is considered a marathon in swimming, so there you have it, I just swam a marathon.
Something weird happened about half way through. I had this deep pain in my elbow. I told Christine about it, and she thought I putting my hand in on a slight angle. I tried to correct it and the pain mostly went away. Crazy how a tiny technique error can be a crippling issue when you do it thousands of times.
I have no plans of getting into the pool tomorrow.
Friday, May 1, 2015
Training Journal #15
The impossible has happened. I ran 5km this week! I think I may be more excited and proud of myself over this than over any swimming milestones to-date. To top it off, on the same day I ran 5km I also completed a 400m in 6:03! SO pumped!
I am swimming with the big boys now. Its crazy to watch myself progress over such a short period of time. Its so rewarding to see my training pay off. I'm now faster than 2/3 of the Brock masters team and probably the fastest at Kiwanis, whaaaat?!
I'm off to Hot Yoga tonight which is the only thing I'm allowed to do on the off days before a big swim. 10km in 2 days. I'm not worried about my ability to complete it, its just the next step, the next thing I have to check off to move forward.
Mileage: 14.6km - child's play ;)
I am swimming with the big boys now. Its crazy to watch myself progress over such a short period of time. Its so rewarding to see my training pay off. I'm now faster than 2/3 of the Brock masters team and probably the fastest at Kiwanis, whaaaat?!
I'm off to Hot Yoga tonight which is the only thing I'm allowed to do on the off days before a big swim. 10km in 2 days. I'm not worried about my ability to complete it, its just the next step, the next thing I have to check off to move forward.
Mileage: 14.6km - child's play ;)
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Training Journal #14
10. My iron is at 10. Ridiculous. The test is wrong. It has to be.
On the bright side Taliano says its climbing, even if only a little bit and so he agreed to sign off on my swim. Christine thinks I am basically dying, but I assured her that I have probably been living with levels like this for a while, and I've never experienced any symptoms of low iron, so I'll really fine. So the iron pills continue. And just when I think I've gotten used to them, I get some liquid iron tossed my way. Liquid iron, unlike antibiotics, does not taste like pleasantly creamy bananas. Liquid iron tastes exactly like you would expect liquid iron to taste. Only hours later as you burp the stuff back up do you get that faint hint of cherry they advertise on the bottle.
Mileage: 18.6km Tapering :)
On the bright side Taliano says its climbing, even if only a little bit and so he agreed to sign off on my swim. Christine thinks I am basically dying, but I assured her that I have probably been living with levels like this for a while, and I've never experienced any symptoms of low iron, so I'll really fine. So the iron pills continue. And just when I think I've gotten used to them, I get some liquid iron tossed my way. Liquid iron, unlike antibiotics, does not taste like pleasantly creamy bananas. Liquid iron tastes exactly like you would expect liquid iron to taste. Only hours later as you burp the stuff back up do you get that faint hint of cherry they advertise on the bottle.
Mileage: 18.6km Tapering :)
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Training Journal #13
It's been a big week!
Mileage: 20.5 km. Essentially I can now swim the distance of my crossing over the course of a week.
On Monday I RAN FOR 30 MINUTES! Christine says I need to be able to run 5km by the time I do my swim, and I think I'm getting really close to that point! Also on Monday I did 100m in 1:21!
On Wednesday we did a test set again and I did 400m in 6:16 which is not quite the time I was hoping for but still faster than last time so I'm not even close to unhappy!
Thursday I swam 5.7km on my own in a pretty intense work out. I have this fancy swim watch my parents bought me that will count your laps for you as long as you're doing more than just kicking. This is very handy for me since I often lose count, and not at lap 134, I typically lose count at lap 6.
I've sent more blood work in so I'm waiting for those results to see if my iron levels are rising.
The interesting thing that will be happening over the next 2 weeks is I'll actually decrease my mileage in preparation for another Trial Swim (10km). This is called tapering. The idea is that since you're body is used to working harder you will have all this pent up extra energy (especially after 3 full days off) and this will help sustain you over a long distance activity. I'm cool with it. A little extra downtime? Suuuuure!
Mileage: 20.5 km. Essentially I can now swim the distance of my crossing over the course of a week.
On Monday I RAN FOR 30 MINUTES! Christine says I need to be able to run 5km by the time I do my swim, and I think I'm getting really close to that point! Also on Monday I did 100m in 1:21!
On Wednesday we did a test set again and I did 400m in 6:16 which is not quite the time I was hoping for but still faster than last time so I'm not even close to unhappy!
Thursday I swam 5.7km on my own in a pretty intense work out. I have this fancy swim watch my parents bought me that will count your laps for you as long as you're doing more than just kicking. This is very handy for me since I often lose count, and not at lap 134, I typically lose count at lap 6.
I've sent more blood work in so I'm waiting for those results to see if my iron levels are rising.
The interesting thing that will be happening over the next 2 weeks is I'll actually decrease my mileage in preparation for another Trial Swim (10km). This is called tapering. The idea is that since you're body is used to working harder you will have all this pent up extra energy (especially after 3 full days off) and this will help sustain you over a long distance activity. I'm cool with it. A little extra downtime? Suuuuure!
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Training Journal #12
I may be doing 2 swims this summer. Christine has asked me if I would swim a leg of the West Park Aquatics Club Lake Ontario Relay in August. I would be doing 3 hours of the night swim which is a whole realm of unknown for me, along with a whole new set of things to worry about. Mainly though I just need to keep concentrating on my own training and if it works out then great.
Still riding a bit of the high from Monday. On wednesday we did 5x100m and I held 1:28-1:32. No new records, but that's much closer to the pace Christine wants me to be capable of holding for longer.
Total mileage: 18.6km - which IS a personal best.
Still riding a bit of the high from Monday. On wednesday we did 5x100m and I held 1:28-1:32. No new records, but that's much closer to the pace Christine wants me to be capable of holding for longer.
Total mileage: 18.6km - which IS a personal best.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Training Journal #11
7km in 2 hours 10 minutes!
I am happy.
Dad came to the pool to time me, and Anita's daughter was there too. Christine told me she wants me to be able to feed while moving so I had to kick on my back while drinking my water bottle. I think Dad was impressed with me and with how consistent I was. I feel strong! I was so surprised that I wasn't totally exhausted by the end of it, Anita said the same thing, like we could have kept going. We didn't, mind you, but we talk big. We both even made it to Masters this morning and I did an 18 min run this afternoon. I think a big part of my training is also proving to myself that I can do this, and I'm beginning to really believe that I can. 7 km is about a third of my total distance. I'm told pool swimming is easier than open water swimming because you don't have walls to push off of every 25m in a lake, and there are waves, so the two are not directly comparable, but lets say 1/3.
Here's some more math for you. Apparently the conversion between running and swimming distances is roughly x4. For example 7km swimming is roughly equivalent to a 28km run. So basically I just did a swimming half marathon and then some! Which is obviously crazy for me since I could never do the running equivalent, but I've been reassured that people are very rarely good at both running AND swimming.
I am happy.
Dad came to the pool to time me, and Anita's daughter was there too. Christine told me she wants me to be able to feed while moving so I had to kick on my back while drinking my water bottle. I think Dad was impressed with me and with how consistent I was. I feel strong! I was so surprised that I wasn't totally exhausted by the end of it, Anita said the same thing, like we could have kept going. We didn't, mind you, but we talk big. We both even made it to Masters this morning and I did an 18 min run this afternoon. I think a big part of my training is also proving to myself that I can do this, and I'm beginning to really believe that I can. 7 km is about a third of my total distance. I'm told pool swimming is easier than open water swimming because you don't have walls to push off of every 25m in a lake, and there are waves, so the two are not directly comparable, but lets say 1/3.
Here's some more math for you. Apparently the conversion between running and swimming distances is roughly x4. For example 7km swimming is roughly equivalent to a 28km run. So basically I just did a swimming half marathon and then some! Which is obviously crazy for me since I could never do the running equivalent, but I've been reassured that people are very rarely good at both running AND swimming.
Friday, April 3, 2015
Training Journal #10
Its Good Friday. I have 2 full days off before my 7km on Monday. I decided I wasn't going to eat any sugar this week in order to maybe give my body that little extra edge of nutrition on Monday. I however am an idiot and forgot that Easter is synonymous with chocolate. In order to avoid falling into a pit of despair however, I have decided that I will still hoard all the chocolate bunnies I want and consume them on Monday in celebration!
Mileage this week was 16.9 km. I know the mileage numbers seem random but they're based on an outline of me increasing my distance by 10% each week.
I had some interesting workouts this week. You may recall how I said that I cannot sprint and swim endurance at the same time. This remains true, however thats exactly what I was asked to do not once, but twice this week. On Monday we did Brock's version of a "Test Set" which is: swim 400m as fast as you can. At a comfortable pace I would normally come in just under 8 minutes, which is still faster than the average human (based on my several years of teaching Bronze Med). Monday is did it in 6:23! And I did a 25 minute run earlier that day, another new record for me! Then, not 12 hours later at my Tuesday morning practice we did 3 x 300m as fast as we could. I came in at 4:45, 4:51, and 4:50. I beginning to build a bit more of a sense of my speed. Like I can usually tell when its been a good 100m or not, and I can control more subtle increases and decreases in my speed.
I'm so nervous for Monday. 7km is 280 lengths of the pool. 280 flip turns. My goal is under 2 hours 20 minutes. Christine would love it to be closer to the 2 hour mark. We'll see.
Mileage this week was 16.9 km. I know the mileage numbers seem random but they're based on an outline of me increasing my distance by 10% each week.
I had some interesting workouts this week. You may recall how I said that I cannot sprint and swim endurance at the same time. This remains true, however thats exactly what I was asked to do not once, but twice this week. On Monday we did Brock's version of a "Test Set" which is: swim 400m as fast as you can. At a comfortable pace I would normally come in just under 8 minutes, which is still faster than the average human (based on my several years of teaching Bronze Med). Monday is did it in 6:23! And I did a 25 minute run earlier that day, another new record for me! Then, not 12 hours later at my Tuesday morning practice we did 3 x 300m as fast as we could. I came in at 4:45, 4:51, and 4:50. I beginning to build a bit more of a sense of my speed. Like I can usually tell when its been a good 100m or not, and I can control more subtle increases and decreases in my speed.
I'm so nervous for Monday. 7km is 280 lengths of the pool. 280 flip turns. My goal is under 2 hours 20 minutes. Christine would love it to be closer to the 2 hour mark. We'll see.
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Training Journal #9
Today is a day off. Hurray!
I gained a new respect for tri-athletes this week after doing spin class. Biking is hard work when you're actually trying! Not to mention having to do a run at the end of it all!
I swam 4km straight this week in 1 hour 15 minutes, and I swam my fastest 100m so far at 1:25!! I'm no longer in the slow lane at Brock Masters, I've graduated to almost swimming with the faster half of the team. Total mileage was 15.6km this week.
At Kiwanis Masters however I underwater-cried this week. Christine made us do another kick set/drill that was a combo of flutter kick and breast stroke pull among other things. It was really really hard to make it through the 6 repetitions she made us do. But when we were told that we misunderstood and were actually doing it 10 times I was sent over the edge. I've made a very strict pact with myself to never let anyone hear me complain about my training. This is all 100% voluntary. I chose this, so I don't get to whine about it. But I think something significant happened during that practice where I hit a wall and was screaming and crying with my face in the water as I started round 7. I was physically done. I was emotionally done. But that's where mental strength came into play and I kept going because I told myself I had to. I completed the work out, which was mostly fuelled by an intense hatred for Christine in that moment, but which I'm sure I'll be grateful for later. We are stronger than we think.
On April 6th (Easter Monday) I'm going to have a friend during my test swim. Her name is Anita and she's a mom and she's also looking at doing a long distance swim in the next year or two. I'm actually so thrilled to have a companion on that day. I don't think she'll be faster than me, but I also don't think I'll be lapping her like crazy. We'll hopefully be able to push each other on just the right amount.
Something I've taken to saying when talking to people about my swim is that everyone's mountain looks different. The most common thing I hear is "I could never do that!", and they're probably right, but there's lots of things I could never physically do either (Like do a back bridge, or run a marathon. Ha! Sorry lets get real, I couldn't run 10km.) Lake Erie isn't their mountain at this moment, it's mine. Sometimes our mountains aren't even physical things, actually most of the time they're not. I also can't compare myself to people like Christine who have done "bigger" things like Lake Ontario. Lake Erie is my mountain, and its plenty big enough for me.
I've told the world about my intentions now via Facebook. It's been awesome to receive so many messages of encouragement!
I gained a new respect for tri-athletes this week after doing spin class. Biking is hard work when you're actually trying! Not to mention having to do a run at the end of it all!
I swam 4km straight this week in 1 hour 15 minutes, and I swam my fastest 100m so far at 1:25!! I'm no longer in the slow lane at Brock Masters, I've graduated to almost swimming with the faster half of the team. Total mileage was 15.6km this week.
At Kiwanis Masters however I underwater-cried this week. Christine made us do another kick set/drill that was a combo of flutter kick and breast stroke pull among other things. It was really really hard to make it through the 6 repetitions she made us do. But when we were told that we misunderstood and were actually doing it 10 times I was sent over the edge. I've made a very strict pact with myself to never let anyone hear me complain about my training. This is all 100% voluntary. I chose this, so I don't get to whine about it. But I think something significant happened during that practice where I hit a wall and was screaming and crying with my face in the water as I started round 7. I was physically done. I was emotionally done. But that's where mental strength came into play and I kept going because I told myself I had to. I completed the work out, which was mostly fuelled by an intense hatred for Christine in that moment, but which I'm sure I'll be grateful for later. We are stronger than we think.
On April 6th (Easter Monday) I'm going to have a friend during my test swim. Her name is Anita and she's a mom and she's also looking at doing a long distance swim in the next year or two. I'm actually so thrilled to have a companion on that day. I don't think she'll be faster than me, but I also don't think I'll be lapping her like crazy. We'll hopefully be able to push each other on just the right amount.
Something I've taken to saying when talking to people about my swim is that everyone's mountain looks different. The most common thing I hear is "I could never do that!", and they're probably right, but there's lots of things I could never physically do either (Like do a back bridge, or run a marathon. Ha! Sorry lets get real, I couldn't run 10km.) Lake Erie isn't their mountain at this moment, it's mine. Sometimes our mountains aren't even physical things, actually most of the time they're not. I also can't compare myself to people like Christine who have done "bigger" things like Lake Ontario. Lake Erie is my mountain, and its plenty big enough for me.
I've told the world about my intentions now via Facebook. It's been awesome to receive so many messages of encouragement!
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Training Journal #8
I had my first Tuesday morning Masters this week. Being in the pool for 6am is rough. Its kinda nice to watch the whole Kiwanis centre go pinkish orange just after 7am, but the dark, cold, winter morning is not my favourite way to start the day. Also kick-sets. Christine likes kick-sets.
Mileage this week was only 14km, but I had 3 double workouts (water and dry-land work out in the same day).
Looking ahead a few weeks I have my first test-swim on April 6th where I'll swim 7km straight. Usually in a workout you don't just swim straight. It is better training to do intervals, so that's mostly what I do. But this week I decided to do a 3km straight swim for some peace of mind. I did it in 57 minutes with 2 feed breaks of 1.5min each where I drank half a water bottle of carbs/electrolytes.
I'm filling out the paper work to send in to the Great Lakes Crossing Organization who will sanction my swim. That means they'll have a representative along as part of my crew and make sure I follow all the rules and at the end they'll record my swim as an official crossing of Lake Erie. As part of this package I'm sending in I needed my doctor to sign off on it. I was actually pretty nervous for my appt with Dr. Taliano. It's a bizarre thing to have to walk into a person's office who doesn't really know you and tell them what you're planning to do and then ask them if they think you're capable. I wanted to drop to the ground and do 100 push ups so I might look stronger before I walked into his office. Not that I could do 100 push ups. He was pretty excited about the whole thing though so that was nice. He sent me for blood work and the results came in the other day. I have low iron. Like REALLY low iron. Which was pretty shocking to me and I'm still not quite sure I believe the results. I eat meat, I have spinach in my smoothie every morning, I'm not tired, and I'm not the stereotypical frail little girl who is prone to fainting. How could I possibly have low iron??? Well apparently I do, and Dr. T won't sign off on my paper work until I bring it up. Christine was pretty worried too actually. Normal iron levels are between 30-150, or even up to 300 for high performance athletes Christine says. My level is a 7. They are both surprised I'm functioning as well as I am. So now I'm that girl who has to take iron pills everyday. Who would've thought. Also- iron pills do not make your tummy happy. I'm told it gets better. It better get better.
Mileage this week was only 14km, but I had 3 double workouts (water and dry-land work out in the same day).
Looking ahead a few weeks I have my first test-swim on April 6th where I'll swim 7km straight. Usually in a workout you don't just swim straight. It is better training to do intervals, so that's mostly what I do. But this week I decided to do a 3km straight swim for some peace of mind. I did it in 57 minutes with 2 feed breaks of 1.5min each where I drank half a water bottle of carbs/electrolytes.
I'm filling out the paper work to send in to the Great Lakes Crossing Organization who will sanction my swim. That means they'll have a representative along as part of my crew and make sure I follow all the rules and at the end they'll record my swim as an official crossing of Lake Erie. As part of this package I'm sending in I needed my doctor to sign off on it. I was actually pretty nervous for my appt with Dr. Taliano. It's a bizarre thing to have to walk into a person's office who doesn't really know you and tell them what you're planning to do and then ask them if they think you're capable. I wanted to drop to the ground and do 100 push ups so I might look stronger before I walked into his office. Not that I could do 100 push ups. He was pretty excited about the whole thing though so that was nice. He sent me for blood work and the results came in the other day. I have low iron. Like REALLY low iron. Which was pretty shocking to me and I'm still not quite sure I believe the results. I eat meat, I have spinach in my smoothie every morning, I'm not tired, and I'm not the stereotypical frail little girl who is prone to fainting. How could I possibly have low iron??? Well apparently I do, and Dr. T won't sign off on my paper work until I bring it up. Christine was pretty worried too actually. Normal iron levels are between 30-150, or even up to 300 for high performance athletes Christine says. My level is a 7. They are both surprised I'm functioning as well as I am. So now I'm that girl who has to take iron pills everyday. Who would've thought. Also- iron pills do not make your tummy happy. I'm told it gets better. It better get better.
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Training Journal #7
Its the beginning of March Break which basically means that instead of having to fit my workouts around possible supply calls, I have a week where there are just no excuses not to get er done.
This past week I had two significant milestones take place. Firstly I swam 4km in one workout. And secondly I ran for 20 minutes straight!!! See previous training journals to understand what a big deal that is!
Total swimming mileage for the week was 17.9km
I now have a training plan/calendar for the next 5 months. We're looking at the July 10-12 weekend as the preferred date for my swim. That's only 17 weeks away!! I've told my closest friends about it now. I plan to go public in the next few days. I think people are excited for me, but I don't think they understand exactly what it means to swim a Great Lake, and how could they? I don't even understand exactly what that entails.
Great news from Christine: I DON'T NEED TO DO COLD WATER TRAINING!!!! Not really. At least not yet. Lake Ontario is more unpredictable temperature-wise from Lake Erie and its possible to encounter 11 degree water in the middle of a swim in August simply because of the depth and turn-over of the lake. Lake Erie on the other hand Christine is confident will be absolute minimum 65 F (18 C). I'm only going to think of water temperature in Fahrenheit from now on because Celsius in terms of water means nothing to me. Air yes, water no. Anyways, I will be training in open-water in May where the temperature will be 60 degrees so by July 65-70 degrees will be nothing. Not exactly looking forward to that, BUT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO HOT SHOWERS!!
The next 3 weeks of my training are actually quite low on mileage but the goal is to do some more dry-land/cross training before I continue to build into my swimming endurance.
This past week I had two significant milestones take place. Firstly I swam 4km in one workout. And secondly I ran for 20 minutes straight!!! See previous training journals to understand what a big deal that is!
Total swimming mileage for the week was 17.9km
I now have a training plan/calendar for the next 5 months. We're looking at the July 10-12 weekend as the preferred date for my swim. That's only 17 weeks away!! I've told my closest friends about it now. I plan to go public in the next few days. I think people are excited for me, but I don't think they understand exactly what it means to swim a Great Lake, and how could they? I don't even understand exactly what that entails.
Great news from Christine: I DON'T NEED TO DO COLD WATER TRAINING!!!! Not really. At least not yet. Lake Ontario is more unpredictable temperature-wise from Lake Erie and its possible to encounter 11 degree water in the middle of a swim in August simply because of the depth and turn-over of the lake. Lake Erie on the other hand Christine is confident will be absolute minimum 65 F (18 C). I'm only going to think of water temperature in Fahrenheit from now on because Celsius in terms of water means nothing to me. Air yes, water no. Anyways, I will be training in open-water in May where the temperature will be 60 degrees so by July 65-70 degrees will be nothing. Not exactly looking forward to that, BUT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO HOT SHOWERS!!
The next 3 weeks of my training are actually quite low on mileage but the goal is to do some more dry-land/cross training before I continue to build into my swimming endurance.
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Training Journal #6
I swim like a lifeguard.
That is what Christine told me. Apparently that is not a good thing, but its also not an unusual thing, and it wasn't a deal-breaker for her. She had me run through a bunch of drills while at Ridley. I have to incorporate more of a body roll/rotation into my stroke, and I need to get my elbows high and my hand in flat. She gave me a DVD to watch, 2 hours all about how the properly catch the water with your hand for the most effective stroke. Riveting I assure you.
I have also re-discovered something -- I am really really awful at flutter kick. Christine had wanted me to do 400m of flutter kick. I gave her 200m and it almost killed me. There's a girl at Brock masters named Erin, and, mind you she has the fastest kick on the team, she is literally faster than me even when I have flippers on. It is SO sad. So I have to get better at kicking. End of story.
Christine is teaching me about the nutrition component of long-distance swimming. Specifically the way you fuel your body during a workout. I have purchased a small tub of electrolytes and a large tub of carbo-pro. Carbo-Pro.....a girl's best friend. I'm supposed to mix 3-4 scoops of CP and 1 scoop of Electrolytes into a water bottle and drink it over the course of a practice. I was nervous about how it would taste, I thought the carbo-pro would be like protein powder and have that dreadful chalky after-taste. But no! Completely tasteless. The difficult part is actually the fruit-punch flavoured electrolytes because they're actually really strong. I don't drink a lot of juice in my normal life, and I definitely am not used to drinking juice in the middle of a workout. I'm not talking like weak flavoured gatorade, I'm talking pouring too many juice crystals into a small container and wondering whether or not you're drinking syrup. Now, no offense to runners or any other forms of athletes, I'm sure it sucks to have this stuff bounce up and down in your stomach as you run. However, I am positive it is worse to drink the stuff and then do a few hundred somersaults aka flip-turns. This mixture will apparently become my best friend and will be the vast majority of what fuels me across Lake Erie, so I had better get used to it.
I've swam 15.5km this week which I'm proud of.
Wednesday we did a practice at Brock where we swam 16x100m on 2 minutes. Basically you have 2 minutes to swim 4 lengths but if you want any rest time you need to do it in under 2 minutes before you do it 15 more times. This is not the first time I've done this. We did it a few weeks ago and I came in at 1:45 pretty consistently. I have clearly already improved though because this week I was 1:36 or under every time. The fastest was 1:32. I remember in high school what a big deal it was to shave off even 2 seconds from your time, so I'm really excited about 9!
That is what Christine told me. Apparently that is not a good thing, but its also not an unusual thing, and it wasn't a deal-breaker for her. She had me run through a bunch of drills while at Ridley. I have to incorporate more of a body roll/rotation into my stroke, and I need to get my elbows high and my hand in flat. She gave me a DVD to watch, 2 hours all about how the properly catch the water with your hand for the most effective stroke. Riveting I assure you.
I have also re-discovered something -- I am really really awful at flutter kick. Christine had wanted me to do 400m of flutter kick. I gave her 200m and it almost killed me. There's a girl at Brock masters named Erin, and, mind you she has the fastest kick on the team, she is literally faster than me even when I have flippers on. It is SO sad. So I have to get better at kicking. End of story.
Christine is teaching me about the nutrition component of long-distance swimming. Specifically the way you fuel your body during a workout. I have purchased a small tub of electrolytes and a large tub of carbo-pro. Carbo-Pro.....a girl's best friend. I'm supposed to mix 3-4 scoops of CP and 1 scoop of Electrolytes into a water bottle and drink it over the course of a practice. I was nervous about how it would taste, I thought the carbo-pro would be like protein powder and have that dreadful chalky after-taste. But no! Completely tasteless. The difficult part is actually the fruit-punch flavoured electrolytes because they're actually really strong. I don't drink a lot of juice in my normal life, and I definitely am not used to drinking juice in the middle of a workout. I'm not talking like weak flavoured gatorade, I'm talking pouring too many juice crystals into a small container and wondering whether or not you're drinking syrup. Now, no offense to runners or any other forms of athletes, I'm sure it sucks to have this stuff bounce up and down in your stomach as you run. However, I am positive it is worse to drink the stuff and then do a few hundred somersaults aka flip-turns. This mixture will apparently become my best friend and will be the vast majority of what fuels me across Lake Erie, so I had better get used to it.
I've swam 15.5km this week which I'm proud of.
Wednesday we did a practice at Brock where we swam 16x100m on 2 minutes. Basically you have 2 minutes to swim 4 lengths but if you want any rest time you need to do it in under 2 minutes before you do it 15 more times. This is not the first time I've done this. We did it a few weeks ago and I came in at 1:45 pretty consistently. I have clearly already improved though because this week I was 1:36 or under every time. The fastest was 1:32. I remember in high school what a big deal it was to shave off even 2 seconds from your time, so I'm really excited about 9!
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Training Journal #5
An interesting development has taken place. I think I have a coach. Her name is Christine Arsenault. She herself has swam lake Ontario, and her 14yr old daughter Trinity is currently the youngest-person record holder for the lake. I kind of stumbled upon them as I was looking for additional masters programs in Niagara. The Brock one is great and I'm enjoying it, but that still leaves me 3 or 4 days of the week that I'm training on my own at the YMCA. Let me tell you, it is difficult to be motivated swimming against yourself....the YMCA is also grossly warm, and weirdly dark.
I met with Christine at her home 2 days ago and was inundated with SO much information. I will be starting to swim with the Tuesday morning masters group out of the Kiwanis centre that Christine coaches. She also has offered to create a training plan for me and help me navigate all the logistics of preparing for this kind of swim. AND she has an alternative to the $5000 that I am super keen on.
I'm going to swim at Ridley pool so she can look at my stroke. She seems really confident that I can do this. Like more confident than me and she had literally only known me for 20 minutes.
I totalled up my milage from January + February and I've swam 52 km over the last two months. Just to give some perspective: 52 km is the distance of the traditional route across lake Ontario. Trinity and Christine both swam it in under 24 hours. Again, another humbling moment for me as I am looking at 19.2km for Erie.
Ankle update: Lucy and Rebecca- my massage/chiropractic angels say my ankle will be fine. It's fine to keep swimming, and eventually I'll be able to run.
I met with Christine at her home 2 days ago and was inundated with SO much information. I will be starting to swim with the Tuesday morning masters group out of the Kiwanis centre that Christine coaches. She also has offered to create a training plan for me and help me navigate all the logistics of preparing for this kind of swim. AND she has an alternative to the $5000 that I am super keen on.
I'm going to swim at Ridley pool so she can look at my stroke. She seems really confident that I can do this. Like more confident than me and she had literally only known me for 20 minutes.
I totalled up my milage from January + February and I've swam 52 km over the last two months. Just to give some perspective: 52 km is the distance of the traditional route across lake Ontario. Trinity and Christine both swam it in under 24 hours. Again, another humbling moment for me as I am looking at 19.2km for Erie.
Ankle update: Lucy and Rebecca- my massage/chiropractic angels say my ankle will be fine. It's fine to keep swimming, and eventually I'll be able to run.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
FRIG!
I yard-saled hard on the last day of the ski-trip, bottom of a hill, my body wanted to go left, but my brain decided we should go right at the last second. I sat in the lodge the rest of the afternoon with my foot elevated and throbbing. I don't know what this means, but I'm going to pretend its fine for now otherwise I might cry. I have an appointment for massage/chiro next week so I should have answers then.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Training Journal #4
OH MY GOODNESS I FEEL AMAZING!
There is a reason I am not in a career that entrusts me with classified national security secrets. Or maybe those would be easier to keep to myself than things that involve me personally. My family was great. There were a few tears from mom and speculation over the likelihood of my death, but once we got past that I could sense some genuine excitement and lots of support. I need all the encouragement I can get at the moment because I am having some serious self-doubt about all of this. Its not so much a weakening of my resolve, its just a feeling of being overwhelmed by how much work I have ahead of me.
Miguel and my masters coach have mentioned the importance of cross training. Cross training basically just means exercising in ways other than the primary method in which you are training. The goal is to strengthen the same muscles in different ways. Good cross training for swimming I am told is running, rowing, and free weights. I have been enjoying the classes and the indoor track at the YMCA. Running is still such a struggle for me. In my 4th year I did a personal running experiment where I tried to run everyday (but more like 5x a week) for 11 weeks. I started at 10 min/day the first week and worked my way up another minute every week. I was running on a treadmill at about 5.8 miles/hour. Weeks 1-5 went well, but as soon as I was running for 15 minutes or longer things got tough, both mentally and physically. On week 9 I ended the experiment after almost vomiting. I kept running, but I backed myself off to 15 minutes again. This inability to run for any respectable length of time is something I find both hilarious and pathetic. I definitely prefer the indoor track to the treadmill. I may even prefer the track to road-running. I can do 15 minutes without dying at this point, so we'll see how my endurance in that arena improves.
I'm headed off to Quebec for a week-long ski trip next week, so I lose another week of training. I suppose skiing is exercise. Sort of.
There is a reason I am not in a career that entrusts me with classified national security secrets. Or maybe those would be easier to keep to myself than things that involve me personally. My family was great. There were a few tears from mom and speculation over the likelihood of my death, but once we got past that I could sense some genuine excitement and lots of support. I need all the encouragement I can get at the moment because I am having some serious self-doubt about all of this. Its not so much a weakening of my resolve, its just a feeling of being overwhelmed by how much work I have ahead of me.
Miguel and my masters coach have mentioned the importance of cross training. Cross training basically just means exercising in ways other than the primary method in which you are training. The goal is to strengthen the same muscles in different ways. Good cross training for swimming I am told is running, rowing, and free weights. I have been enjoying the classes and the indoor track at the YMCA. Running is still such a struggle for me. In my 4th year I did a personal running experiment where I tried to run everyday (but more like 5x a week) for 11 weeks. I started at 10 min/day the first week and worked my way up another minute every week. I was running on a treadmill at about 5.8 miles/hour. Weeks 1-5 went well, but as soon as I was running for 15 minutes or longer things got tough, both mentally and physically. On week 9 I ended the experiment after almost vomiting. I kept running, but I backed myself off to 15 minutes again. This inability to run for any respectable length of time is something I find both hilarious and pathetic. I definitely prefer the indoor track to the treadmill. I may even prefer the track to road-running. I can do 15 minutes without dying at this point, so we'll see how my endurance in that arena improves.
I'm headed off to Quebec for a week-long ski trip next week, so I lose another week of training. I suppose skiing is exercise. Sort of.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Training Journal #3
Cold. Water. Training. Sucks.
I've treated myself to exactly 2 luke-warm showers in the last 2 weeks. On average I think I spend about 4 minutes in the shower now. And by in the shower, I mean huddled in the corner trying to give myself a pep-talk to endure the 14-17 degree stream of water. 17 is manageable for a few minutes, 14 is really unpleasant. Somewhere between 30 secs and a minute at 14 degrees I start to get a raging headache. I don't get headaches, so I'm being a baby about them.
While in Arizona I jumped into a 59 F degree pool (15 C) three times, and had Laurel time me for 3 minutes. With my head out of the water I survived, but they were really long minutes. I don't know how I'll ever manage 11 degrees.
I did some pretty good hiking in Arizona, so although I didn't bank any swimming km, I'm hoping I was still making some group of muscles stronger.
I decided I'm going to tell my family this week. I wrote it in my calendar so that it has to happen. I'm going away on a ski trip that I sort of wasn't expecting to be going on anymore, and I don't want to wait until I get back from that. I have never felt so anxious about anything. I need to be able to sleep, I need to be able to concentrate on other things in my life, and I think the sooner I have the important people in on my secret the sooner I can get back to the emotionally-stable place my mind calls home.
I've treated myself to exactly 2 luke-warm showers in the last 2 weeks. On average I think I spend about 4 minutes in the shower now. And by in the shower, I mean huddled in the corner trying to give myself a pep-talk to endure the 14-17 degree stream of water. 17 is manageable for a few minutes, 14 is really unpleasant. Somewhere between 30 secs and a minute at 14 degrees I start to get a raging headache. I don't get headaches, so I'm being a baby about them.
While in Arizona I jumped into a 59 F degree pool (15 C) three times, and had Laurel time me for 3 minutes. With my head out of the water I survived, but they were really long minutes. I don't know how I'll ever manage 11 degrees.
I did some pretty good hiking in Arizona, so although I didn't bank any swimming km, I'm hoping I was still making some group of muscles stronger.
I decided I'm going to tell my family this week. I wrote it in my calendar so that it has to happen. I'm going away on a ski trip that I sort of wasn't expecting to be going on anymore, and I don't want to wait until I get back from that. I have never felt so anxious about anything. I need to be able to sleep, I need to be able to concentrate on other things in my life, and I think the sooner I have the important people in on my secret the sooner I can get back to the emotionally-stable place my mind calls home.
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Training Journal #2
Today in practice I learned that I can sprint, or I can swim endurance, but I cannot do both in combination. The mental battle was waged tonight.
This week I only swam 6.2km and I fly to Arizona on Friday. I'm bringing a thermometer so maybe I can get some cold water training in a pool there. I'm also thinking I might sell headbands to raise a bit of money. Or just live at my parents house forever.....or both.
I gave blood yesterday. I've been advised to wait until after Erie for my next donation. Apparently losing 500ml of blood makes your muscles, and therefore your endurance, weaker.....logical.
This week I only swam 6.2km and I fly to Arizona on Friday. I'm bringing a thermometer so maybe I can get some cold water training in a pool there. I'm also thinking I might sell headbands to raise a bit of money. Or just live at my parents house forever.....or both.
I gave blood yesterday. I've been advised to wait until after Erie for my next donation. Apparently losing 500ml of blood makes your muscles, and therefore your endurance, weaker.....logical.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Training Journal #1
This weekend I decided I'm going to swim across Lake Erie. Its not the first time I've thought about it. In 2nd year university I brought it up to my family and friends and even started training myself to rebuild my endurance. In the winter of 2nd year when I was unexpectedly accepted onto Summer Team at Crossroads I made the decision to put the dream on hold to pursue a different opportunity.
I haven't thought about crossing lake Erie for years now. Though I still enjoy swimming, crossing Chesley Lake annually, teaching lessons, and every other month hopping in the pool at Laurier or Queen's or the YMCA for a kilometre or two, I really haven't seriously swam in a while.
Just before Christmas this year, the students in the French class I was teaching were making Bucketlists. The project made me reflect on my own Bucketlist, and the forgotten lake Erie idea, and its been bouncing around in my head for the last month.
I started researching again and sent out some emails asking questions, and I joined the Masters Swim Team at Brock. One email I sent out got me connected with Miguel Vadillo, a swimmer and now coach who has crossed Lake Ontario! He was willing to meet with me yesterday to answer some of my questions. I wanted to know whether it was even a realistic goal to attempt the Sturgeon Point to Crystal Beach crossing. Even now, after having that first conversation and resolving in my mind to do this, I'm pretty sure I've gone a bit crazy. I haven't slept properly in weeks. I'm equal parts excited and terrified. I'm sure the whole training regimen I'm looking at will be way more intense than I imagine. I can almost guarantee this will be the hardest thing I've ever done. The goal is July/August 2015, so I have 6-7 months to get ready.
This was my first week swimming with Brock Masters. I've been recovering from a cold and feeling completely inadequate. My endurance is decent but my speed/power is lacking. I swam 8.8km this week. Most of the other adult swimmers at Brock are tri-athletes, or former competitive or varsity swimmers. I swam in the slowest lane. Very humbling to be practically the worst at a skill I've often taken pride in. Miguel says I have to swim longer than the rest of the team, I just don't know if I can get the pool time, and I don't want to tell the team anything yet. I'm so new and they are all so much stronger than me. I guess that's better motivation though.
Miguel also says I have to get cold water training. Even though Erie should be 70 degrees F in July, after 8-10 hours I could still go hypothermic. So, in the next 6 months I have to train my body to deal. I have to intentionally induce myself into a hypothermic state and learn to cope. Apparently the best/easiest way to do that right now in the winter is to stop taking hot showers. My showers must be cold, working down to 11-13 degrees C. Starting tomorrow I guess.
I haven't told anyone except Miguel. Its too soon, I'm too fresh, too weak. I'm headed to Arizona this week so I'll lose a week of pool training. I decided I'll tell my family at the end of February, which is the same time I have to tell Miguel who will be a part of my crew, and I'll have to figure out how I'm going to pay the $5000.
The adventure begins.
I haven't thought about crossing lake Erie for years now. Though I still enjoy swimming, crossing Chesley Lake annually, teaching lessons, and every other month hopping in the pool at Laurier or Queen's or the YMCA for a kilometre or two, I really haven't seriously swam in a while.
Just before Christmas this year, the students in the French class I was teaching were making Bucketlists. The project made me reflect on my own Bucketlist, and the forgotten lake Erie idea, and its been bouncing around in my head for the last month.
I started researching again and sent out some emails asking questions, and I joined the Masters Swim Team at Brock. One email I sent out got me connected with Miguel Vadillo, a swimmer and now coach who has crossed Lake Ontario! He was willing to meet with me yesterday to answer some of my questions. I wanted to know whether it was even a realistic goal to attempt the Sturgeon Point to Crystal Beach crossing. Even now, after having that first conversation and resolving in my mind to do this, I'm pretty sure I've gone a bit crazy. I haven't slept properly in weeks. I'm equal parts excited and terrified. I'm sure the whole training regimen I'm looking at will be way more intense than I imagine. I can almost guarantee this will be the hardest thing I've ever done. The goal is July/August 2015, so I have 6-7 months to get ready.
This was my first week swimming with Brock Masters. I've been recovering from a cold and feeling completely inadequate. My endurance is decent but my speed/power is lacking. I swam 8.8km this week. Most of the other adult swimmers at Brock are tri-athletes, or former competitive or varsity swimmers. I swam in the slowest lane. Very humbling to be practically the worst at a skill I've often taken pride in. Miguel says I have to swim longer than the rest of the team, I just don't know if I can get the pool time, and I don't want to tell the team anything yet. I'm so new and they are all so much stronger than me. I guess that's better motivation though.
Miguel also says I have to get cold water training. Even though Erie should be 70 degrees F in July, after 8-10 hours I could still go hypothermic. So, in the next 6 months I have to train my body to deal. I have to intentionally induce myself into a hypothermic state and learn to cope. Apparently the best/easiest way to do that right now in the winter is to stop taking hot showers. My showers must be cold, working down to 11-13 degrees C. Starting tomorrow I guess.
I haven't told anyone except Miguel. Its too soon, I'm too fresh, too weak. I'm headed to Arizona this week so I'll lose a week of pool training. I decided I'll tell my family at the end of February, which is the same time I have to tell Miguel who will be a part of my crew, and I'll have to figure out how I'm going to pay the $5000.
The adventure begins.
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