“Ouch!  Ow, ooof, aiy, dude, this hurts!”

My sweats were off, my cap was on, and I was stoked to get in the water.  That is, until I took my shoes off.

In all fairness, I had been warned.  On numerous occasions.  “The ‘beach’ is all rocks,” Dolphins told me.  “It’s really hard on your feet.  Bring flip flops or something to wear down to the water.”

It wasn’t that I so much ignored this advice, thinking I was some sort of super human with super studly feet.  It was more that when my mom woke me from my nap at 3:30, I was so out of it from jet lag that I almost forgot my goggles.  Footwear, unfortunately, was no where on my radar.

Once I finally picked my painful way down and flopped gracelessly into the water, all was well with the world.  The water here is really beautiful and clean, albeit a lot rougher than the Bay, and when you breathe and all you see is green-blue, you sometimes feel like you’re far away from land.

I swam for an hour and chatted with some swimmers from the Czech Republic, Iceland, and London when I got out, actually crawling with my hands and feet in an effort to distribute my weight.  I’m sure I made a hillarious sight for all those on shore.   I’m going to go down tomorrow morning (Rainbows in tow) around 9 when most of the swimmers gather for a workout.  Maybe I’ll run into Bill Bradley, a fellow Dolphin who’s around here somewhere.  Should be fun!

I had an awesome swim today! I decided last weekend that before setting off for England, I wanted to do one more longish swim in the Bay. When deciding a course, these were my requirements:

1. Must be something cool, preferably with a defined “start” and “end” point. Not just “I’m going to swim along the waterfront for X hours and then back X hours.” No no no. Needs to be something more inspiring than that.
2. Should be 2-3 hours long (since I’m going to be swimming 25 miles 6-12 days from now, I didn’t want to do anything too crazy).
3. Cold water required (not like I”d have a problem finding lots of cold water around here! I just had that in my head since Maui was so warm).

I checked the tide log on Thursday and got really excited. Between 8am and 1pm on Saturday, there was going to be a big flood! If I were to swim away from the Golden Gate Bridge and into the South Bay, I’d get a nice push the whole way.

Know what’s 10 miles along the water front to the south of the Dolphin Club? Candlestick Park, home of the 49′ers. I’d already been to AT&T park a couple of times, where the Giants play. Why not visit the stomping grounds of San Francisco’s other major sports team? This sounded perfect!

So at 9am this morning, I jumped into the water with Neal in a zodiac alongside me and set off toward Candlestick Park. The flood was really hauling – I was embarrassingly slow fighting it to get to the opening! But once I got outside the cove, I really started to fly. I decided, then, that I was going to scrap my original plan of mimicking my Channel feeding tactics. I was going to push the first 3 miles, feed, then abstain from GU or liquid for the rest of the swim. My thought was that by not feeding for 2 hours after swimming a pretty hard 3 miles, I’d get more tired faster. Sure, I’d break down a bit. But I have plenty of time to replenish, and I kind of wanted to feel the sensation of being hungry, tired, and sore and still force myself to swim hard. I figured it would reinforce my confidence in my mental toughness were I to feel like I’d been in the water longer than 3 hours by the end and still keep swimming fast.

(Frankly, it’s probably silly of me to feel the need to “test” myself. But I’ve always been like this, and if a confidence booster is what’s needed, then that’s what I’d go after.)

I hit the 3 mile mark in under 50 minutes! Swimming down that flood felt sooo good. I proceeded to annoy the heck out of Neal when I refused the next 4 feedings he desperately encouraged me to get down my throat – I hadn’t shared my little change of plans because, in all honesty, I knew I was being a tad bit crazy. “Act first, apologize later,” I thought to myself guiltily.

Sure enough, as I passed by really cool industrial scenery I’d never before seen, my arms started to tighten up, my stomach started to rumble, and my hip flexors knotted up painfully. Still, I kept my turnover stable and pulled hard, smiling reassuringly at Neal every now and then. I did pause to take a quick rest and stretch out my back and hips a couple of times, though.

Neal found us a nice stretch of beach to land on in Candlestick Park. I finished the 10 miles in just under 3 hours, and I was very happy. I wasn’t cold, I felt fine to keep going, and I was stoked to have done such a cool swim!

We motored back to the Club, stopping for lunch at a bayside restaurant on the way (I was starving). What a great way to spend my last weekend before Dover!

For an entire year, my training sessions in Aquatic Park have been the same: swim laps around the cove (~1 mile), or swim laps along the line of buoys close to shore (800m round trip). It’s not as bad as swimming aimlessly along a black line in a pool, but after an hour or so without a pace clock, coach, team mates, or sets, it still starts to get a little mind-numbing.

On Wednesday, fellow Dolphin Mike Chase introduced me to a new concept: get over keeping an exact mental record of distance when you swim in the Cove, and turn it into a playground! The Cove is comprised of all kinds of markers, obstacles, and possibilities. Strap on a watch to keep track of time (seriously, this gets to be so fun you might over-swim and be late to work!), take advantage of the currents, and go play!

Both Wednesday morning and Thursday morning, I met up with Mike and set off in all kinds of crazy zig-zag paths across the Cove.

“Okay, here’s the plan,” Mike said as we treaded water around the Oprah Buoy that helps anchor the Thayer, a black and red ship near the South End Club’s pier. “Flag, Appleton Hall, Opening, Goal Posts, BBB, Flag, Oprah.”

“Huh?” I said, losing track around “Opening.”

“Don’t worry, just keep up with me!” (Added bonus to swimming with Mike – he’s fast. So when he turns it on, I’m obliged to kick it up a few notches myself. Excellent!)

We fought the currents going one way, and rode them in the other direction. We raced to the green boat in the middle of one of the Cove walls, trying not to get swept into it (Appleton Hall). We visited the Bay proper, trying to discern the Golden Gate Bridge through the shrouding mists (Opening). We darted like fish in and out of the large, wooden poles sticking out of the water on one far edge of the Cove (Goal Posts). We swam under part of one of the sea walls to reach the BBB. We dodged boats as we raced back to the flag, and cruised on back to the Oprah buoy.

I’m a convert. Mike wasn’t around this morning – instead, he was off with 6 other Dolphins to do a 100 mile, 2 day relay swim down the Sacramento River to raise money to protect the San Francisco Bay (you can track their progress here.) I made up my own crazy path of shapes and zig-zags, and didn’t want to get out!

It’s official: I’m now allowed to swim the English Channel.

At 7:45am on Sunday morning, I set off on a 6 hour training swim that would also serve to officially qualify me for the Channel swim (the CS&PF requires all hopefuls to complete a 6 hour swim in 58-62 degree water prior to their attempt). It was a perfect day, with the sun already shining, clear skies, and little wind. I had a totally amazing support team out with me: my friend and mentor Reuben, my sweetheart Neal, my sister Karri, my father Larry, my mother Connie, and my friend Dave. Though things started out a little rough around Alcatraz (think Spin Cycle of Death), I soon got into a groove and felt absolutely awesome.

I remember thinking to myself, “Remember this. You’re young, you’re strong, you’re fast, you’re doing something you love on a beautiful day, and you are surrounded by people you love who are only here for YOU and who want you to succeed. Drink it in.” And I did.

Powered by GU, the hours melted away as we saw parts of the Bay I’d never before seen. Even when my arms started to hurt around hour 5, I was having too much fun to care, battling my way through rising winds as we worked our way back toward the Dolphin Club. This time, I didn’t get stuck anywhere, and finishing on the DC beach felt really good. My shoulders held up, my ankles and hip flexors made it through, and my mental state stayed high with the cheering and smiles from my family and friends.

I feel confident. I still have a month to improve, to get stronger and even faster. I can’t wait to tackle the greatest challenge of my 25 years.

A HUGE thank you to Reuben, Neal, Dave, Karri, Dad, and Mom for being so selfless and so supportive. I love you all!

This Sunday will be my longest training swim so far, 6 hours out in the San Francisco Bay.  Dolphin Club Rowing Commissioner and Pilot Extraordinaire Reuben Hechanova designed the course you see above.  We aim to start from the Dolphin Club at 7:30am, head around Alcatraz and Treasure Islands, under the Bay Bridge toward Candlestick park, and return to the Dolphin Club along the waterfront to wrap things up at 1:30pm.  At which point we will grab some yummy Ahi Tuna sandwiches at the conveniently located Blue Mermaid Restaurant.

I’m really excited because my family will be up again for the swim!  My dad, mom, and sister will be out on the water cheering me on, along with usual suspects Reuben and Neal, and with Dave Hollembaek captaining the Arias.  Here’s the breakdown:

Reuben, Neal, and Dad in one of the gorgeous DC rowboats.

Dave, Mom, and Karri in the Arias (zodiac).

I’m aiming to treat this swim exactly as I would the real Channel swim, from the feeding schedule, to the food, to the boat position, etc…maybe we’ll even throw in a few twists or two, like changing out goggles or something.  It will also be a chance for Mom and Karri to learn how to “feed me” in case they are called upon to perform this task in England.

I”ve been training really well all week.  This morning, I did 9k in the pool, then headed to the Bay for a 4 mile swim right after.  The water has been very warm (59-60 this morning) and I’ve been feeling strong.  My shoulder is still hanging in there, and my foot, I am happy to report, is still attached despite the pain in my ankle.  I’ll get in a good long training session on Friday, take Saturday completely off and cheer on in the Dolphin Club/South End Club Golden Gate Bridge swim, and be ready to bring it on Sunday morning!