Well, we’re off!  I jumped in for my first swim of 5 this morning at 6:30am when the sky was dark and the water an inky black.  Luckily, I had Reuben to guide me with a flashlight, or I would have surely crashed several times around the cove!  The sun rose during these first 3 miles, and it was beautiful to see from the water.

Thanks to Reuben, I always had the currents to help me.   I also had the support of my entire family!  My mom, dad, and sister, Karri, got up at 2am to drive to San Francisco to be with me this weekend.  They arrived at 8:30 in the middle of my second 3 mile swim.

At the end of the day, I covered 14.5 miles (I really wanted to complete 3 on the last swim, but my body completely gave out after 2.5.  Oh, well).  My hip flexors, right shoulder, and ankles are quite sore, so I’ll have to keep an eye on them as I go through the remaining 2 days of this attempt. I’m thinking…Advil and Bengay.

Here’s a video summary of Day 1.  Enjoy!

First of all, Merry Christmas everyone!

There’s just one more day left until I start my attempt to swim 40 miles in 3 days.  The water right now is 50.5 degrees, and I’m more than a little nervous!  Excited, definitely, but also nervous.

However, I have the advantage of amazingly good advice and coaching. , the ultimate endurance athlete, has taught me a lot about how to approach and succeed at REAL distance events (as he fondly teased me on Sunday:  “Everything you have ever done until now, we consider to be sprinting.”  I’m quickly realizing that he’s right!)  He’s also given me a lot of very good tips and advice on how to deal with cold.

In addition, Reuben and I had a pow-wow to discuss the routes I should swim to take advantage of the currents and to avoid swimming against them.  This will allow me to cover the most distance each time I enter the water.  Reuben knows the waters of the SF Bay as well as or better than anyone currently living!  We poured over tidal charts and a set of maps he made that are tailored for my attempt.  For example, this one maps out how I should swim when the tide is ebbing:

Using all of this wisdom and experience, I will aim to complete the following schedule:

Saturday:  15 miles, starting at 6am

Sunday:  13 miles, starting at 7am

Monday:  12 miles, starting at 7am

I will be swimming 40-45 minutes each time I go out, and I will try to stick to 40-60 minutes of rewarming and rest between.  I will also take a longer rest to nap at a strategic point during the effort (it’s not the best idea, for example, to sleep during a slack tide when no water is moving – that’s the easiest time to swim!)

I will be drinking hot electrolyte replacement drinks as soon as I exit the water.  Neal and Reuben both independently encouraged me to also try to drink while I’m swimming; I’m just concerned about stopping in water that cold for any period of time.  I’ll have to see how it goes.  Between swims, I’ll use GU, Access Bars, granola bars, and hot baked potatoes to keep my energy levels up.

I’m hoping to be done every day by 4pm, when a huge Ebb tide hits.  Fingers crossed I don’t have to swim against it!