Look Ma, No Stopping!

One of the challenges Coach Jon gave us was to be able to swim the length of our goal distance without stopping - that is, swim 1 km in the pool without pausing or resting in between.

Now I know I can swim 1km in the pool and have done many times. But that includes small rests at the end of the pool, complete with stretches and slugs of water from my water bottle. How in the world could I possibly do it without stopping? Well, I gave it a go and managed to swim 600 metros without stopping today. I was pretty exhausted after that, but at least I gave it a go! Let's see how far I can go next time...

Tears and Fears

Shelly Beach - when it's calm and flat!!!

Second surf training session at Manly today, and I was not looking forward to it. I was assiduously avoiding looking at the weather and tide forecasts, only to accidentally see a newspaper article on Thursday that the water temperature was at least two degrees lower than normal. Great.

Actually seeing the rolling surf this morning did not inspire any more confidence. I could feel the bacon and egg sandwich I had for breakfast slowly roiling in my stomach, and I prayed I didn't end up chucking it all up. Our Coach pointed out that the rips were pretty bad today  - he kept pointing to where the rips were supposed to be and I tried to look knowledgeable enough by nodding with everyone else, while thinking "I have no idea what he's pointing out - what the heck does a rip look like anyway???!!!"

We ended up walking to Shelley Beach to do our drill swims, and that made me feel a little bit better. It already felt a little familiar, after my one other ocean swim experience! I squared my shoulders, popped my orange Can Too swim cap on, put on my goggles, zipped up my rashie, and told myself - I can do this!

We were warned the water was cold. It was actually more than cold - it was bloody freezing. But after a few strokes I felt pretty good, and made myself think I was simply in the pool (with seaweed, and fishies), just doing my laps.

My first lap around went well, and I jumped right back in for the second round. That's when I realised I was feeling a tad seasick. The waves were coming in a bit high and fast, and although they weren't breaking around me, I was being buffeted enough to feel a bit queasy. I also had trouble sighting where I was going and kept on going wide of the surf skis that we needed to swim around. And all of this while I watched almost every single one of my fellow Can Too swimmers pass me. I reminded myself I wasn't racing anybody, that I didn't have to go fast, it was all in my own pace etc. etc., but it still frustrated me at how slow I felt swimming in the sea. So different to being in the pool!

We then practiced duck diving under the surf skis, which was surprisingly fun and easy, considering I am - not putting a too fine point on it - rather buoyant with my big bosoms.

Maybe I was just feeling a bit too confident that I didn't freak out too much when we were told we were going a lot further out than I had ever been in the ocean, where we would then tread water then head back to Shelley Beach. I knew I was going to struggle when on the way out, I started freaking out with the waves coming in over my head. Mentor Katy saw me starting to freak and scream, so we swam a bit then rested, then swam some more. I kept on telling myself to keep calm and breathe, but it was seriously hard.  I tried to distract myself with sighting the police boat that was alongside us, watching our goings on, but all I could think about were how the waves just didn't stop.

We got to where the others were treading water, and then the signal came to swim back.  From being in the back of the pack, I was all of a sudden in the front, and I got caught in a tangled mass of arms and legs swimming to shore.  The washing machine feeling was intensified with the continuous waves, and I simply just lost it - I screamed and shouted "HELP!"  Within seconds Coach Mike was there with the Can Too gals on surf skis, and I held on for dear life, with my eyes shut and madly panting, trying to get more oxygen into my lungs.  I kept on telling myself I was fine, it was just the waves, and after a bit of this I felt good enough to start swimming back to shore.  When I finally got there, I saw Jenny's friendly face with a few other swimmers, and it was all a bit too much so I burst into tears and ran snot all over Jenny's swimsuit. 

I can laugh about it now, but I was kept on tearing over the weekend up every time I thought about what it was like swimming with those waves.  I continue to have serious doubts about getting through the training, but just have to keep reminding myself who I'm doing this for and why.  Let's see what next Saturday's surf session is going to bring!

My Very First Ocean Swim Session - Jetlagged!!



Simon, me and Jenny in Manly.  My very first ocean swim training session!!!

 Two and a half hours after landing in Sydney airport, after close to 21 hours of flying from New York, I was in the water, in Manly, doing my very first ocean swim - ever.

I think if I had the chance to think about what I was going to do this morning, I probably would not have gone.  But we had no idea how quickly we would clear customs and how fast we would get home.  Adrian nonchalantly mentioned that I probably had time to make it to the 10:00 a.m. surf training session in Manly.  So the first thing I did when I dropped my bags at home was peel off the clothes I had been wearing for over a day and slip into my bathing suit.  As I had already missed the first surf session, and was going to miss next week's, I thought it would be a good idea to just take the plunge (pardon the pun) and get my first surf session over and done with. 

It didn't really occur to me to be scared - you see, I don't really like swimming in the sea.  I just don't.  I'm a confident enough swimmer in the pool (albeit it needs to be a 25 metre warm pool where I can touch the bottom with my feet!), but I drew the line at swimming in the unknown and uncontrollable ocean.  Besides, it was my very surf session, I hadn't even attended a pool session yet (we were in New York when the program started - Adrian ran the New York marathon, and he is an example of just how Can Too can change someone's life: this only happens to be his third marathon in 14 months!), so surely they wouldn't get me swimming straight away, right? Ha, goes to show you how much I know!

I got to the session late, but the wonderful Claire was there as energy champion and she luckily recognised me from my red FitFlops.  She said the group had just headed to Shelley Beach and I wasn't that far behind.  I headed off the pathway, and I had my first glimpse of the wavy water that I knew I had to swim in one day.  Surely, it wouldn't be today...

I got to Manly Beach and gave a few people a bit of a surprise, as I wasn't expected to be in training until at least next week.  The team was in the water, swimming out to surf skis that were what I felt was a substantial distance from the beach.  Simon (Annie's hubby and competitive ocean swimmer extraordinaire) spotted me and offered to swim with me.  Right - so I was going to swim, today.  I tried to tell him I was jet lagged, Oh, and in my haste to get to Shelley Beach I left my goggles and ear plugs in my bag.  Oh darn.  Surely I couldn't swim now!  But Simon very kindly handed me his goggles and encouraged me to plunge in.  Bugger.  I also knew that I would look really stupid being the only person not in the water.  So fine, I plunged in.

Oh my God, it's cold!!!  Simon told me slowly get myself used to the temperature, and after a few minutes I plunged in.  I managed four strokes and went up for air - my chest felt so cold, I found it hard to breathe.  After a few more strokes I was already struggling with my breathing and I was seriously slowing down.  I didn't feel too bad, but I couldn't believe how slow I was going.  I am not the fastest swimmer in the world (and will never be), but surely I thought I would be faster than Nanna pace.   Simon assured me that the cold temperature makes me work harder, so no wonder it was a bit hard going at first.

I got to the first surf ski, and felt I needed to have a wee rest and tread water a bit.  I couldn't stay long though, as other people were streaming in around the surf skis and this was probably the worst place to rest.  Simon encouraged me to keep going to the next surf ski, and before I knew it we were heading to shore.  It was so much easier swimming with the current to get back to the beach!  And then it was round 2 - back into the water to do the circuit again.  I couldn't believe it - surely they wouldn't make me swim AGAIN???  I was in a plane a mere few hours ago...besides, my ears were hurting as I had swum without my ear plugs.  But one of the other Mentors very kindly lent me her ear plugs. Bugger, another excuse I couldn't give. I thought it would make me look churlish to refuse such a generous offer, so the least I could do would be to give the swim another go.

Funnily enough, it was a bit easier the second time around.  But I realised the waves were pretty choppy, and I was feeling a bit nauseous and seasick as I got a bit moved around by the waves.  Logically I knew this was part of the whole ocean swimming thing, but that didn't mean I had to like it!  Thankfully I got to the surf skis and from there it was heaps easier to get to shore.

After this swim, I was pretty tired so I sat out the rest of the session.  But I was so GLAD I came - I was made to feel incredibly welcome, even though I had missed a few training sessions, and I was very much looking forward to the training ahead.  Go Can Too!!!!!!