April Swims

southerly change

Approaching the end of ocean swimming season 2010/2011

5 swims in April, about 11k total:

- Stanwell Park 2.3k

- Balmoral 1k

- Queenscliff 1.5k

- Terrigal (1+2) 3k

- Coogee to Bondi - was 5k -shortened course around Coogee Bay because of the swell



Queenscliff & Terrigal 16/17 April



early morning central coast



photo: oceanswims.com

2 swims - Queenscliff Swim for Saxon Saturday 1.5k - windy & rainy with choppy seas

Better conditions for Terrigal Sunday 1k & 2k. The Terrigal 2k swim looked long - 2 laps around a circuit of about 1.2k  

Swim for Saxon - Well done Queenscliff SLSC - that was great effort first-up. The swim on Saturday had a really good feel to it.

Wind, driving rain, choppy surf - but that only added to the camaraderie on the day.
And an outstanding professional job with water safety, I watched the lifesavers kick up a gear at the end of the swim, to make sure every swimmer entered was safely accounted for.
Definitely room for a 3rd swim at Manly on the calendar, run by the local surf clubs - Manly Daily, North Steyne and now Queenscliff - all were good this year







Balmoral 10th April

Godzilla






Balmoral - 1k swim in Sydney Harbour

Perfect conditions - no wind, wave, swell
Good day for a time trial, thought I'd test myself on a 1k swim,
Try to hang on to those 1:45 per 100 intervals I've been doing in shorter sets in the pool

Went hard the whole way, bit of bargy with other swimmers but it didn't really slow me down

My Time 20:51 seemed slow, but the looking at other swimmers times they were all slow for a 1k swim
I'd say the course today was longer than advertised - about 1.2k
My relative finish position was good, I finished in the to 30% of all swimmers, which was a new experience for me
Having just finished in the top half of the field last week, I guess that's one target to try to hang on to for the rest of the season






Swim Training is On Track




Fire on the Water

 
















Tough week of pool training
I turned up for all of Chad's evening squads this week -
Sets of long swims, broken up with short sprints
Hard, but it seems to be working
Shoulder tendons stopped hurting now, so looks like they've strengthened up. Or perhaps my shoulders have just given up complaining about the discomfort
I can feel myself getting fitter and faster in the water
Surprised at my 50m and 100m sprint times this week - I've taken almost 5 seconds off my 100m time since going hard the last 6 weeks
I'm not really training for speed at this stage, but I remember that's what Kevin told me last year - As you do more quality swims to build endurance for the long swims, you can't help yourself but get faster in the pool

Stanwell Park 3rd April

More fun than a bucket full of geckos ...


OK, So who left the leaf-tailed geckos in a handbasin at Coalcliff surf club ?

I left glasses stashed at Stanwell Park, and was perhaps not paying full attention to my surroundings. It turns out I was happily washing my goggles in a basin full of geckos, until a passerby stopped for a double-take.

A trick of nature. Got me big-time.

I should have expected a surprise from nature, given the locations of the Stanwell Park and Coalcliff surf clubs tucked away in beautiful coastal bushland.

Footnote: Yes, the geckos were safely caught and released from their slippery ceramic trap.




Swimming Tragics are We



March Swims

Georges River Sunset





Georges River Monster

  

4 Swims in March, total about 14k

- Lake Macquarie 3.8k

- Manly (2+1) 3k

- Sydney Harbour (2+1) 3k

- North Steyne (2.8+1) 3.8k 



Long Reef 27th February

Ode to a Stingray

I saw a little stingray
as I swam over Long Reef

I moved away and thought that
the encounter would be brief

But then the stingray spoke to me
from the bottom of the reef:

"I know we stingrays get bad press,
some despised as a thief

Related to the shark and then,
that incident with Steve

But do not be alarmed,
I will not harm you, Chief

The sting in my tail is small,
It could not cause you grief."

To demonstrate his lack of bite,
he smiled and said "No teef!"