5 weeks

5 weeks from today is the big race! I've been dipping, but only swam swam once recently, and it was brutal. I decided I better get back to it so I'm acclimatized and ready, but I have to admit I was dreading it. It's about 32 out today and cloudy, as we arrived at the lake there were flurries coming down which was pretty cool. 

It's gotten warmer and the ice is melting. Unfortunately it's floated towards the dock and there isn't a ton of space for swimming. And, there were four other people there, so I had to share the space (and since I don't really swim in a straight line in open water, that's kind of a problem). I was so dreading it by the time I got into the water, but then it was actually fine. 

Because I didn't want to cut myself up on the ice, and my goggles fogged up, I wound up swimming pretty slowly. And I had my super warm gloves and wool socks under my booties. So, after all the dread it was completely fine. The water didn't feel that bad (though it was 35) and my hands and feet weren't freezing. I did feel a little breathless at first, but then I was completely fine. Probably in a big part because I was swimming pretty slow. I counted strokes, but at a certain point I lost track because I couldn't see well and was trying to stay away from both the agitator and ice. In the end I only swam about 145 yards, which isn't that far, but I decided it was OK because my face was in the water for about 9 minutes, and that's what I need to be working on now. After the swim we warmed up, danced around a little, and then I came home and am spending the rest of the day on the couch.

I did a swim last week that was brutal - I got into the water and couldn't breathe. I wanted to get out, but I made myself finish. It was so hard. Funny how today was so much easier. I'm going to try to do at least one swim swim a week until the big race as a way to prepare.

This week for work we were at HMS for four days. I biked there two of the days with a blue bike e bike. It was mostly nicer to bike there than drive - I took the bike path to the MOS, crossed the bridge there and then went down the bike path on storrow to mass ave. The only part that wasn't bike path was from mass ave to the school, but a bunch of that had protected bike lanes. The one thing that was hard was on friday it was so cold, and there was a wind blowing off the charles river. I was freezing! My hands hurt just like when I am swimming and when I looked at my face when I got there it was red and blotchy. Still, better than sitting in traffic. I could never have biked like that when I worked downtown, but the infrastructure is so much better now.

Coyotes by the lake

I went with a friend for a late-ish dip at the lake tonight. We got there at 6:30 and by the time we'd procrastinated and such, we got in for our swim at about 7. It was a little warmer out than it's been, without any real wind. The ice shelf has definitely melted some, but a few places that I tested felt firm enough to climb on. I didn't want to cut myself up again, so I resisted the urge. We stayed in for 10 minutes, and my watch said that the water was still 34.

I have been having some pretty intense zings with the nerves on my hands and decided that maybe I should protect them a little better. I bought these kayaking gloves from Amazon that are amazing. They are three layers - a waterproof one, a neoprene one for warmth and a fabric-y one for more warmth. It almost felt like cheating because my hands weren't in pain.

After our swim, while we were drying off we heard what sounded like a massive pack of coyotes on the other side of the lake. They went on for a while, howling and barking and creating mayhem. It was pretty cool, though I was glad that the sound was coming from the other side of the lake.

Back to swim lessons

I went back to swim class today. I wasn't especially excited about it, but once I got there it was fine - it felt good to be in the pool again, doing real swimming and getting an aerobic workout. And, I was able to time my swim speed and did a 100 yard swim in about 2 minutes and 10 seconds, which does convert to doing a 200 meter swim in less than 5 minutes. Of course, once you add in the cold factor it becomes slower and longer, but still less than 7 minutes. Which is what I have been doing at the lake.

In the pool it's a lot easier to focus on reaching and pulling, something that's harder to do when I'm thinking about how cold I am. But, I need to remember to focus on that when cold water swimming. I'll have three more lessons, so a good chance to practice and remind myself of what a good swim stroke looks like. 

Ice Shelf

The ice shelf is back! Hooray! It's even earlier than last year - it's been a pretty cold winter. We went for a dip on Saturday and of course I had to climb on the shelf, twice. It was pretty hard to get up there because the edges are so smooth and there wasn't much to grab hold of when I was trying to get up. Eventually I broke enough of the ice to make a little indent, making it easier to swing my legs up and get on top of it. Once I was up there things felt pretty solid and I was able to stand for a second before getting back into the water. After I felt like it was too short a time up there, so I climbed on it again. I was so proud of myself for not cutting my legs up, but then when I got out of the water I realized that no, I had just not felt it because I was frozen. 

I've been having a lot of spiciness with my hands and wrists, and I just ordered new swim mittens that will hopefully help. On new years I could feel some zings from my wrists when they touched the water - not good. I know on the swim fest day I will be in some pain, but I'm just going to have to live with it. Otherwise I don't necessarily want to do permanent harm to my nerves with my silly hobby.

I signed up for four swim classes at mit to work on my form and speed again. I'm not super excited about it, but once I go I always enjoy them. I also got an annual ski pass for cross country skiing at this place near me that makes snow. I went today for about 45 minutes and did 3 loops around their space before calling it a day. I am feeling a little more comfortable on the skis, but also my right leg is a bit sore. I have to go 15 times to make it worth getting the pass, which I am using as a motivator - I've been 2x now, so only 13 to go :) I kind of like that I can just go there for 45 minutes, just like I would go to the gym for that long, so that's another good thing about the season pass. It's a lot of exercise-y things for me to be doing, because I'm also trying to keep up with yoga, strength training, stretching my IT band and keeping my glute strong - I guess it is good to be busy with exercise this time of year.

My post swim legs:

 

2026

I've been enjoying a quiet vacation, and had a relaxing NYE and NY. As in past years I spent NYE at yoga - the same place as last year in jp, and it was really nice. The class went from 10:15 - 12:05, with about an hour and 15 minutes of flow, half hour ish of restorative and then a meditation that started right before midnight. I really like the instructor alot and she doesn't take it easy just because it's late at night. So, the first part was pretty intense flow. I was so glad when she slowed it down and we did our restorative - I usually don't love restorative because you do kind of just lie there. But at 11:30 pm it works. During the meditation I thought about what a crazy year it's been around the world and felt grateful for everything that I have going for me. 

On NY day we had our fourth polar plunge at the lake. It was freezing - definitely one of the colder days we've had ever. The beach is completely frozen so we wound up doing it at the lower lake and having a little party in the woods after. The water is still around 35, so people weren't really hanging around for too long after going in. We had a bunch of new faces and waves of people. I kept my hands out of the water, but even so they were freezing. It was a tough on for sure. After I went home and felt cold for the rest of the day.

Today I went for another cross country ski. The place here that makes snow isn't as nice as it was going out in the woods, but it was super easy to get there, and it's good for me to get lots of practice. I bought a season pass for the year to force myself to keep working on my skills. The best part so far is when I'm on a trail that's a little downhill, so I can just glide. There is a circuit there, and I went around it 5 times which took me an hour - according to my watch I went 2.86 miles with 169 elevation gain, so again just a little slower than if I was walking :). Looking at my splits, I did get a little faster with each lap, so that's something. The ski area is convenient, inexpensive, and they make snow, which is really nice. But there are a lot of people there, which can be a pain. I had my first fall today because a woman stopped at the bottom of the hill (it's a small hill, but still a hill) and just stood there, in the tracks, because her friend fell. I was coming down and yelled to her, but of course she didn't move. And I can't stop that effectively so I had to fall to not hit her. The good news is that I was fine after, nothing bad happened, and I was able to get back up. So, I guess it was a good learning experience, even though I am still pissed about it.

The other thing that happened this year is that my garbage disposal died. It's been giving me issues for the last month or so, but yesterday I looked at the disposal and it was dripping water out the bottom, which just isn't a good thing for an electric appliance to do. I unplugged it and looking into replacing it - which is something I hate so much since repair people always charge a ton to women. I watched a bunch of youtubes about replacing your disposal and it didn't look that hard, so on the way back from skiing I stopped at the hardware store and bought a new one. And I replaced it myself! I feel so accomplished and adult (even though it wasn't that hard because I put in the same brand so I didn't have to do any of the difficult parts). The only really bad moment was at the end when I realized that the flange thing wasn't on, and I thought I was going to have to take the whole thing off. But then thankfully I realized that you just put it in from the top of the sink. Phew! I'm going to be watching for leaks for a while, but I'm super proud of myself.

New Skis

Just what I need is more sporty equipment - but of course I bought more. I went up to waterville valley and got cross country skis today, and then went for my first ski in the woods, and it was amazing! I checked online and the ski shop sells half day passes beginning at 12:15, which was perfect. I was able to sleep until my usual time, have some coffee and be lazy for a bit, and still drive the two hours up to NH and arrive at the ski shop by 11:30. The woman there was really helpful and I bought some fischer spider skis which are the widest skis that will fit in the tracks, and have metal edges to be more stable off track/backcountry if I ever am good enough to do that. With my new skis I also got a ski pass for the day - it couldn't have been more perfect out!

Parking for the trails is by the trailhead for mt osceola - one of my favorite 4000 footers. I was lucky and got a spot, and then sat in my car and ate a sandwich. It's so easy to put on cross country boots, and to walk in them! I was suited up and ready to go in no time. 

To get to the beginner trails you walk across a small bridge and then put your skis on on the other side. I was a little nervous starting out - I only had the one lesson and wasn't sure things would go well. But, it was pretty awesome! It started with a lot of uphill, but pretty gentle. I took it slowly and kind of walked, letting my heart rate go up and getting in a rhythm. I need to work on the foot positioning and the whole sliding thing, but there were a few points where I felt like I was gliding a bit. And, there were a few downhill bits. The trail there is groomed - I chose the green which was lower osceola, moose run and easy trail, and they were quite manageable. The only thing that was a little difficult was that the tracks ended abruptly on some of the downhills, especially a couple that had small bridges over a creek at the bottom, which just seemed wrong. But, the hills were small and I didn't fall in :). There were several areas that seemed kind of groomed, but didn't have the nice tracks in the direction I was going, but then I got to practice without tracks for a while. That was harder, but doable. The way back was so much faster than the way out since it was so downhill.

I got to the end of the trail and realized I hadn't asked the woman at the shop how to release the bindings. I tried all kinds of things - poking things with my pole, pulling, pushing, but nothing worked. Fortunately some other skiiers came along soon, and one told me that you rotate the thing - I never would have guessed that one. It's a good thing he knew because it was going to be hard to drive home with my skis still on :)

I looked at my apple watch after I skied - it said I went 4.35 miles with 279 feet of elevation gain in one and a half hours. My heart rate was in zone 4 for almost an hour of that, and in zone 3 for another 21 minutes! That's a good workout, and the best part is that it didn't feel like it was that hard of a workout - probably largely because I was trying to balance and coordinate my arms and legs, and to get a little slide in. Also, because it was so nice being out in the woods in the snow, just enjoying the view. 

According to weather underground it was about 30 degrees out - there wasn't any wind on the trails. It was sunny out, but I was in the woods and didn't even need sunglasses. I wore my purple ninja hoodie, a tshirt, little puff, my spandits fleece lined tights, wool socks and my thick heated gloves (not turned on) and I was kind of warm. I was wishing I had lighter gloves on - I tried taking my gloves off, but I didn't have anywhere to put them, so I unzipped my puff instead. I can see that it's pretty easy to over dress for cross country skiing. Also, I didn't bring a backpack or anything with water and I kind of regretted that. All and all, a nice day, and so glad that I decided to get my new skis up in NH!

Cross Country Skiing

I was looking at the cost of lift tickets this year, and they are so expensive! In particular I'm planning to go up to northern Vermont a day before the winter swim festival (they changed the festival to 2 days instead of 3 after I booked the airbnb, and we all decided to just keep the reservation as is and go skiing). The tickets for the mountain up there were $120, which is $35 more than I paid for a ticket, rental and lesson for cross country skiing today. If I buy skis, the trail passes are like $13, and I can stop at the ski area that's right on the way home from work and ski for an hour or two for next to nothing. I also like the idea of skiing being something I do for a couple hours instead of being an all day thing. And, it was fun and a good workout. Plus, if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing :)

It was really cold out today, about 20 degrees without factoring in wind chill. I over compensated by layering up too much and was so hot during the start of the class, I had to take off things. I thought that might happen, but I guess it's better to have to delayer than be freezing. We started off the lesson learning how to do a basic stride in the groomed area. It was a little scary sliding at first, but then it was really fun. Once we added poles it felt a little like running - but in slow motion. After we were comfortable with that, the instructor took us to one of the "hills" (they were very very small hills, more like a little rise) and we practiced going downhill (super fun) and going up hill (good workout). Of course the hardest thing is stopping - it's always the hardest thing. It's weird because the skis don't have edges in the same way as downhill, so it's even more work to stop. So we practiced that for a while, and then learned some basic turn stuff. 

After the lesson we got to stay and play if we wanted to, which of course I did. I went around the track that they have there a couple times and learned that it's way harder to ski once the groomed part ends. I really enjoyed it, though. And, it's a really good workout - way better than erging (which is a good workout, but is kind of boring). A friend of mine told me that there's a place that sells skis in NH and has a good variety for regular folks who are not planning to race. I think I'll make a day trip of it, go up there, buy skis and ski for a few hours. Super excited!