I swam the Charles!

Today was my second run at the Charles River Swim! First, I beat my record from last year when I did the mile in 54 minutes and was third to last. This year I did it in 52 minutes and was fifth to last! Two minutes faster doesn't seem like that big a difference, but I was super off course, and so I actually did a little longer swim. Of course, I was probably pretty off course last year as well.

Even though we had to be at the race start at 7 am, I decided to bike over. I renewed my Blue Bikes for the year, even though I also got mine fixed - they are just so convenient! And, the bikes were great for today, no doubt about it. I was super lucky and got an ebike for the ride there. I was able to go so much faster because the ebike allowed me to just power over Beacon Hill, instead of go around it or slog up. I got the bike parked, walked the last little bit, and got there right on time.

Once again I was kind of nervous before the start of the race. And then for the first bit of the race this woman who we will call "*ucking bubble chick" (because she was swimming with a swim bubble) kept crossing in front of me. It was so annoying because I would see her over to the side doing backstroke, and I would pass her, and then she would switch to crawl and would pass me, but right in front of me. The first time I let it go, but by the third time I was pissed. I decided that if she swam in front of me again I was just going to keep going and let her deal with me swimming into her. And that's what I did. And after that she didn't swim in front of me (apparently she went on to swim in front of one of my friends).

The way out seemed to take forever, and there was a part of me that just wanted to flag down a kayak and take a ride home. But then I reminded myself that we were going out for pancakes - or, breakfast to everyone else - and I needed to earn them. And I thought about pancakes for a little while. I finally got to the bouy and as I rounded it I saw another swimmer - I didn't realize that it was another one of my friends, who had recognized me. So, the whole way back, she was all happy to be swimming with me, and I was like "why is that person always right to my right? It's a big river!" After I realized what had happened, I though I should maybe consider my attitude. Anyhow, I finally got to the third bouy (though I was really really far off for a while. I heard shouting, and soon realized that they were shouting at me to go right) and remembered that last time it seemed to take forever to get from the second bouy to the dock, which prepared me for the fact that the last little bit was so long). Especially going into the dock I couldn't see very well and that slowed me down a little. But, once I figured out where I was headed I speeded up and got to the dock ahead of my friend who had been swimming next to me. *ucking bubble girl was last, so I beat her at least. Ha!

After we did indeed go for pancakes (well, 3 of us had pancakes) and they were delicious. After, I did a little shopping, since I was downtown and the stores were open anyhow. And then I biked back home - no ebike was available for the way back, and so I did all the peddling myself. I was pooped after and sat on my couch like a bum for a little bit.

Later, someone emailed that a branch came down in the garden during a storm we had yesterday, and so I went and cleared it up. It was a pretty huge branch, and I got to do lots of sawing. Which is hard work, but also very satisfying.

Landshark and Mt Major

This year I decided I wanted to get a few more swim events under my belt so that I would be more prepared for the winter swim fest next year. So, I signed up for the Landshark swim in Amesbury (mostly because I thought the name was cool). The big race was yesterday and I swam 1.2 miles in one hour, one minute and 23 seconds! Which is a pace of a 51 minute mile, which is about 3 minutes faster than I did my mile in the Charles last year.

There are 4 different groups for the race - one does a .5 mile swim and a 2 mile run, one does just the .5 mile swim, the 1.2 mile one that I did, and a 2.4 mile swim, which is two times around the 1.2 miler. The 1.2 mile group went last, and so I got to see everyone else speeding off. The race started at 9:15 am, which is not my time to exercise really, so I got off to a slow start. After the first five minutes or so I got going and feeling at my pace, like I could do the thing. The race was an out and back, and the way out was just fine. Luckily the bouys that you followed were to the left, which is the way I naturally breathe, so sighting was easy. After I turned around, though, I realized that I'd been swimming away from the sun, and now it was in my eyes. That made finding my way back a little difficult - I had to stop a few times and figure out where I was, and a couple times folks in kayaks or on paddleboards had to redirect me. In the end I thought I was supposed to go around this last bouy, but I was supposed to be on the other side, and so that cost me time, probably that 23 seconds :)

After the race I decided to go to Kittery for some outlet shopping, since it was only about a half hour away. I got a few cute outfits, ate a lobster roll, and watched some dogs in a silly run, jump and swim competition. I debate from there if I should go home after, or go hike Mt. Major, which is just 45 minutes away. It was pretty hot out and I was considering heading home, but the lobster roll came with fries and butter, and so I figured I better hike that mountain.

I got to Mt. Major at 3 ish and found the parking lot closed. Apparently the private land owner sold the land recently to a nature org that's spiffing the place up! There's to be a new trail that's graded and has switchbacks! It looks really nice, and actually parking on the street was no problem.

I was dragging a bit on the way up. It was so hot, and I'd stupidly packed long running tights. But, I took it slow and steady, relaxed for a bit when I needed to, and in no time was at the top. Fortunately there was a breeze up there, and after a little bit I sat in a shady spot and watched the birds of prey soaring. The way down was much easier, of course. I actually passed a couple! They were moving super slow. 

As I got down to the logging road this guy was just turning around, and he was chatty. At first it was fine, we were just talking about the trail work and how nice it was going to be, but then he kept talking and taking... Finally I just sped up a little, and ditched him. I got down the mountain much faster than up it, so I guess the conclusion is that I just need someone trying to be social and I can become a faster hiker. Anyhow, after I drove home a different way that google told me about, and it was nice, it took me to 93 after Concord. I would go that way again.

All and all a fun and active day! I woke up this morning and felt exhausted and achy all day.

Dock to Beach to Dock

This year for Memorial Day weekend I was thinking about a hike, but then I thought about all the bugs and decided that I would do a practice long swim for the landshark next weekend. It's been very busy at the lake, and they are ticketing and towing, so I decided to just park a mile away at joe pizza and bike. But then I couldn't find my bike rack, so I decided to walk instead. It was actually a nice walk, and much less stressful than trying to park. Thumbs up, would definitely do again.

I got to the dock and there were a ton of people there. The club that's across the lake is open now (and they have their slide and high dive out again). After the walk I was pretty hot and got right to the swim. I felt pretty good for the entire swim, I worked on my pull and on my breathing. There were a bunch of boats out there, but I didn't have any issues. And, the water was nice and smooth. My swim cap came off a little on the way to the beach, so I stopped when I got there and fixed it, and then turned around and went back. When I got to the docks it was almost exactly one hour, which is pretty much exactly the same as what I did this weekend last year. Booo. Here I thought I might be getting faster, but turns out that's not the case. Well, at least I'm still swimming.

Last week we did a full moon swim, and I decided to try biking to the lake. It was fun, but also it turns out that 10 miles is kind of a long bike ride. I was so glad I didn't do the marathon when I was thinking about it! Definitely a good way to get to the lake, though on a really hot day it would probably be difficult. 

Swim across Walden

I did my first swim across Walden this year today, and it was lovely! It was a beautiful sunny day today, though a little windy. After work I went to the garden store and got two tomato plants, some peppers and rosemary and thyme (resisting the urge to get parsley and sage) and planted them in my garden. I only got the small sungold tomatoes this year to keep down on the rats, but decided that two of them was reasonable. Over the weekend I put in two tomatillos and some potatoes. I think there's space for one more tomatillo and maybe a little of something else - I have to decide what though.

I brought my swim gear with me in the hopes that I could push myself to go for a swim. I'm signed up for the land shark on June 2, which is less than 3 weeks away, and I haven't done a long swim for a while. I was a little concerned about my ability to do the swim, so I decided to go swim across Walden as a first warm up. It was a really nice swim!

When I mapped out the swim it looks like it was about .9 mile, so I swam across a shorter part. According to my fitbit I was swimming for 46 minutes, so that would be a little over 50 min pace for a mile. The water is about 61 degrees, though there were a few warm spots and a couple really cold ones. When I got out I was glad that I had my dryrobe, though I don't think I will need it much longer this season.

I've been really working on the pull on my swimming so that I can move faster. It's really hard, though. I think I have to go more often to work on my arm strength. I've also been working on my breathing - turning my head just enough so only half of my mouth comes out of the water. I'm doing much better with it. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and 80, but of course I have a silly busy day, so not sure I will be able to get to the lake, but I hope so! 

Zoe

A couple weeks ago I learned that one of my favorite podcasts, Zoe, has a whole nutrition program that goes along with it. They test your microbiome, glucose levels and blood levels and then help you find a diet that works for your body specifically. I love the science focus in the podcast and so I thought I would try it!

I started the program yesterday - they send you a glucose monitor to wear on your arm, and so of course now I'm checking by glucose levels every 10 seconds. I learned that my fasting glucose level was a little high this morning. For the first day, which I am doing now, you have to eat two disgusting breakfast cookies and then fast for 4 hours (they said the cookies were "delicious" which was my first clue that they were not going to be delicious. Seriously, I had to choke them down.) And, there are two more for lunch - slightly different but I am betting equally disgusting. They also have you send in a sample of your poop and blood. It said to get the stool sample later today, but I had to go this morning, so I sent it in early. I can't just be sitting around for 4 hours waiting! After I took the world's slowest walk to the post office to mail it in because you are also not supposed to exercise, but if I wait until later today the post office will be closed, and it's Saturday. Later today I will do a blood sample, which I'm not excited about.

I'm curious to see what the results will be!

Today I am Julie

I've done the triangle swim a couple more times since I last wrote - the water's getting warmer and it's not hard to stay in for 20-30 minutes. When I swam on Sunday it was between 60 and 63, depending on the part of the lake. There were people on the beach and they were sitting on our bench and using our picnic table. Cold water season is coming to an end. It was a good year, except for the whole Memphramagog fiasco, but I'll be back next year!

I've been going to this HIIT class at the Y - well, I've gone twice now. It's pretty good. The coach is 20, but he puts together a good set of exercises. Today we did 2 sets of 4 and 1 set of 3, with each exercise for 45 seconds. The first set was burpees (yuck), weighted lunges and some exercise I can't remember. The second round was push-ups, weighted jumping squats and Russian Deadlifts with kettlebells. And then the third round was leg raises, side arm lifts and heal lifts. There were a few moments when I felt a little like puking, so good workout. 

I missed yoga last Friday and I've been feeling it, so I decided to go to yoga after - the class was a meditative one, so I figured it would be fine. The teacher, though, started taking attendance, and it's such a pain to sign up online that when she called out "Julie!" and looked like she didn't know the woman, and no one answered, I said that was me. It seemed like and easier thing to do. But then of course fricking Julie showed up. I figured a yoga teacher wasn't going to call me out on it, and I lay on the floor and pretended I was meditating, which was effective. The class wasn't even that good, though I did get some stretching in. 

Over the weekend I went climbing with my brother and his partner. I actually did a 5.9+ clean, but just because it was on the slabby wall. I got up a 5.10 on the slabby wall with a few rests, and up a 5.8 and 5.9, but after my arms were killing! It's been three days and they are just starting to feel better. I'm so out of climbing shape.

Triangle swim

Today I did my second triangle swim of the season - three of us went to the point, across the lake and then back to the beach. The swim is about a half a mile, but I am pretty sure I made it longer by not swimming in a straight line. I mean, I was really off course several times.

I started the day with geriatric parkour, which I think I'm going to continue with - it's fun and the people are cool and my knees are hurting a lot less in this class than the regular one. But, it hurts my ego a little bit. We are back at the school across the street from my home, so it's silly to not go when it's so close. And, I have to say, the class is a little more chill than the other one, but still a workout.

Later in the day I met six friends at the beach and three of us did the swim to the point and then across the lake. It was pretty windy and cloudy today, which made it hard to get into the water and difficult to get going. I felt like I was pulling and pulling on the way to the point, but going nowhere. But finally I made it there, with only a little swallowed water. When we got there, we were all trying to decide if we wanted to swim across the lake with the waves, but tbh I was feeling pretty good - the water temp is about 55/56 and it's warmer than the air, so I was like "let's do it!" So we did. 

Swimming across the lake I got super off track and kept looking up wondering where i was. It didn't help that my goggles were completely fogged. I tried to work on stretching out, especially with my left hand, not turning my head too far (sometimes I can breathe and half of my mouth is still in the water, but I do that thing where I only open my mouth on the out of water side), and really pulling on the pull. I feel like sometimes I can go faster by really focusing on the pull (I guess that's not surprising, but there it is). According to my fitbit we swam for 23 minutes, which isn't bad for me for a half mile. 

Yesterday my family all met at a deli in CT for lunch, which is something we do about once a year. It's nice to have everyone together, but at the same time it's a lot of driving. I wound up taking my nephew home, and so I was driving for about 3.5 hours for the day. After I got home I decided to head to the dock for a quick dip, which turned into a swim - the water was so flat it was amazing! After I finished, as I was drying off, a bald eagle landed at the end of the dock and proceeded to eat dinner. It was so cool!

The first race that I'm signed up for is the landshark, and that's in 6 weeks. I have to work up to 1.2 miles. So, practice is important now.