Bald Eagles at the Swim Spot

I went for my fourth day of cold water swimming today and when I arrived there were a ton of people with intense cameras with super high power lenses. They were all pointing in one direction and when I looked, there was a bird. I asked and found out that it was a juvenile bald eagle! There's a nesting pair that lives by the lake - the one they were taking pictures of is about 10 months old. It was really amazing, it was flying around, looking for lunch, oblivious to the dozen or so people photographing it. At the end of the swim the adults were hanging out at a tree that they apparently love to perch on. I'm not sure I've seen bald eagles in the wild before, really cool.

The last time I went cold water swimming I over did it a little. I stayed in for 10 minutes, which is way too long. I was so cold after I had to go home and take a hot shower rather than warm up gradually. Today I only stayed in for 5 minutes, which I think is about right.

The ice shelf is broken up - I never got a chance to stand on it! But, the lake is frozen enough that we had to break through ice to get in. It was pretty funny because mystic merfolk were breaking the ice and the eagle photographers were like "what are you all doing?" and when we said "swimming!" the looks on their faces were priceless! I felt really cool. Getting into the water is hard, but once your in it isn't so bad. It feels so funky because you get numb on the outside and don't feel the cold as you exit the water. Of course, today was also pretty warm relatively speaking - it's in the 40's, though we did have a snow storm yesterday, so there was snow to trek through.

On Monday I went skiing at nashoba valley. It was like 60 out, so it got pretty slushy, but I was pretty happy with my skiing! I had a 4 hour ticket and got there at the opening, when it was quiet. I started out on the blue squares for the first hour and a half while it was quiet, working on my edges and turns. Then, I went down the blacks for about 2 hours! I was pretty impressed with me! As the day went on it got slushier and slushier - at first I was thinking I needed to wax my skis, but then I realized that it was the snow. When I was on the bottom of my skis I could feel me going faster than the skis, which is obviously concerning, so I really had to stay on my edges. I got up a lot more speed than I am used to, but was actually comfortable with it! It's a short mountain, but it's less than 40 minutes drive - hopefully I can get there a couple more times this season.

Cold Swim, Day 2

I got neoprene gloves and booties and let me tell you, that's the secret to staying in 37 degree water longer! Today I went in for a good 4 minutes and treaded water. It was really cool - at first it felt freezing, but after a couple minutes only my hands felt really cold, the rest of me felt kind of numb. The water felt thicker or something, while I was treading water I was much more acutely aware of it moving around me. Eventually I decided I didn't want to get hyperthermia on my second swim, and I got out. That was the weirdest part - when I got out of the water my skin was numb enough that I couldn't feel anything. Plus, it was pretty warm out for February, and so I felt warm and tingly. I stood around sort of toweling off but also kind of not needing to. After, I ate a lot of chocolate. I think I'm hooked.

There were three women who swam out to the ice shelf today. I wasn't confident in my ability to use my arms and legs to swim, and to not drown. But, I would like to try doing a little swimming next time and see if maybe I could, with the goal of getting to the ice. It was a little melty today because it was warm out (in the 50's in the afternoon!) but I feel like it will get cold enough for the ice to come back.

Once again, I'm pretty tired after swimming. Bed.   

Polar Plunge

This friend of mine has done cold water swimming for forever, and he invited our parkour group to come join his swimming group today. I was the only one crazy enough to take him up on it. I've gone swimming in some pretty cold water, but I think this was probably the coldest - it was around 32 degrees out and someone said the water was 36 degrees. So, apparently warmer in the water then outside, though it didn't really feel that way! Also, it was snowing out - kind of a weird day for a swim!

The way that it works, everyone gets there, you chit chat and socialize and hang out for a bit. There was a group photo taken. Then, you go down to the water, strip down to your swimsuit, and get in. Since it was my first time, I asked this guy who wasn't going in to take a video of me and it wound up being about a minute and 11 seconds. I was probably in the water for about 45 seconds. Mostly I had to get out because my hands and feet were freezing. If I'm going to do this again, I need neoprene booties and gloves so I can stay in longer. (I've already ordered them.) After you get out of the water you stand in a bucket of hot water to warm up the feet, then change in the parking lot. Then you eat chocolate, which is the best part.

There were some women there who were super hard core - they swam out to the ice and climbed out on it! It's snowing today, so they made snow angels and took a photo standing on the ice, then got back in and swam back. That would be pretty cool.

My hands and feet were really cold after, but the rest of me was OK - I do like to get into the ocean and lakes when it's pretty cold out, though this was beyond anything I'd done before. I'm still a little chilled - it will be interesting to see if I sleep better tonight, or have any other after effects. Definitely would do again!

Real Yoga!

My last yoga class in a yoga studio with four walls was March 13, 2020. I decided that today was the day to go back! It was a little sad because the studios I used to go to are now closed, and I had to do some research on where to go. I settled on b in Union, a studio that's close by that I'd never been to - I couldn't remember why until I got there and realized that they heat the studio a lot. It's not quite hot yoga, but it's really really warm. 

The class was really nice anyhow. It was pretty intense - 75 minutes with the middle of it being a lot of vinyassas, planks and sweating. Somerville has an indoor mask mandate (part of why I felt OK going) so all of this was compounded by my mask! There were a few times that I thought I might either puke or pass out, but I didn't. And then we had a nice long pigeon pose and I got down really far and was super happy about the heat.

I spent 10 days in Nicaragua in the end of January on a surfing and yoga retreat which I will hopefully go back and blog about. The place I stayed was so gorgeous, and the yoga studio looked out over the Pacific Ocean (it only had 2 walls though). All through class you could hear the waves, and in the evening we could see the sunset. Sometimes at the end of yoga, during shivasana, I imagine my yoga mat is a magic carpet and I'm flying somewhere cool. Today I took a trip back to the studio in Nico, and I can see myself doing that again in the future. It was so nice!

I hope that the numbers stay down and that we can go back to a little more normal again. Covid fatigue is real.