Holt Trail

We finally got a break in the heat - though it's still warm out it's not 100, so I headed off to Mt. Cardigan to do the Holt trail again. A friend and I have been talking about hiking Huntington's Ravine up Mt Washington, so I thought this would be a good prep hike. It was a lot of fun, but also pretty exhausting.

I meant to get up early and get out early and beat traffic and blah blah blah, which totally didn't happen. I left around 9:30, drove up without stopping and got there a little before 11:30, used the bathroom and headed out. The first mile or so of the trail is very chill, it starts on a dirt road and then goes up a pretty easy path. You go over this bridge and then things start getting real. Soon you come to the first crack of the slabby parts - the spot where the guy climbed over me 6 years ago - and the fun begins. I feel like this crack is the second hardest of the slabby bits. It's not that hard, but there was one place where I had to think about where to put my feet. Still, I enjoyed it and was excited to head up the rest of the slab.

This time I remembered that the relentless uphill continues after the first slab. It's not just slab connected by trail, it's slab connected by slab. Most of them are pretty fun, like this one below has some good spots to grab and put your feet.

This one, though is the last one by the top, and it's the spot that I struggled on the first time and accidentally bypassed the second time. This time I tried it a different way, going up towards the left, but then over to the right to the little flake and then traversing to the left over the bit of rock that gave me trouble the first time. Well, I made it successfully, there were no casualties, and no injuries, but there were definitely a few moments up by the top where I decided to not look down and not think about what would happen if I slipped. It was definitely a no-fall zone. Fortunately I didn't fall - I got to the side safely and let out a big sigh. 

I feel like it was still pretty hot out there, even though the heat wave is over. By the time I got to the top of the mountain I was feeling pretty pooped. During the last bit I had to take a lot of breaks to breathe and rest. I was so glad to see the tower at the top. I made myself do the last little bit of uphill and then sat in the shade of the tower for a bit eating. Unfortunately, although I had only seen one person that day (a woman who decided to go down Holt for whatever reason) of course there were a million people up top, including a noisy family with a pretty young kid singing pink pony club. As soon as I was feeling cooler I moved over to another section of rock and ate a bagel with peanut butter and some of my home made raspberry jam. It was delicious!

I had planned to go over to firescrew and down from there, but I was feeling hot and tired, and decided I was better off going down a faster way on clark trail, which is what I did. I actually really liked that trail - it started with some slabby parts, then went into the woods on some nice trails, and the joined up with Holt before all the craziness begins, so I didn't have to down climb any of it. I got back to my car and I was so hot and gross, I figured that if I went into the lodge and cleaned up I would be sweaty again in seconds because my car was so hot, so I just headed out. It's always a little tricky there because no GPS, but I'm getting the hang of it and only made one small wrong turn. I stopped at a gas station and got gaiter-aid and some super salty chips, and chowed down in the car on the drive home. I was so hungry!

Given that it was the end of the long weekend I was worried about traffic, but actually it wasn't that bad. It took about 2 hours to get home. I took a shower, ate some watermelon and ice cream (that's a healthy dinner, right?) and have been on the couch since. So glad I didn't do the hike during the heat wave - it was kind of slow going, but fine. All trails still thinks I went 5 miles, but it was less because I took a different route down. It was a little slower than the last time I did it due to the heat, but I'm OK with that. 

Established an outdoor exercise temp range

We are in the middle of a heat wave - I mean, even hotter than NOLA today! Yesterday when I went rowing it was 98 with a feels like of 104, today it was 99 with a feels like of 107, which is just a silly temperature for going outside to exercise. So, my range for outdoor exercise is 11 degrees/feels like -4 to 99 degrees/feels like 107. 

After my trip to NOLA I came back and was feeling kind of cruddy, I slept a lot on Sunday and just couldn't get myself to do anything, and then wound up with a migraine that went until Tuesday - fortunately not a killer one, but uncomfortable and tiring. So, I had to miss Monday rowing. Yesterday I was questioning my judgement in planning to go rowing, but I had missed a week and didn't want to miss more. And it turned out to be just fine - we went up river to where we were in the shade and there was a breeze. I was still soaked with sweat when we finished, but I felt fine at least. Tired, but fine.

Today there was a lot of discussion about rowing, and if we should in the heat. Coach sent out a poll and asked if we wanted to practice - he said it would be a really technical practice. I thought that would be really good for me, and also I had been inside all day and just wanted to get out and move, so I said yes. We wound up with 16 of us, plus 2 coxes and 2 coaches. Today's workout was really hard. Everyone was hot and cranky. We got stuck with the coach who is usually cranky anyhow, and so she was extra cranky. And it was clear that the cox isn't a fan, because coach was saying to do one thing and the cox was saying to do something else and they were just arguing back and forth and it was really stressful. And then the woman who was behind me was talking to herself really loud, and I couldn't decide if she meant for me or for her - it turned out sometimes both. 

There were also all these boaters out and so we had to go close to shore, and then the rudder got covered in seaweed and the cox couldn't use it to steer, so she asked me to stop rowing. But then the coach came over and was like "why isn't she rowing??" It was a thing. Also, we didn't do all the technical drills. We rowed almost 5.5 K, which is less than we usually do, but not nothing. I think 107 may be my limit - if it gets hotter I may not go. Although now that I'm back on my couch I'm glad I went.

After I went to my garden and gave everything a good watering. This plant showed up and it turns out it's camomile, and so I've been cutting the flowers for tea. The amazing thing is that the more you cut, the more they grow.  I think my raspberry run is over, but so many berries this year! I will be eating jam until spring :)

Conference but in a fun place

In 2020 our annual conference was supposed to be in New Orleans, but of course then COVID happened and it was cancelled. This year we finally got our NOLA conference - it was my first trip there and for the most part I really enjoyed it. I went with one of my coworkers, who got there first, and was like "it's a feels-like of 104" which is pretty insane. It was like that most of the time there. I'd known it was going to be hot, but it was HOT. Which limited how much I got out of the hotel. I was pretty psyched when I got my hotel room because I had a view of the Mississippi river right at Algiers Point, which is the deepest part of the entire river. It's also super tricky to navigate, and there are no pleasure boats on it, just working boats or big tour boats.

Anyhow, conferencing was fine. I learned some good stuff. But the food! It was soooo good. I ate my mandatory crayfish, bread pudding and beignets. All delicious. My coworker asked the uber driver for restaurant recommendations, and so we went to this place that was a little outside the city called Katies, where the special was a massive plate of crayfish for $20, which I got. It was not at all graceful to eat them, but so delicious. After we went to this jazz club called the Spotted Cat (because where else would a cat lady go?) and the music was so good. It was really fun just being in a jazz bar in NOLA. The band was selling tshirts because it's kind of a gig economy, so to help them out I got one :)

The next day my coworker went home and I walked to the original Cafe Dumont for my mandatory beignets, which were delicious. The cafe was outside, covered and with fans, but still so hot. I tried to walk around a little, but it was a feels like of 99, which was impossible for me. So I went back to my hotel room and watched the boats on the river for like 3 hours. I now know a lot more about boating in NOLA because I googled a lot of stuff while I was sitting there. Anyhow, it's nice to be home on my couch again, but glad that I had the chance to go! (Oh, and my upstairs neighbor looked in on the cats and Tigger didn't throw up once! Or she cleaned it up.)

Rainy row and raspberries

I pride myself on being weatherproof, and today was a good test of that. As I headed out to rowing the sky opened up and it rained. When I got to rowing, everyone was inside the garage there, and each person who came in was running and totally soaked. We stood around for a while, not sure if we were going to get out there, but after about 15 minutes coach said that it actually wasn't really windy, just raining. And we row in the rain. So, out we went. We were all immediately soaked and a little chilled, so there was no warm up, it was just 45 minutes of rowing back and forth in the area by the dock. We are finally set and not down to starboard, which is awesome. I'm still in the 2 seat, which I'm just fine with. There were a million blue herons, and at the end of the row there was this amazing rainbow. After I came home and took a shower, and it was so nice to be warm and dry when I was done.

My raspberries have gone crazy! I was at the garden over the weekend and they were starting to ripen. When I went back a couple of days ago there were so many that I had to go to star market and get a container to put them in - I got a 9 cup tupperware and filled it more than half way. And then I went back today with a different container and filled that. I bet I have about 10 cups of raspberries. It's so much - I think I'm going to have to make jam.

Mt. Paugus

I've been kind of cranky lately and thought a good hike might help - I think it did! A friend of mine did Mt. Paugus recently and really loved it. It's one of the 52 with a view, it's 8 miles long and 2500 feet elevation gain - so a solid hike but not killer, and it's a 2 hr 20 minute drive each way, which is a lot but not so bad. So, I decided to check it out.

For some weird reason I woke up a little before 5 am. On a normal day I guess I would have just gone back to sleep, but today I was ready, got up, and left a little after 5. I've been listening to hamnet, and that made the ride go so much faster. Before I knew it I was up there. I stopped for gas, so by the time I parked it was a little after 7:30, which I guess is the time everyone gets there? So many cars arrived right around the same time as me - I was worried. I also thought I had been there before, and I had - it's also the start of Passaconaway. I was so relieved to realize everyone else was hiking a different mountain. Anyhow, after a stop in what has to have been the cleanest portapotty ever, changing boots and being a little OCD I started off. 

It was a beautiful bluebird day - nice and cool in the morning, though it kept getting warmer throughout the day. The hike I did had a loop option, which I did going up Kelly and down old Mast road (which I felt was the right way to do it). The loop was about half the hike, there was a little bit at the start that was combined, and the last 2 miles or so are both on the same path. The walk up Kelly was so nice - it was a steady uphill, but not so hard that it was exhausting or anything. There was a creek next to the trail, everything was super green, the trail didn't have a ton of boulders on it, and the light was coming through the trees and looking shiny. For most of the hike up the trail lulled me into a false sense of security that it was going to be pretty moderate - ha! The last mile or so was pretty tough - I was getting hungry also, and so it just seemed to take forever. The worst moment of the hike was when I realized that although it was 8.1 miles, it is a loop, so that means it could be more than 4.05 miles up. Anyhow, I got up to the top and, although I had only seen one other person that day, there were three people and a very nice dog up there. And like a million bugs. I sat where they had been sitting, and it was really nice (except for the bugs), but I think I may have missed the nice view. Dope. I think I need to get the 52 with a view book if I'm going to do the rest of them, which I think I may.

I had a cheese and avocado sandwich on the delicious bread from bread obsession and an apple. But it was so buggy that I only wound up sitting up top for about 20 minutes. Which I knew might happen, so I was prepared to not be upset about it, which I wasn't. 

I thought the way down was going to be hard because I was kind of dying on the way up, but it was actually really nice. There were a few rocky areas, but for the most part it was all a dirt path, and it had switchbacks. The one down side to it was that there were 500 feet of elevation gain on the way down because the trail goes over a little peak. I thought that was going to suck, and it did. I was so glad when I was done with it. The way down was nice too, but I think I liked the way up more. 

I got back to my car and it was so so hot. I realized that it actually was pretty warm out. Which I should have know because I was sweating like a pig, and really grose. Anyhow, with all the bugs I turned the car on and the ac on and let it run while I changed my shoes and such outside with the door closed. By the drive back I was starting to get tired and stressed about the other drivers, but I bought some energy drink and a snack and held it together until I got home. Two thumbs up, would recommend!

Saving lives

I've done the Charles River swim three times now, and liked it less and less each time. The thing is that you have to swim a mile, and that's far for me. But they do have really nice tshirts. So, this year I signed up to volunteer on the safety team as a kayaker. And I rescued someone!

The hardest part of the volunteering was that you were meant to arrive at 6:30 am, which is really early for me. I just got a new folding bike (yay!) and so the plan was to ride the bike to the hatchshell instead of driving since it would take about the same and cost way less. Surprisingly I actually woke up at 5:30 and was ready to get up, so it wasn't that hard to leave at 6:10 and get there at 6:30. It's so much nicer than riding a blue bike - they are very convenient, but super clunky and heavy.

I was assigned to share a kayak with a lifeguard, and when I saw her standing on the dock I went over and introduced myself. We stood around together waiting for the safety briefing, but not really talking because it was just about 7 am. Then they took us by boat to where the kayaks are (I thought they were across the river, but actually they were at the community sailing place right next door). For some reason, though, I wound up switched out of the boat with the nice quiet lifeguard and being put in one with this other woman. We got in our kayak and instead of using her kayak paddle like a kayak paddle, she used it as a canoe paddle, doing 5 strokes or so per side before switching to the other side (Yes, I counted, because I was so surprised). So, of course we were zig zagging along, and then occasionally she would stick her oar in the water to steer. In my head I was like "and this is why I don't do team sports."

Anyhow, we got set up in our zone and soon the swimmers were off. The ones in front were so fast! It was amazing. And soon the big group was coming through. We were sitting and watching everyone when I spotted a swimmer just hanging out and yelling for help. And we were off - fortunately we were supposed to raise a paddle to get the attention of the safety boat, so I told the woman to hold her paddle up while I rowed. At one point she was bringing it down and I was like "lift it back up" because the last thing I wanted when someone was struggling was for her to take us zig zagging around. But then she was all "you are going too fast, you are going to hit her!" and slowing us down (I was not going to hit her, and even if I came close to her it would be better than having her drown). Anyhow, the woman was OK, she just had a cramp and wasn't feeling well. She grabbed onto the side of the kayak while the rescue boat came over. Another woman who was just tired of swimming but looked fine got in with her. So that was my save :)

A friend of mine was swimming and she was near the end of the pack. I found her and she was going a little off course - I wanted to spot her in, because there were plenty of extra kayakers so we could do that, but of course Ms. ZigZag couldn't help with that. I was so glad to get back to the paddle place and get out of that boat with her.

After my friend took me to Burlington because my car was in the shop there and she doesn't live that far away. But then it turned out that although it was about noon, my car wasn't going to be ready until like 4. It was really hot out and I didn't want to waste my Saturday, so I decided to ride the 12.5 miles home. I questioned my life choices for a bit, but actually it wasn't that bad - I had been thinking I would bike out to get my car, but decided not to because it was so uphill. But the way home was mostly downhill, which was awesome. Today I'm pooped.

Climbed a 5.11 B!

After the tough row I was so tired. I woke up in the middle of the night with my legs and back twitching and had to take some advil and a hot shower before I could fall back to sleep. Then Friday I was tired all day and instead of going to yoga I took a nap. It was pretty brutal.

Today it's been raining all day and super windy, perfect couch weather for the morning. In the afternoon I met a friend at the climbing gym and had an awesome climb! We started with a 5.8 which went quite well, then a 5.9, also clean. There was a new route that was labeled "5.Friday" which who knows what that means, but it looked interesting so I tried it. It was hard. Especially there were a couple of moves that were really difficult. But also it was pretty fun. After I did a 5.10a - clean until the overhangy bit, and two 5.10b's, both clean (though I have done them before and don't really think they are 5.10b's). Then there as a pretty nice looking 5.9, which I had to take a break on because my arms were becoming toast. After, I was going to do this other 5.10a, but right by it there was a 5.11b that didn't look that hard. It was kind of pinchy and fiddly, but not overhung, so I decided to try it. It was definitely hard, required a lot of rests, and wasn't pretty, but I got up it! I think if I climbed it earlier in the session I could have done it with a few lest rests and slightly less ugly. I'm going climbing with a friend on Thursday, so I'm going to try to get it again.

I can definitely tell that all this rowing is making me stronger, especially my legs. There were a few moves that were basically getting up from a one-legged squat. So, I felt really good about that. It's really nice to be back into climbing regularly again.

Bad Day of Rowing

The learn to row class finished and four participants registered for the regular rowing, so now we have a novice boat. Which of course I am in. I thought it would be great because we would have time to focus on things like early roll ups and such, but so far it completely sucks. It's only been two rows, so hopefully it will get better.

Today I was actually in the five seat! I don't get be in the center of the engine room often, so I was pretty psyched about it. It was also super windy, which kind of sucked. The thing that was no fun, though, was that we were down to starboard the entire row, so the release my oar was dragging on the water. It was so hard, and after a while it just made me so cranky. By the end I was so glad to get out of the boat.

We went over all the ways that the boat gets offset - different catch timing, different handle heights on the recovery and something else and tried to focus on them individually. Occasionally it improved for a few strokes, but then it went back to how it was. Which was sucky. By the end I was so annoyed I didn't want to focus on technique or timing, I just wanted to snarl at people. But I didn't. I hope we can improve, because it would be a whole lot of no fun to row like this for the rest of the season. 

Cox

Today was my first time coxing - we all survived, I didn't hit a bridge, and I even managed to get us back to the dock, so I'm considering that a win! We have a few people who cox sometimes, but mostly we just have to take turns doing it. I knew it was coming, and now I'm glad it's over with for a bit :)

I was assigned to cox in a 4, which I think was easier in some ways because there are fewer people in the boat to get confused about and because you sit up front and can see really well. It's also harder because you are up front and can't see the rowers. I kind of forgot, though, that the bow was right behind me and the stern was in the back because I was in a different space, which was really confusing. Otherwise, though, I did get everyone to turn correctly and figured out the steering of the boat pretty well.

I arrived a little early and asked someone for help with it, since I had never coxed before. She showed me where to get the cox box, headset, basket and emergency kit. And then she was like "all set!?" and I was like "no! How do I steer the boat?", so we went over and she showed me how to plug everything in and steer. When I got into the boat I realized how small the cox spot was and had to go get something to sit on - it's clearly not designed for a person with hips. Fortunately for me, while I was trying to get settled one of the other rowers accidentally set her boat adrift, and so we had to wait for her to catch it and get in, etc. 

At first I was super unsure about what was going on and how to steer, and about all the commands for the drills. And, I kept thinking I was going to hit the other boat. So things were a little slow. But once I got the hang of it we did a lot better. The woman who was in bow gave me some reminders, in a very nice way, and fortunately the workout was mostly just rowing at a steady state. I even was able to share the stroke rate with the rowers, and sometimes call the power 10's correctly. I have to say that they were really well balanced and in rhythm, especially once we got settled in - it turned out to be a good row.

There is a swan's nest right by one of the bridges and every time we have gone by there for the last few weeks there has been a swan sitting on eggs. I keep waiting for her to be either gone or sitting with her babies, but she was still there. I'm loving that it's definitely spring!

Put away the dryrobe

It's officially spring/summer - I put my dry robe away in the attic for the season and got out my summer mumu!  It was actually in the high 80's today and so the water at the lake is up to 68 - that's weather that most people can swim in, not just weirdos. 

On Tuesday it's supposed to get up into the 90's, so I decided that this weekend was a good time to start preparing for summer. I went to get my ac down from the attic, and once again instead of lowering it down I dropped it. Dope. I was googling if I could still use it because I couldn't remember what I did last year, but then I started reading that I should actually replace it because ac's are so much more efficient now than the were 10 years ago. So, today I did parkour, then I bought a new ac and installed it, then I went to the lake. Of course all the parking was full and it was a zoo there. Some of my friends have a folding bike, so they were able to park a mile a way easily, and I decided that I need one of those too - not just for the lake but also to leave a spot for hiking. So, I ordered one - we'll see how that goes, and if it's any better than bluebikes.

Also this weekend I put some plants in my garden. I did cherry tomatos, because they are the best. And kale, which we can all agree isn't the best, but it's good for you. And a sage plant because I feel like they are hardy. My rosemary came back from last year and I already planted snow peas. And of course the raspberries and horseradish returned. I still have a little space so I have to decide what else to put in - maybe tomatillos because they always grow so well? 

I took a personal day on Friday and was going to hike Lafayette and stay at the hut up there, but the weather report was saying sleet and freezing rain for Friday, as well as 30-40 mph winds for Saturday, so I stayed home and was productive in terms of getting my car inspected and renewing my parking permit. So, the hut is still on the bucket list. 

Rowing Port

I looked on the spreadsheet for seat assignments today and I was in the 2 seat - port side! I was sure it must be a mistake, but every time I looked I was still port. Even after the wind picked up and the singles and doubles had to be moved to an 8 and other people were rearranged, I was still port. But, I decided it would be good for me and didn't say anything. The irony was that the woman in the 3 seat was a port rower, and this was her first time on starboard!

Anyhow, it was super windy at the water and we were floundering around a lot, especially since I was doing things all wrong - for example holding before tapping down and keeping my oar handle too high. It was easier to feather with my left hand, but my whole body was confused because I was twisting and pulling opposite. By the end of the hour I sort of got it on port side, though I was still a little funky. 

Having rowed port, though, I think I should change myself to row both sides because I could feel that I was stronger on the other side, and if I'm doing this for fitness then I should really try to be balanced. But I'll make that change for next week, because it was really hard.

I took a personal day for Friday since I need to use them before I lose them, and I was going to hike Lafayette and stay at Greenleaf, but it says there will be sleet and a wintery mix, followed by rain on Friday and then winds up to 40 mph on Saturday. Maybe this makes me a fair weather hiker, but I think it makes me smart - I cancelled and am planning to sit on my couch with the cats instead.

April activities

Although I haven't been writing about it, it's been a busy April. I hiked Mt Major, went climbing in Quincy Quarries and have been rowing 3 x a week, mostly in the bow seat. 

Mt Major, as always, was an amazing way to start the hiking season. I went on April 12, which was still cold, but there wasn't really any snow to speak of. I was meeting a friend for dinner for her birthday, which forced me to get up early-ish and get moving. Good drive up, awesome hike, and lovely view at the top. I brought a delicious cheese and avocado sandwich which of course was amazing. The new path at the bottom is such an improvement, it's got switchbacks and a pretty trail instead of the washout that you used to hike. The only thing that wasn't great was there was a couple with a reactive doggo on the way up - I get wanting to get the dog out in nature and socialized, but at the same time it clearly wasn't ok with people. They stopped to let me pass, but then it was clear that they were way faster than me, so I had to stop and let them go by, which of course took longer than I wanted. After I didn't even go to Kittery because I had to get home, which I think was for the best because $$.

I went climbing with my brother and his partner when they were visiting. We decided on QQ because it's so easy to get to, there's slab, and the spray paint is so atmospheric. It had been a while since I was there - lots of new spray paint to enjoy, but fortunately the stuff on what we were climbing wasn't so slippery. I think people had already climbed it this season. We went to C wall, by the water, and did the nice slabby climb on a flake - I went up three times on different routes at the bottom - once on each side of the flake once through the center. Then we went to the area by the entrance and did a couple of climbs on the S wall. The spray paint does add a grade or two, plus the fact that I haven't done outdoor climbing for a while.... 

The AMC learn to climb group was out, and I felt nostalgic for the program. I did some reading on setting up a top rope today - the AMC was very much "no metal on metal" but it seems like everyone else now is like "connect your slings to the bolts with carabeners. And so that's what I did. Because advice changes, and it's way easier that way. I got a couple new slings at this climbing shop in Union Sq. They seem so thin, but the guy was all about the newtons and how they can hold an SUV and I would break before they did. And they were fine, and much easier to set up. So, I'm going with it for the future.

There was this one group from AMC that was near us that was struggling with their set up. Their rope was like 6 feet from the ground, untied, and the guy kept yelling up that it was fine. And I was like "no it's not!" because I'm not usually a butinsky, but that's just not safe. Anyhow, it was a really fun day and I'm going there again this weekend with a friend to do it again. 

Rowing continues to be a lot of fun - I feel like I might be getting a little better at it, though there is much to work on. There's this woman in my boat who's new, and she knows what she's doing even less than me, which is a bit of a feel-good, I'm not going to lie. I've mostly been in the bow, which is tippier than the three seat. It's such good exercise and so nice being on the water (except for days when it's cold, windy and or rainy - though even then a bad day of rowing is better than a good day of crossfit). I feel like I'm starting to get to know the other rowers better, and they seem like pretty cool people. So, psyched to continue with it this summer. 

Ergged 10K

I got to rowing today and people were rolling out the erg machines. I was so sad. It looked so nice outside from my couch, but at the river it was windy and cold and so instead of going out on the water we lined up in a row behind the boat house and ergged for a whole hour. It sucked. But also I did get to focus a little on technique and power, which was good. In the end the rower said that I went 10500 meters, which is a little over 10K! My longest erg ever. 

I think I need to do some research on this because I'm clearly not doing it as efficiently as possible - when we finished some of the folks who are really good looked like they were about to die. I was winded, but only in zone 2 for my heart rate. 

On Saturday I went to a full day women's parkour workshop which was really good. After warm up we did 2 morning sessions and 2 afternoon sessions, with a talk from a physical therapist about hips right before lunch, and a stretch at the end. One of the morning sessions was learning this coach's approach pattern for things like kongs - she does a step, step, then short step with feet close together, bends her knees and then takes off from two feet. It definitely made sense once you broke it down because it really kept the momentum going and allowed you to control where you were headed. We also did a morning session on handstands and gate vaults. The best part is that we did reverse gate vaults over a softer pad, which to me looked like a back walkover, and I could do them! In the middle of going over you hit a handstand position, which is something I struggle with - who knew that I just needed to approach the handstand from bending over backwards?? 

The hip session was really interesting - she talked about hip anatomy and we did an exercise at the end for the gluteus medius, which it the muscle that I need to work on the most. You put a band around your knees, stand on one foot, and then reasonably quickly move the other foot to the side, diangly back, straight back, and then next to your other foot and do a calf raise. You do this fast 10 times on each side and then your butt will hurt for 2 days :).  Super effective. I'm going to add it into the rotation with clam shells. 

After lunch we did swings and climbing. They have two shipping containers at the place where we had the workshop, and at first I didn't think I could climb on either of them. After I tried it out, though, I got on both of them! The first one had a scaffolding next to it to climb on, which was a little scary at first, but ultimately not bad. The second one just had a couple of bars next to it, and ridges that your feet could go into - once coach demoed how to do it I thought I could, and so I did. At first I was worried I couldn't get down, but then once I tried it it turned out to be very easy. Definitely a fun day!

First row of the season

Today was the first day back on the water! I'm glad I signed up for the whole season, it was a lot of fun. The group right now is pretty small, it seems that there are 19 of us, including two coxes.  Which is an eight, a four and some doubles - I guess they don't bring out the singles until the water warms up in case they tip over. 

Anyhow, we started in a big circle with introductions - your name and how long you have rowed. Everyone was like "6 years" "10 years" "2 years" and then I was like "3 months." And then the head coach moved me from the four to the eight. I was so sad because I had memorized everyone's names in my boat, but I didn't know the folks in the new boat. 

I had forgotten a lot over the winter, but fortunately the most essential parts came back to me. I didn't completely suck, or catch crabs or throw everyone else off. And throughout the class I got more into the rhythm of it, and was better able to keep time with the other rowers. The cox even complemented me on that :)

We started with some drills on placement, which I really needed to remember the different positions and how to move my body in legs-body-arms-arms-body-legs order. Then we went back and forth with four people at a time rowing and two steadying the boat, which was a really nice way to get back into things. I assume we didn't have everyone rowing at once because we were two rowers short - it worked for me, though. According to my watch we went 8.68 km with an average pace of 4'34" and my heartrate was in mostly zone 1, but got up to zone 2. 

It was really nice on the water. We got to watch the sun set and the stars come out. When we finished and were taking the boat out of the water I got wacked in the leg and now I have a shinjury - it's a little bloody and I bet there will be a bruise there tomorrow. Also, I bet I'm going to be sore tomorrow. 

Over the weekend there was a rally in the city that I went to with a friend. It was really nice seeing so many people out in support of democracy. I love the signs and the energy. Both our senators talked, as well as the governor and AG, and then a bunch of regular folks. And then the dropkick murphy's played, which was pretty awesome. The star of the band wound up being the ASL interpreter; he was so into it. At one point ken casey was like "this is our new seventh band member." I feel like there will be more protests and I'm going to try to go to them - I'm not sure if they really do anything, but it's better than staying at home acting like everything is OK.

Putting in the dock

I decided to register for the full season of crew this year. I will have to miss some days for work, but when I did the math I decided that the cost was still reasonable enough for what I would be getting, and it was such a good workout + being on the water that I want to do it. Today we put the docks and launches into the water. It was hard. Definitely a strength training workout!

There are 32 sections of dock, some heavier than others. Fortunately there were a lot of people there to help with the work, because it was a lot to move. One thing that I really like about the group is that everyone is equal - everyone was expected and accepted to lift and move things. A couple times I was in a spot where I was like "this is too heavy, I can't lift it" and guy would switch spots with me, but there was never a time when the guys were like "old ladies can't lift." For a while I held a rope that was attached to the dock in the water to make sure it didn't float away - that was cold because the rope was wet, and I thought about post 200 in VT - my hands did not reach that level of cold, thankfully. The most fun job I wound up with was moving the launches in the water around the dock with a couple other people. We got a good system going by the end. We start rowing on the 30th; I'm going to be sore tomorrow but hopefully will be better by the first day of rowing :)

The ask to help said that it would be from 8 am to 11 or 12, but by the time we finished it was 1:00. I was supposed to meet folks at the lake at 2, so I went home and had something to eat. I didn't shower because I was just getting into a lake. We went to the beach today because the ice is totally gone! That happened fast. It was nice to be in a little more nature-y setting, and the many bald eagles were still there to entertain us. There were at least 4, but maybe more. One juvenile flew over us with a giant fish in its claws. We sat around in the sun and enjoyed the birds and company for over an hour before we got it. 

The water is up to 41, which is still cold but obviously getting warmer. It's the warmest temp for and ice mile - I couldn't imagine swimming that. I wore my swim suit, booties with wool socks under them, mittens and a wool hat. It was cold getting in, but after a couple minutes it was a really nice dip - hopefully it will keep me from feeling as sore tomorrow. After my swim I wore my dryrobe, heated mittens, hat and uggs, but I didn't bring hot water and I didn't wear my heated vest. I did take a nice long hot shower and then sit on my couch with my hot pad.

Tomorrow I'm planning on hitting the garden for some clean-up, raspberry cane trimming, and spring set up. Super exciting! 

Eagle bonanza

It turns out that I was exhausted after my swim festival because I was sick - I had some chest cold that left me feeling exhausted for about a week and a half. It took two whole weeks before I could go swimming again, or really do any exercise. I'm better now, though, fortunately.

Last week we had a day where it got up to 76 with sun! It was so nice out that at lunch I had to go to the lake for a swim even though no one else could join me. The dock was covered in Tufts students enjoying the sun. I sat on a bench for a little bit and enjoyed it too. After a while it was time to get in. Even though it was warm out the ice shelf was still there, so my goal was to swim out to it, of course. I got in and headed out slowly, got to the shelf and tested it out. It was still a couple inches thick and when I put my weight on it it felt solid. There was some slush on top which actually made it easier to climb out, and as I was thinking about that I heard a general buzzing from the dock. I climbed out and stood up and all the students applauded me - it was pretty awesome, to be honest. Since it was so nice out I stayed in for over 10 minutes. When I got out my watch said the water was 37, which is still pretty cold. After I sat on a rock in the sun in my dry robe both feeling warm on the surface and also shivering. It was so weird.

Yesterday I met a friend at the lake in the afternoon. There were a ton of bird watchers and people with telephoto lenses, which had to mean eagles! Soon we saw three giant birds flying overhead. I wasn't sure if they were eagles - the body type looked right, but I didn't see the white heads. Later there were 5 of them, and one had the white feathers - I think the others must have been juveniles. It was pretty windy out, and they were catching drafts, hanging out, and just doing bird stuff. We swam for about 10 minutes - I went to the ice shelf but it was a little cracky and so I didn't get out on it. The water was up to 39. On the drive home I saw three more sitting on the ice, just hanging out and chilling. 

This morning I went and hung out with my friend in Gloucester at the quarry. We were a little worried that it would be frozen over and not swimable, but when we got there the was just enough cracking in the ice at the shore that we could get in. It was fun walking around on top of the ice, popping in and out of the water, and moving the ice around on the surface. The water was 39 there, so getting warmer, but still cold enough to get a nice shiver on the drive to get pancakes. I love that it's quarry season again!

Success!

The swim festival was this weekend, and again it was a success!! This year the festival was only 2 days - Saturday and Sunday - because there were fewer people swimming. We had booked our airbnb before they changed it from 3 to 2 days, and so we went up on Thursday and spent Friday skiing, shopping and playing. It was a really nice, and really exhausting, weekend. 

The most important part, of course, was the 200. Somehow I got lucky again and was paired with another slow swimmer who I beat by about 1.5 seconds. And I beat my friend who I always swim with - he actually came in last. It snowed on Friday night into Saturday morning - probably about 5 inches. In northern VT they are very efficient with the clean up though, so it was no problem to get to the lake. The hat racers started in flurries and by the end of that round it had stopped snowing. As I was walking out the sun came out - a good sign. Despite that I was not at all psyched about the swim, in fact I was kind of dreading it. But, that's what I was there for, and so I got in when they told me to, and then off I went. 

Once again I started too fast and my spotter had to tell me to slow down a little (which of course is kind of a funny thing to tell someone in a race, but it was really appreciated). The second length I slowed down a little and let my heart catch up to where it should be. On the third length I was like "this sucks, I'm getting out when I get back to the other side," because my heart was racing and I was feeling a little gaspy. But then as I was swimming back I had a little talk with myself and reminded me how much I had prepared and how frustrated with myself I would be if I got out, and that it was only going to take me another 3 or 4 minutes, and I could do anything for that amount of time. And when I got back I just turned and kept going until I finished. I did run into the lane line a bit and didn't focus on my stroke technique at all during the swim. When I was pushing off at the last turn I realized that the woman I was swimming with was just getting to the turn, and I put on a little speed to #1 finish and #2 beat her. We high fived and hugged and then got out of the water.

My hands felt like blocks of ice, they were so cold! I couldn't get my goggles off or my robe on (even though someone was assisting me) and my feet were so cold I couldn't bend them to put them in my shoe, and then I couldn't use my hands to move the strap that was in the way - someone had to do it for me. One I had shoes and robe on I was so happy to walk to the nice warm changing room, dunk my hands in hot water, and get a hot microwaved sock with rice in it. I got changed, warmed my hands on the sock a bit, and jumped around a little. I was smart this year and brought my own microwavable hot pad so I could take it with me when I left the changing room, and we were lucky that we got the table by the fireplace. I was thinking about going back to the airbnb to shower, but then there were french fries, so I just ate and warmed up and felt happy and accomplished.

It turned into a really nice day. I went and cheered on the other swimmers a little bit but then decided it would be amazing to ski across the lake - not something I would necessarily do here in MA, so I got my cross country skis and went for a little jaunt. Which was super fun. Because it had snowed the evening before the snow was light and flaky, but a bunch of people were snowmobiling around, so I went in their tracks. It was really nice skiing! I got back to the restaurant where the races are held, though, and realized that I'd kind of over done it. I was so tired and a bit dehydrated. I decided to go back to the airbnb, stopipng for a gatorade hydration drink, which I am sure saved me from a migraine. 

I went back for dinner and the awards celebration where the merfolk won the scallywag's award, which I think means that we are considered cool and "in," because I don't understand what else he was talking about when he gave us the award. One of our crew had written a song to the tune of an abba song, and so we sang it then (I sang in front of people and no one clutched their ears and ran, in fact they gave us a big round of applause). The dinner was all heavy sauces and gloopy stuff, and I decided to skip it and just go back to the airbnb - everyone else soon joined me. We were all pooped!

One of our group really wanted to do the 50 meter relay, but she'd been back and forth so much that I didn't think it was going to happen and signed up for the 100. But on Saturday night she talked a group of us into it - it's a 4 person relay, with each swimmer doing 50 meters for a total of 200. I was all "I'll do it, but I think I will switch from the 100 to the relay rather than do both of them." And then when I got to the restaurant on Sunday I got dressed and did the 100 and then the relay. Which was also hard! I remembered that last year before the relay I had been all "it's nothing. I did the 200, this will be easy." And it wasn't easy. So this year I kept my mental game up, reminding myself that it was still 100 meters and then 50 meters in 32 degree water, and that's no joke. Which I think was really important. Both races were fine. Hard, but fine. I didn't have as long as I would have liked to warm up between them. In fact I changed from the 100 right into my other swim suit for the relay. It was fun to go with my friends and swim as a group.

There was this olympic athlete swimming this year - I think he won silver in 2004. He was amazing - I just saw him swim the 25, but wow he was fast. Anyhow, he was supposed to be on the relay team that swam against us. At first I was like "that's gonna suck" but then I was really excited about it because how often do I get to race against and olympic athlete? Unfortunately there is a blizzard coming tonight into tomorrow, so a lot of people left early, and three of four members of his team weren't there. So they didn't compete with us. Probably they were just scared. :)

I haven't seen the time results for any of the races but the 200 (which I did in 5 minutes and 17 seconds, so 2 seconds slower than last year, which I can totally live with). My friends said that I looked strong swimming, and they couldn't tell that I wanted to get out of the water. Which I also felt good about.

I went cross country skiing three days in a row - I stopped on the way up at franconia inn which has trails. It's kind of behind cannon mountain. It was really warm that day and the trails were pretty slushy, so skiing was tough, but I still went for about an hour. On Friday I was thinking about going to craftsbury cross country ski area which is like 45 minutes away, but then I learned that there were trails right in newport, and the newport ones are free. So I did that instead. The conditions weren't that good, but it was nice to be skiing out in the wild where the scenery was so pretty. And then of course the ski across the lake which took me about a half hour.

As I mentioned, we are expecting a blizzard tonight into tomorrow, so I wanted to get home to beat the storm and buy some food. It's the end of school vacation week, so I was a little worried about traffic, but it was totally fine until Concord - the last hour was pretty crazy. This one idiot in a truck was so close to rear ending me, and there was no where for me to go to change lane - I just clutched my steering wheel and screamed. Because we were going pretty darn fast ( I bet he was going 100), fortunately he moved over to the next lane and went around me. I gave him the finger and fumed about it until I reminded myself that my being angry wasn't bothering him.

When I got home my cat had thrown up so many places and pooped on the bedroom rug. That was not a nice surprise. I spent a half hour doing clean up before unpacking. Now it's nice to be chilling on my couch. The tips of my fingers are still a bit numb which I guess will take a couple weeks to heal. But otherwise a really fun, though exhausting, weekend. Psyched to do it again next year. And also to go to the lake and just be able to play and have fun, while wearing my swim gloves and booties!

Final training swim

I finished my six 200's in February, two a week, to prepare for the big swim. And it was intense. Now that I'm done, though, I'm really glad I did it. Today is president's day and so I have the day off work. I slept in a little and then went to yoga class. After I was meant to go for a swim with a friend, but he messaged that he wasn't feeling well. I was like "I don't want to go. It's just me, I can go on Wednesday." But then another person from the group said that she was going to come just to say hi, and I was like "fine, I'll go, but I might not swim." Of course then I got to the lake, put on all my stuff, and swam. It was hard. But now I'm so glad that I did it!

According to my watch it was 35 degrees and I swam a little over 200 meters in less than 8 minutes I think. Which is not less than five minutes, but whatever. According to my watch I did the first 200 at a 1'07" pace, and after that at a 3'44" pace. Which is just not true. So, I can confidently say that my watch isn't always correct on the pacing. Hopefully it's good enough.

Yesterday I went cross country skiing. That makes 11 times so far with the annual ski pass, just need 4 more to make it worth the cost. It's nice that there is still real snow on the tracks, so the place is a lot bigger. There is an area on the other side of the river that's a blue track that I tried for the first time last week and discovered that I love. If there's snow over there, that's my place now. The tracks wind around on the golf course, you can see the river, there are trees and it's a little less crowded. There's one big hill that's a little hard to go down, and even harder to get up. But it's really not that bad. I'm planning for some skiing during the trip to vermont and am pretty excited about it. If I like it on a golf course I think it's going to be really amazing in the woods.

One week left...

A group of us met at the lake today for some swimming. I was just going to dip and maybe play around on the ice shelf, but my friend who is doing the 200 was all "I'm going to do a practice swim!" and that motivated me to do one as well. I wasn't super psyched about it, but what can you do?

Even though it was warm out today there was no sun and a bit of a wind off the water - it felt colder than yesterday! By the time we had chatted and hung out and such I was already a little cold, but then I reasoned that being a little cold before getting into a 35 degree body of water isn't really a deal breaker. I was so not excited as I put in my ear buds, but now I'm so glad that I did the swim! Just one more on my completely unscientific training plan.

The ice shelf was pretty much in the same place as yesterday but there were more of us swimming.  I swam sort of at an angle to the ice shelf and back five times. I wore the thin gloves and no booties. My hands were pretty cold at the end. I know they will be killing me on race day! It was a tough one, but I reminded myself during the swim that I can do anything for 10 minutes and I would be so glad when it was done. Which I was. By the time I finished everyone else was out of the water and someone had poured my water into my bucket again. It felt so good to put my hands and feet into the hot water.

I spent some time reading about swim stroke yesterday and it said that you should imagine that you are rolling your arm over a barrel at the start of the pull to get a little extra oomph, making sure that your hand goes down fast so that you are forcing the water behind you instead of down. I was able to focus on this for most of my swim, and I thought maybe I was moving faster than usual, but when I got out of the water and looked at my splits it was significantly slower than yesterday. So, maybe don't try to change the swim stroke the week before the race.

We are going to go again on Monday and I will try to get in my last official swim then. I am also thinking that I will try to go on Wednesday, just to play around in the water a little, maybe with no gloves on. Or maybe I will go out to the ice shelf again and have a little fun before the big day. 

Right now I'm registered for the 200 on Saturday and the 100 on Sunday. We keep talking about doing the 50 relay on Sunday as well. Now I know I can do the 200 two days in a row (of course, with gloves. Without gloves is next level.) I will think about doing all three, but we'll see...

8 days to go

Today I met 3 friends at the lake for a swim. We got there at 4:00, which is a cutting it a little close with the sun going down. By the time everyone got there, chatted and puttered around it was about 4:30 and I was starting to get antsy because although sunset is after 5:00 the trees around the lake mean that you stop feeling any warmth from the sun before that. So, finally I just got ready, remembered to put in my ear thingies, got my goggles and thin gloves (no booties) and headed to the water. Everyone else was still fully clothed, but I was like "see you on the other side," and went for it! 

My strategy of acclimatizing is working because although it was cold, I felt fine as I started to swim. The ice had melted back and I was able to swim almost as far in each lap as usual, though not quite. I got acclimated pretty fast and was able to spend most of the swim focusing on technique, counting strokes, and trying not to hit anyone. I didn't manage to swim in a straight line, but whatever.

Towards the end of the swim I had that funny feeling that my hands were outside my gloves again, but not quite as bad. When I got out of the water one of my friends was pouring my hot water into my foot bucket for me, which was so nice! My hands and feet were so cold, it was super helpful to just be able to get them in the water without fumbling with pouring. I will say that my feet and hands are getting more used to the water now that I'm not wearing the booties and thick mittens (though I'm excited to go back to them after the Big Swim). 

We had a 4 person team for the relay last year and it seems like we are going to get one together again this year. I am now registered for the 200 and the 100, I'll have to decide if I will also add the 50 or just switch from the 100 to the 50 relay. I'm going to try to get in two more 200 swims before race day - it looks like it's going to be a warm week, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Solo 200

No one was able to join me for a swim today, so I popped over to the lake by myself at lunch time. It was beautiful out - 30 degrees with sun and almost no wind. It felt positively balmy compared to some of the recent weather. When I got to the lake, though, it was so frozen in! Even though both agitators were going by the docks the area that we usually swim in was covered with a thin (but not insignificant) layer of ice, leaving me only a short space by the shore on either side of the docks to swim. At first I was like "well that's it, I can't do it." But then I calmed myself down and made a plan. There may have been a little more space on the far side of the dock, but it was in the shade and I wasn't so excited about swimming there. The side where we usually swim was at least in the sun, and there was enough space for about 15 or so strokes with each arm before turning around. I was a little nervous, though, because there's a spillway that pulls water underground near the dam, and it was bubbling a little. So, I decided to swim on the sunny side, but to turn around well before the bubbling. 

I've been trying to acclimate my hand and feet, and went for my first dip without booties yesterday. My feet were so cold! I didn't wear booties again today and they were much better. I also wore my thinest gloves instead of the nice cozy mittens. Because my feet were bare I decided to step in off the dock, walk up to my waist, and go from there. 

For whatever reason, it was actually a pretty easy swim today! In part because I had to stay close to shore and so when I turned around I could put my feet down and push off (something that you can do on race day) and in part because of the sun. I did have to swim shorter laps of about 10-15 strokes in each direction, but I still went to about 175 strokes with each arm, which should have been a 200. For whatever reason my watch didn't pick up the distance correctly - maybe because I was swimming such short laps? At one point I did run into the ice shelf and cut up my arm a bit, but otherwise it was uneventful. When I got out I was cold, especially my feet, but not freezing. I did a quick change, got into my car, and came on home.

It's hard to believe that the Big Swim is just 11 days from now! I'm hoping to get in three more practice swims before the event. That's just 4 200's left this season hopefully. Then I can go back to playing on the ice shelf :) 

Another 200

I did my second 200 this week! I met a couple friends after work at the docks - it's so nice that the sun is going down after 5 these days so we still have sun at the end of the day. I used voice to text to message about the swim, and I accidentally sent a message that I would be there at R. The messages that get mixed up are so funny :)

It was mostly cloudy and gently snowing while we were there. I love that kind of weather, where it's so silent and everything has almost a pastel haze. One of the docks had come detached early in the winter and floated next to the other one, but when we got there today it was reattached where it belonged. Which meant that the area that I was swimming was smaller. I decided to swim on the other side of the dock, in the normal area, and maybe just have to do an extra lap and try not to hit anyone.

I did have the thinner gloves today but I forgot my crocs - I should just put them in my bag now before I forget. Anyhow, my hands were plenty cold in the gloves, I guess it's OK to wait for next time to torture my feet.

I got into the water, walked up to my waist, and went for it. Again, the first strokes were so hard, but then I could focus better on technique and breathing. I went out the the ice shelf and back 4 times before stopping to look at my watch. When I did, it looked like I was still a little short, so I did some extra strokes, and then wound up having to do more. In the end it was about 200 strokes with each arm. One thing that was nice was that I swam all the way back to the shallow part and was able to turn around and push off from there. At the other end it was slower because I had to make sure not to run into the ice shelf and and to turn with nothing to push off of. In the end I did a little over 200 meters in about 9 minutes, which is a little faster than I've been going. I think the push-off helps (which there will be two platforms at the swim fest, so double push off).

By the end of the swim my fingers especially were really cold. They felt like they were outside the gloves instead of inside, which I know isn't possible. But still I spent the last lap thinking about it anyhow. After the swim I was cold, but not too bad. In addition to jumping up and down and waving my arms around I also ran a couple laps in the parking lot to help warm up. I did have a good shiver in the car on the way home and a nice hot shower. 

Tomorrow its supposed to snow and Sunday it will be very cold - a high of 14 according to weather underground. When I looked at the forecast for northern Vermont, it's supposed to be a high of -2, without wind! I feel like if it was that cold on the festival day they would have to cancel, not for the swimmers but the judges and volunteers.

I'm hoping to get in 3-4 more practices before the big race - I can't believe it's only 15 days away!

Mock 200

Things are starting to get real - the big race is in 18 days, so I need to stop sledding into the lake, climbing on the ice shelf, and get in some practice. Today I met a couple friends at the lake at lunch time for a swim. It's been so cold and windy out that the 32 degrees with sun and no wind felt so nice. I was standing around in my dry robe feeling a little hot. Of course, once I got into the water that all changed.

I decided to do the swim on the far side of the docks because the water over there is a little more open and I thought I could swim more in each lap. Which I think was a good plan. I got in and went for it, just like at the swim fest. Again, the first 20 or so strokes were fine, then it was really hard for about 40 strokes, then it was fine again. Unfortunately something was up with my watch because it said that I only swam 88 yards, which I know isn't true. I counted my strokes and it should have been a full 200 meters, maybe more. Hopefully more, because it took me almost 10 minutes, and I think we can all agree that that's more than 5 minutes. Hopefully during race day I will be a little faster with the push off the wall instead of having to stop, turn on nothing, and then go in the other direction. 

After the swim I was so cold at first, then better, then really cold again. I tried not taking a shower when I got home, but it was killing me, so I caved and did. And it felt awesome. On race day of course I can't shower, but I will get to change in a nice warm room, and someone will bring me a hot sock filled with rice, etc. 

I do need to work a little on acclimating my hands and feet. I've been wearing booties because I don't like walking on the pavement without them. A friend brings his crocs and puts them on in the water. I think I need to try that. I did swim with gloves on today instead of the lovely mittens, but I could only find one of the thinner gloves so I had to wear my thicker ones (what can you do?) Of course when I got home I found the second one in my bag. My plan is to go for another swim on Friday at lunch and bring the thin gloves and crocks and see how it goes.

Yesterday I had my last swim lesson for the session. We did a lot of drills with different strokes, but while practicing my freestyle I really focused on tightening my core and the pull work. Hopefully they won't pull me out of the lake if I'm going too slow, but if they do they do. I don't think I will be much faster over the next 20 days. 

Sledding at the lake

We got a nice storm over the weekend - super fluffy snow that took an entire day to come down. I spent Sunday doing a puzzle and overeating and really enjoyed it. We wound up with almost 2 feet of snow, which was the largest storm in 4 years.

One of my swim friends has long wanted to sled down the hill at the lake into the water, and today we did! It was so fun. Not the longest sledding hill, but reasonable. And the splash at the end was epic. The water was 36 and the air was in the 20's. While sledding I was fine, but I had a big case of shivers on the drive home. 

Before sledding it had been such a stressful day, but once we started I immediately felt better. 10 of 10 would absolutely do again.

Cold Day Swim

Since it was the coldest day of the year we of course thought it was a good idea to go for a dip today. According to weather underground it was 11 degrees out, with a feels like of -4. I will say, though, that we found a spot by the building where there was sun and no wind, so that make things a little easier - when we were changing it was more like 11 degrees. Which is not warm.

Because it's so cold the water temp was down to 35 again. The best part, though, is that the ice shelf is back. Of course I swam out to it and got on. I decided that maybe I've been cutting myself getting back in, as opposed to getting out, and so I sat on the shelf and slid in on my butt. I noticed much less in the way of scrapes, so I think that's a good strategy. We stayed in for about 7 minutes and I took my gloves off at the end to acclimate my hands. My new mittens are amazing, and dang it's hard to stick my hands in the water. The big swim is going to be intense.

After I had a lot of after drop on the drive home. I took a long shower and sat on the couch with my hot pad for a bit. And then I started feeling so tired that I took a nap (which was quite delightful). I'm still psyched about the upcoming storm - I hope it's going to be a fun one.

One month to the Big Swim

The winter swim festival is fast approaching, and so a friend and I went to the lake for a practice run. It's not too bad out, except that it is pretty windy. We're expecting bitter cold tomorrow and a big snow storm on Sunday, so lunch today seemed like the best time for a practice 200. We decided to do our changing by the parking lot so that the boathouse would block the wind - it was definitely a good decision. After getting changed, remembering to put in my ear plugs, putting anti-fog spray on my goggles, etc, we headed down. I was really really dreading the swim, but as I walked in it actually wasn't that bad in the water. My watch later said that the water was up to 36, which is still pretty cold. I wore my new mittens which really are such a game changer in terms of my hands, which also helped. Finally, the sun was out and even though it's not very strong this time of year it still made a difference. 

I walked in to about my waist and then just went for it. Of course the water was cold and I felt a bit breathless. I made sure to watch my pace and not swim too fast. There was a nice big space open between the docks and the dam, and so I was able to swim about 25 strokes in each direction, doing four laps. That's the same as the actual swim. After doing my laps I stopped for a minute to take my gloves off so I can acclimate my hands to the water a bit. It was so cold! I did another 20 strokes with each arm before finishing. In the end I did about .13 miles, which is a little more than the 200. I was in the water for 10 minutes, though it took some time to walk in, to take off my gloves and to do my last little swim. According to my watch I was swimming about a 3'42" pace, which is definitely slower than my pace last year at the race - there I did 2'34 for the first half and 3'15" for the second half. I think having extra adrenalin and a wall to push off of makes a difference on race day, but it's still definitely slower than 5 minutes for the 200. 

On Wednesday after work I stopped at the ski place to get in another few laps. I skied for a half hour and was pretty excited to see that my pace jumped up to an average of 3.4 mph, with the second half actually being at a 3.7 mph pace! I think I'm starting to get how it all works. I still can't ski outside of the tracks and hills are a puzzlement, but I'm quite happy with my progress. And I love that it's such good exercise in an outdoor venue.

We are expecting a big snow storm on Sunday into Monday - the amounts keep getting bigger and bigger, but it sounds like it's going to be over a foot of snow. I'm super excited about it. I've got a puzzle, food and cats - I hope the storm is up the the hype!!

Faster skiing

My office was closed today because we had a big event over the weekend - the best part was that I didn't actually have to help with the event! I just got a free day off :) After sitting on my couch for a bit I visited with a friend who is fostering a puppy (so cute) and then went skiing. It was sunny but really cold out, which actually feels like perfect ski weather to me - I always work up such a sweat. The best thing though, was that there was almost no one there, and the whole place was open. There wasn't a single person lying in the tracks or just standing there that I had to pass - it was much better in terms of annoyance factor.

I watched a few youtubes last night to work on my understanding of the mechanics of skiing, and I think they were helpful! According to my watch I was going about 3.2 miles an hour, which is still a pace I could walk, but it's faster than yesterdays. For part of the time I really felt the balance shift and glide as well as the kick back. And, I am getting more comfortable with the angle of my weight being forward.

I did three loops around the bigger track and on the second loop I did an extra circle around the long flat part for some extra practice. According to my watch I went 4.3 miles in an hour and 22 minutes, most of the time in zone 3 for heart rate, but a full 20 minutes in zone 4. It's funny how much easier it is to get my heart rate up doing skiing than it is erging at the gym. 

The only thing that I haven't really figured out for myself is the water situation. I don't have anything to carry it in, and I'm always so thirsty when I finish. I suppose I could just stick one of those small water bottles in my pocket. 

All and all, I was pretty happy with the day's exercise, and enjoyed it so much more than a day at work :) 

Ski and Swim day

Today is one of my swim friend's birthday and so we were planning a group dip at the lake. Also, we had snow last night, and it was beautiful out. So, I decided to combine skiing and swimming into one adventure. The plan was to go skiing for an hour, come home, change, and then hit the lake. Unfortunately my bed was a little too cozy, and my coffee a little too good, and by the time I was ready to go ski there wasn't time to come home in between. So, I made it one big outing.

I made a cake for my friend last night, so I had my skis, the cake and my swim gear. Plus all the necessary clothing changes - my swim suit and easy to take off/put on clothes and my dry robe. It was so much stuff - I think I've traveled to foreign countries for two weeks with less equipment. I took my skis out first, put them in the car, and brushed the snow off. While I was there the guy who parks next to me got home - he drives this massive 4x4 truck (which at first I wasn't excited about, but I have to say that he can fit it in his space just fine, without being a hinderance to me at all). Anyhow, he helped me clear my car and we chatted a little. Then I went back inside, changed into my ski gear, and took two more trips to bring everything else out.

When I got to the ski area the parking lot was completely full. Fortunately my outstanding parking karma once again worked, and someone left with perfect timing for me to get their spot. I changed my shoes (so much easier to do with cross country than downhill), grabbed my gear and headed up to ski. Even though there were a ton of people there it wasn't that crowded because the whole place was open. I did a much bigger loop than I had been doing - it's a little over a mile. I had time to go around twice, and then I did a few quick back and forth passes closer in to the lot because I was running out of time. To some degree I am getting the rhythm of skiing - it feels a little like skating where you are pushing with one foot and gliding on the other, and to some degree I have a long ways to go. On the bright side, it seems I was moving faster than most of the other skiers in the little track things. But also, they were moving slower and it was kind of annoying. I kept having to step out of the things to pass people. And as soon as I step out of the tracks I'm slower - so frustrating. I should have several more opportunities for skiing this week because my office is closed tomorrow and then I'm going in on Wed and Thurs, so I can go after work. According to my watch I went 2.8 miles in an hour, which again is just a little slower than if I walked. I did get my heart rate up pretty well - over 20 min in zone 2 and over 25 min in zone 3.

After I finished skiing I was so hungry! I thought that I might need something to eat and had brought an orange, which definitely wasn't enough. I had just enough time to stop and get a slice of pizza, which I chowed on in the car, before swimming. 

My friend is a teacher at a school that was actually closed for a couple days last year due to norovirus, so needless to say I didn't put candles in the cake for her to blow out, instead we just lit a regular candle, sang, and she blew that out. Then we went for a dip. 

The water is still 35 though the ice shelf has melted back a lot. I was thinking about doing a real swim, but just couldn't psych myself up for it (I did one on Saturday, so I felt like I had done my hard-core work for the week.) Instead I went out to the ice and found a spot where I could climb on it - it was pretty slushy and thin, but there were still some solid bits. I could feel the ice moving as I was standing on it so only stayed up for a moment. It's supposed to be really cold again, so maybe we will have more freezing. After our swims we all ate cake (which I have to say was delicious), chatted and bounced around to warm up. 

Yesterday I went climbing at my fav gym, metrorock. I warmed up with a 5.7 on autobelay, then I did a 5.8, 5.9, and three 5.10's - an a, b, and c. The 5.10 b killed me, I fell so many times. I really liked the c - it's in my favorite chimney, though I also fell on that one. And the a is on my fav slab - I just fell once on that one. I cooled down with a 5.7 that was fun. My arms were toast at the end, though I think seven climbs is pretty good.

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: