33!

It's getting even colder! Tomorrow is supposed to be in the low 40's for a hot second, but otherwise it's looking really good for ice!!

Yesterday it snowed in the morning - a nice light snow that was pretty and actually quite packable for snowballs, but not difficult for driving. So perfect. I went to parkour and then met a friend at the beach. The lake was starting to ice over, but wasn't frozen completely, and near the beach there was about a 15 foot gap in the ice next to the shore, where I was able to swim. It was so fun going for a swim while it was snowing and I really wanted to do a practice 200. I walked into the water, got my bearings (ie peed, because it's an autonomic response to such cold) and then went for it. The first length was brutal, but I pushed through it, turned around, and then had a lap that was easier. On the last length, though, my goggle started leaking, and then filled up with water. I had to swim back with my eye closed. And, it was so cold! I finished and took the goggles off, but had to walk out of the water with my eye closed and towel off before I could open it. It felt puffy and I felt a little nauseous. I wore my gloves again, but my hand were still freezing, so I think focusing on warming them helped the discomfort pass. Anyhow, the water was down to 33! I felt pretty good about that swim. After a little beach warm up I went to meet a friend for climbing. In the car I had some definite after drop with a good shiver. Fortunately there was a little bit of traffic and I blasted the heat and tried to warm up. It was a nice day of climbing - I actually did a 5.10c, though I really didn't think it was that hard. I did have to rest 3 times, but still...

Today a group of us went for a swim. We arrived at the beach and it was frozen. The ice wasn't that thick, we could break through it with a stick, but it was think enough that it would have required breaking through. I kind of wanted to swim there in the ice, and just clear a path, but wiser voices prevailed. It's so easy to cut yourself on a shard of ice and not even feel it because you are so cold. So, we went to the dock. We had a pretty good sized group and it took a while for everyone to get ready. I started getting antsy, and wanted to get in, so finally I just did it. I thought about diving, but one of my friends was all "you could have a heart attack," and even though I didn't think I was going to, her disapproval got to me, and I walked in. 

The best thing was that there was an ice shelf!! There hasn't been one there since I first started swimming, the first season, before I felt confident enough to swim out to the shelf. The last time there was an ice shelf I just watched all the other crazies climb out on it, but now I feel much more ready to do it myself. Unfortunately when I got to the shelf it was too thin to stand on - I tried putting my weight on it, but it just broke off. It's supposed to be cold again, so hopefully it will freeze over for real this week. It would be so exciting. Anyhow, I stayed in for about 6 minutes, but didn't put my face under at all. After, with the sun, the warm up wasn't that hard - we did a little dancing and some chatting before heading out.

A good weekend of swimming, with promises for more good stuff to come!

34

It's getting colder out! We've had a bit of a cold spell, and the water at the lake is at it's coldest ever that I've measured - 34. Which is cold. It's been even colder out of the water - it's been super windy and cloudy, both things that add to the chill after the dip, and the lack of desire to get into the water in the first place. Because of the wind, the water isn't really frozen except around the edges. Someone told me that Walden is frozen now, as are a bunch of other lakes that are more protected from the wind.

I've been swimming/dipping at the lake 4 times since I last posted on Saturday. Sunday I went and did another practice swim of about 200 meters in 36 degree water. It was cloudy out and when I got out of the water I couldn't feel my hands. After they warmed up they still felt chilly, and I had spots on the tips of my fingers that were numb.  I feel like the feeling has returned, but I've been wearing neoprene gloves since then. 

Monday I returned to my swim lessons at MIT, where I swam 1400 yards. For some reason my watch picked up my crawl as butterfly - I know my stroke isn't perfect, but seriously? It turns out that this isn't an uncommon thing with the apple watch, so I will live with it. 

Tuesday I met a friend at the dock in the afternoon at my lunch break. It was sooo cold out, according to weather underground it was 22, but 9 with windchill. While we were getting ready, an animal control officer snapped a shot of us and wrote "-5 wind-chill. These two are BEASTS." So maybe it was -5, I feel like we should go with what the nice animal warden says. Anyhow, the water was so choppy with the wind that I didn't even want to swim breast stroke with my head out of the water. I wore booties and gloves and walked in and just treaded water for about 3 minutes. It was warmer in the water, 37, but of course it felt pretty cold, especially with the wind. I had to get home to get back to work, which was just fine because it was too cold to hang out.

Thursday and Friday's dips were in the dark and the water was down to 34. Because it was dark out they were dips, not swims. I was thinking about a swim tonight, but that was just crazy thinking, it was way too cold without some sun. Both times I stayed in for about 5 minutes and felt fine in the water, ok after coming out, but then cold for a while after. Still, successful dipping! 

It's six weeks to the Big Swim, definitely going to keep plugging away with the practice and crazy dip schedule. I am going to keep wearing the gloves because I don't need it to take until summer to feel the tips of my fingers again. And I'm going to try to swim swim whenever I can, meaning when I can do daytime swims. 

In other news, I have been going to a new yoga studio that's in the same place as an old studio I used to go to pre-covid, and I'm pretty happy with it! My favorite yoga instructor doesn't teach there, but I had a new instructor this week who shares on her page that she's a witch, so that's got to be the next best thing. I've had several instructors there and they've all been good, and it's a little less expensive than the last place I was going, so that's a win too. 

36!

I'm in full training mode for the winter swim fest - today it was about 31, but with the wind felt colder = somewhere in the low 20's. Perfect for a swim at the lake. I met a friend there at 2 for a practice run. The water in most of the lake was pretty choppy with the wind, but fortunately the beach was not too bad. 

We were doing our usual procrastinating routine, chatting about life and what a stupid idea it was to go for a swim, when this guy in a pancho, carrying a little drum came down to the beach. He said some friends were joining him for a dip, and sure enough this gang of hippies soon arrived. They were all cool, of course, and we chatted for a bit. The guy with the drum did a little song and chant, and everyone stood in a circle with their eyes closed swaying along. As they were drumming we finished our prep and got to it with the swim.

I did it festival style, wearing only my swim suit, cap, goggles and ear plugs I walked in up to my waist and then went for it. It actually didn't feel that bad, except of course my hands were freezing. I swam 2 laps, four lengths - I now just count to 40 strokes for each length and then turn around. It seems to be just about perfect for the 200. I could see that my friend was swimming for some of the time, and then she walked one length, and then swam again. After she said she forgot ear plugs and the cold water in her ears was just too much. I can believe it! I could also see the hippie drummers in the water - not all of them but a good number. We finished, high fived, and got out. According to my watch the temperature was 36, which is the coldest swim so far this year.

When I got out my hands were so cold I could barely move them, but the rest of me was fine. I stuck them in some hot water and they felt better right away, then I poured the water into my foot bucket, stepped in, and went about warming up. It was really cold with the wind, so we decided to sit in my friend's car. We enjoyed some tea and chatted for a good hour before heading out. My friend is going to be my spotter for the 200 at the festival, and has promised to prevent them from making me get out of the water - it's taking me almost 7 minutes to do the swim, which is still not within the minute limit, so she may have to fight someone :)

I'm planning to go again tomorrow. I think in some ways swimming is easier than dipping because with dipping I always feel obligated to stay in for like 10 minutes, and for the last few minutes I'm just sitting there feeling cold and wanting to get out. This way I am at least moving and out when I finish. 

New Year's Ski

I worked yesterday and got through all of my vacation email and such, and I really wasn't excited about work today, so I decided to take a personal day and go skiing. Skiing is personal to me, right? It was a great idea! I went to pat's peak, which remains my fav mountain, and got in about four hours of skiing, which I think is kind of my limit on how long I enjoy it in a day.

I kind of overslept and when I got up at 8:30 I was trying to decide if I should go or not. But then I had taken the day off, it was going to be beautiful out, and I don't know if I'll have a lot of other opportunities. So, I decided to go, even if it was a little later than I usually like to. I left home around 10, stopped at the concord rest area for a bio break and to get an egg salad sandwich, and then arrived at the mountain around 11:30. They have a new RFID system, so in the future I can just reload my card, saving time buying tix - yay! Although I wound up parking in the second lot, the trails were really open and there wasn't any line at the lifts until around 1 or 2, and even then it was short. I really enjoyed the longer trails, and loved going down the long greens. According to my watch my longest run was over 6 minutes, and I got up to 25 MPH! My slower runs I was only going 17-20 miles max. According to online sources, that's kind of an intermediate speed, but the online sources don't know that I was on a green :)

I worked a lot on my edging, bending my knees and leaning forward, and trying to keep my body facing down the mountain. I notice that as soon as I become uncomfortable I stand up taller and snowplow my skis (like when this dude came from behind me and almost crashed into me. That was a not fun moment.) I also worked on making a shorter S pattern with my trail, rather than going back and forth across the entire path. I think that's when I started to pick up speed. 

By the end of 4 hours I was getting pretty cold and the mountain was filling up with school groups, so I headed out. The drive home was kind of stressful because there was a ton of traffic, but fortunately it's "only" an hour and 20 minutes drive, so it wasn't too bad. I'm sitting on my couch feeling pooped now! 

Hello 2025

A good start to the new year - I did yoga that started at 10:15 and finished at 12:05 last night. It started with a regular, pretty flow-y, not unintense class for about the first hour, then moved to a more restorative, yin practice for about 40 minutes, and finally finished with an extended shavasana. The class was super crowded - every inch of floor was taken and people were pretty on top of each other. At first I was a little annoyed because the woman next to me didn't move over at all when I first got there, so we were extra smushed, but I let it go. Later she fell asleep and started snoring - ha! Anyhow, I really liked the class and felt really good after. 

We had a group plunge at the lake, with meeting at 1 and plunge at 1:30. It was so fun to have everyone there, and some newbies came as well! And, there was a news crew from the local TV station, which was kind of fun. It was pretty warm out again, and the water was so smooth, it seemed like a shame to waste the day just dipping, so a few of us did a 200 meter swim. I think the news folks were impressed, and they asked us a few questions as we came out. I was cold and not really that articulate - they kept asking me why I did cold water swimming, and I kept saying it was an adrenalin rush, and I liked the community, but I think they were looking for something else? Anyhow, there was a brief clip of me saying I was in for about 6-7 minutes, and the voice over called me a "diehard."

My hands were cold after swimming, but not that bad, and I felt good. During the swim I counted my strokes (40 for each length) and worked on breathing through it. I do think I need to work on my speed a little - I was still in for well over the 5 minutes allowed, but it's a real balance with how hard it is to breathe while swimming in the cold. This weekend is supposed to be really cold again, so it should be good practice! 

Bye bye 2024

All and all, not a bad year I have to say (politics aside), sorry to see it go, but hopefully next year will be a good one too! I ended the year with a mock 200 at the beach. It was a beautiful day out today, sunny and in the low 50's, with no wind. A group of us decided to meet at the lake, and since the weather was so nice I really wanted to get in a practice swim. 

It took forever for us to all get put together and organized/arranged, and because it was so hot out I was actually roasting in my swim robe. I finally was like, "OK, I'm going" and headed in. The water was about 39, so warmer than it was the last couple dips, and felt brisk but not too bad. I walked in up to my waist, took a breath, and went for it. It took me about 35 breaths before my face felt OK, but I kept at it and swam without stopping. Coming back I saw all my friends in the water, but I was the only one who was really swimming. In total it took me about 7 minutes to do the 200 ish (which, again, is more than 5 minutes). When I finished everyone was like "nice job" and clapping, which made me feel really good. My hands were freezing, so I got out and stuck them in some warm water. Warm up wasn't bad at all because it was so nice out, and I ate like a pig because tomorrow I'm going to have to start a diet again :P

Tonight I'm headed out to do yoga again, very excited to welcome the new year in a zen way, and my favorite yoga instructor is teaching, so that will be really great!

I've been recovering my couch, and got a bit carried away with it. I meant to just do the cushions, but I did the math wrong in the store and wound up with 3x the material that I needed (feet/yards, meh), so now I'm recovering the entire thing. It's kind of slow going, but I'm pretty happy with the results so far, and the couch really needed it! I realized that it's almost 25 years old. I guess I could get a new one, but I like this one a lot, it's held up pretty well, and I remember it being really hard to get in the door, so I might not be able to get it out! 

First Ski of the season

Today it was forecast to be beautiful out - sunny and in the low 30's. Seemed like a perfect day to get in my first ski of the season! I woke up on my own at 6:30 am and lay in bed vacillating about if I wanted to go or not, but then I looked at the weather for the rest of staycation, and decided that today had to be the day. I was kind of nervous that everyone else would come to the same decision and it would be super crowded, but it wasn't!

I decided to go to nashoba for just two hours. I was the first one on the lift and I had the mountain to myself for the first 15 minutes - it was awesome! By the time I left at 11:15 there were a lot more people there, but it never got to the point where there was a lift line or anything.

I mostly did the blue squares (which I feel like are like greens at most places) and I felt really good on them. The first run or two I felt a little nervous, but I soon got my confidence up and was going a lot faster. For the last 4 runs I decided to try out the black diamond (which I feel like are blues at most places) and they went pretty well. There were a couple spots where I was going a little fast and had to do some zig zagging, but for the most part I was fine. 

The one thing that I don't like about nashoba is that their lifts are slow and the hill is just straight down, so you spend a lot of time on the lift, even if there's no line. But, it's so close and easy to get to, and convenient, I think it was well worth it.