I crave efficiency. Perhaps this is why, I’ve always thought, “I can do it myself!” Whether it’s moving into a new house, moving across the country, filing taxes, financial planning, buying a house, installing irrigation, designing a logo, setting up a website, getting where I need to go, swim coaching. I’ve always thought: why should…
I recently finished reading, Grit, by Angela Duckworth. I listened to her TED talk ages ago but it wasn’t until I was at the Portland airport on the way home from my length of Lake Memphremagog swim that I saw her book at a kiosk. Arrogantly, I thought, “I just swam 25 miles, I know…
For years – decades, actually – I thought that I had a pretty good drive to exercise and stay fit. I grew up swimming just about everyday, sometimes twice a day, with dry land training before practice. I rarely missed a practice or a meet. I thought I was internally motivated. I might have had…
Have you heard of the benefits of cold water swimming? Brightening mood. Increased stress tolerance. Decreased inflammation. Improved immunity. To name a few. Eight years ago someone was introduced to me as a certified ice swimmer – really, this was a thing? Sure enough, I read the International Ice Swimming Associations website. This piqued my…
If you read my last post about Minimalist Training, it may not surprise you to hear that I’m the least fit that I’ve been in my entire life! After all, I’ve only been swimming, on average, one day a week this last year — and much less as of late. Beyond swimming, I have done…
Here is my high level training plan by month for the 25 mile In Search of Memphre: In short, my goal was to peak at swimming 11 miles over 4 days per week, which is less than fifty percent of the marathon swimming rule of thumb–you can swim in a day what you train in…
The waxing moon is captivating… hanging low on the horizon, glowing orange. I load my car with bags full of water, hot water in insulated thermoses, a half gallon of pure Vermont maple syrup, pre made coffee, premixed feeds, extra food stuffs, post Desitin clothes, after swim clothes, parka, etc. I stop and stare at…
The other day my training partner and I were reminiscing about a time when we signed up for open water swims the week before the event or even day of, and now we find ourselves planning swims 8-10 months in advance! If you’re looking to try a marathon swim in 2019, consider that for safety…
Try floating on your back and gently kicking, do your knees pop up over the surface of the water? If so, you’re trying to run or ride a bike in the pool. This can wear you out and sap valuable energy! Continue practicing in a back float, bend your knees back, slightly, towards the bottom…
As the leaves start to fall in Southern Oregon and the crisp air lasts well into late morning before the sun shines bright to warm things up, the idea of an open water swim is less and less appealing. Where we live, it is down right hard to swim in the open water this time…
While the sun keeps shining on October, Todd and I planned another yeti swim. This time we decided to save the trip to the gorgeous, clear waters of Lake of the Woods and took a dip in our local puddle, Emigrant lake. What we hoped to be a beautiful, sunny day turned out to be…
I rarely have time for such things, but this was a unique weekend, and I uniquely had time to compose a weekend swim recap for you. Fair warning, it’s a long one: I turned around from a border busting swim and family vacation in Vermont to take a personal escape for a little more swimming…