Saturday, December 22, 2012

Gorgeous Beach Day For Surfers & This Swimmer













I felt better today (from my chill treatment yesterday) and did the same swim as yesterday.  These pictures show the swim.  You start at the bottom of the stairs, head way out, and pass beyond the pier end by about 80 to 100 yards.  Then you continue the arc in, but a smaller arc because I'm tired and concentrating on form and performance, and hit the beach.  I did it in 33 minutes today.  I would say that's a mile for me.  Yesterday there was a strong south current and it took me 6 minutes more, I think.
While standing on the sidewalk above, I got a very cool view of a 4-5 foot dolphin swimming parallel along a breaking wave. Just one.  I didn't get any other dolphin sightings out there.
Something happened twice today that doesn't happen to me, except very rarely.  Two different surfers passed on to me their respect for my swimming in the raw like I do (swimsuit only, cap, goggles). One man 45'ish must have seen me before; because he told me, "I gotta' give you your respect for swimming in that; that's something.  Then I told him a was a  little off, and he says, "Who isn't?"
The other young fellow passed along, "Good work.  What did you do, 2 miles."   He was out waiting for waves and he saw me way out there.  He gave me a "fist bump."  Now that is cool.  I told him about 1 mile because my time was 33 minutes.  Now I'm wondering why I didn't do 2 miles?  I could have.  Maybe tomorrow...
You can see from these photos that the swimming conditions were great.  I feel good.


"The first time you quit is the last time you try."

Friday, December 21, 2012

15 Days Without Beach

I couldn't get in the water for 15 days and it took a toll on me.  I was in a bad state yesterday and today and forced myself to swim today.  Thank goodness!  The water was very cold.  Surfline says 59 degrees but it was colder than that.  I swam a good mile at 42 minutes, I think. The water was smooth and flat, but not glassy.   Very nice for surfing with long intervals and long waves.
Nice to be back.  I'll be less grouchy and less antisocial.


"The first time you quit is the last time you try."