Holiday Cheer!

Merry thanksgivmas!

By our little arbolito, missing one of my brothers though

So I am trying to combine several holidays into one post (oops).

As a nod to thanksgiving, I just want to take a moment to reflect on some of the things that I am so very thankful for.  I am so grateful that I have so many supportive people in my life, all of whom have made training possible. To all of my teammates (past and present); thank you for being some of the best company to train with. You all inspire(d) me daily and make it fun to work hard. I miss you all of you who are not swimming with me right now. To all of my friends; many of you are teammates too, but even those of you who aren’t swimmers are still such an important part of my swimming life (although you may not know that). Thanks for eating lots of food with me and generally putting up with me. I appreciate all of the moments we’ve shared, the good the bad and the ugly. To my coaches; I thank you for all the guidance you have given me both in and out of the water. Also I want to acknowledge all of the work that you have put into making me a better swimmer, turns out coaching is hard, as I figured out recently when trying to coach myself. To my family; couldn’t thank you all enough, above all for supporting my goals wholeheartedly and giving so much of your own time to help me get time in the water. Certainly not an exhaustive list of things that I am thankful for, but its always great to keep those things in mind to help motivate me on days when training gets tuff.

One of my oldest swimming buds!! Thanks Katie

Just a mini coach montage

Recently I have been doing some smaller swims with the South End. I have been spending a lot of time adventuring in the wee hours of the morning. A few times I have seen phosphorescence in the water, which is pretty amazing. It One morning I started feeling little fish poking my arms and feet and then one accidentally ended up my suit. I think both the little herring and I were a little bit startled, but it got away free.

On the 11/05/14, I had the joy of jumping off one of the Fort Mason piers as the start of my swim. I walked over to the piers with some of the other lady sunrisers and then took the leap. I am generally vary of piers and didn’t feel great about the height when I got to the edge, but clearly I survived the leap. I really don’t understand how my diving friends do flips off of high things (looking at you Emma Falley and Allison Miller).

All the ladies (minus the photographer) before the big jump. 

Realizing that its really high....

Well I made it off the pier alive.

I was the first overall finisher in the South End’s Anita Rock swim, which came as a total surprise. I was swimming by myself for the most of it, and just assumed that I was behind several other people. The Thanksgiving Day alcatraz was a perfect swim, sunny, warm and flat! It was the first alcatraz I have done since the last time I have trained, although I know that I will be quickly doing many more swims. It was a great day to feel thankful for the opportunity to train in the bay.

Last Sunday, 12/14/14 was the New Years Day Alcatraz Qualifier. During the winter the water temperature begins to drop fairly rapidly, so it is important to be cautious when dropping large groups of swimmers off at alcatraz. The qualifier itself was pretty warm, about 57 degrees, but we shall see how much the temperature drops over the next week. We did an inside-outside lap around the breakwater and then a full cove. The recent rain has been washing a lot of debris into the water so I ran into a plastic bag (icky) and some other floating surprises. This morning I did a round-trip Coughlan Beach swim. We went 2.5 miles and stayed in the water for about 1hr and 20 mins. We just missed a light sprinkling of rain, even though it can be exciting to swim in a drizzle.

A view of the rock from the top deck of the South End

Coming up soon I have the New Years Day alcatraz. I am also beginning to solidify some of my longer swims for the spring time, which is exciting because I’ve got a couple of surprise swims up my sleeve.

As the water gets colder and the days get shorter it is increasingly difficult to jump in the water in the dark. I have found myself doubting my abilities the most during those beginning minutes of swimming. It has taken a lot of mental energy to keep myself going, but luckily the distraction of hitting seaweed or looking out for boat traffic helps to jolt me back into a more positive mindframe. Believing in one’s own ability to withstand the cold is super important to staying warm, so any time you are awake early in the morning I’d appreciate any warm fuzzy vibes, because I need all the warmth that I can get! I’m not sure if its just because I have aged or that I am busy trying to figure out what “i’m supposed to be doing with my life” (haha post-grad) but things certainly feel differently this time around, both in terms of how I feel in the water and how training is going. Training is definitely more difficult, but I am trying to take each day in stride and stay honest with myself, while also being kind. Sometimes it seems  that I am just kind of bobbing generally forward with my training progression while other times the trajectory seems more pointed. I have been spending a lot of time in the pool working on efficiency rather than trying to pile on the yards in a sloppy manner. And when I am in the bay, I’m just trying to have fun.

I am still working on tshirt ideas/production, hoping to get something figured out after the new year (once all of my MFA applications have been submitted :)).

Thank you for all the love thus far, Wishing you happy and healthy holidays!!

Holiday card from the Dolores Huerta House!