Don Burns Corona del Mar 1 Mile Swim

To finish off the SPMA open water series I participated in the Don Burns 1 Mile Swim at Corona del Mar in Newport Beach, CA. It was the first year I have done the swim and the first real 1 mile race I have done. After experiencing many ups and downs through the summer with a shoulder still recovering from last September's surgery, for once, I did not go into the swim already feeling fatigued from a week of training. I also went in pretty relaxed and open minded. I just wanted to do what I could with my arm while securing enough points to win the open water series in my age group.

There were 269 swimmers and everyone took off on the start together in a mad dash to swim out and around the first buoy. The course was an attempt at a rectangle with a buoy at each corner. I got off on a good start without any need to push my way through a crushing pack of swimmers. I kept up a good pace and was even able to summon a surge towards the finish. However, I did noticed that anytime another jostling swimmer interrupted my tempo I lost ground because it took me quite a few strokes to get my arms moving steadily again. Next summer I should be in a much better position, hopefully I can keep the injuries away.

In the end I finished 21st overall and 6th amongst the women, but I won my age group. I must note however, that I would have done much better if I had worn a speedsuit like the others ahead of me. Results can be found here.

Naples Island Swim 2009

I told myself that I would have to stick to 2 miles or shorter this summer. However, I could not resist signing up for the 3 mile (really about 2.75) Naples Island Swim in the Los Alamitos Bay. I had been training in the bay all summer and I figured the relatively calm water wouldn't be too bad. I was also starting to feel very good in training leading up to the event. The only detail was that I managed to feel too good the week before the race and thus pushed my recovering shoulder too hard in practice. I did too much butterfly, pulling and laps around Treasure Island in the bay. I was extremely sore the morning of the swim, despite attempts at resting the shoulder the day before and trying active recovery in preceding practice sessions.

The water temperature dropped down in the bay the week of the race. It had been fairly comfortable for most of the summer, but some cloudy weather and changing tides led to chilly water. I made an attempt at a warm up swim, but after a couple strokes I knew that was a hopeless case. Instead I grabbed a towel to stay warm during the last few minutes before the start. I just wanted to get through the race, not do anything special.

Due to the length of the event it wasn't difficult to get out with the main pack on the start. I kept along smoothly, until the pack headed out across the main through way to the ocean. The water was more rough and I could not keep up a high arm tempo and hope to have my shoulder last through the race. In the end I know I could have done a lot better, but I was glad to make it through. I finished first in my age group, but overall results have not yet posted.

My shoulders were undoubtedly sore afterward. I took a week off of swimming, had a wisdom tooth removed, and spent a few days slowly recovering. I have now also reverted back to icing down the shoulders everyday, along with periodic icings while sitting at my desk at work if things feel particularly tight.

Looks like a house again, finally!

Plug In 2009 Panel

Billy Nye the Science Guy was there.

There's Lizard in the House

I came across this lizard in the house while vacuuming. The dog wasn't interested in him. He hung around for a couple days before I found him sitting beside the door. I opened it up and he scurried away.

I went swimming and I got me some medals

I started off the 2009 SPMA LCM Regionals meet with a second place in the women's 25-29 age group. Results can be found here and video can be seen here. I was in heat 11 lane 4 wearing a bright orange cap. I've been doing too much open water distance swimming as I defiantly took awhile to get moving. I held back way too much from the get go. Ah well, I just need to get experience again.

I won my age group in the 100 breast and 100 free as well. My stroke stayed consistent throughout the race in the breaststroke, however due to lack of actually training the stroke my speed was pretty off. I will have to try again after I start trying to work more breaststroke into my workouts. My gauge though is always the 100 free. I will never forget how to swim that race. I stayed strong over the entire 100 and wasn't much off the time I did two years ago. I will greatly improve when the shoulder gets more recovered for sure.

Cal Luthern Pool for LCM Regionals

2007 SPMA LCM Regionals was the last meet I swam in before my recent shoulder problem flared up. I entered the 2009 meet because I figured it was time to try it again with the new shoulder repair. I switched up the events and left off the 200 IM in favor of the 400 free. I started entering IM as a masters swimmer since I never really did it much at all growing up. I figured I had a lot of room for improvement. However, right now my butterfly isn't there so I chose a 400 free to get warmed up. It is also an event in which I have had very little experience.

Police Interceptor Astro Van

I was behind this Police Interceptor Astro Van at a traffic light. I really liked the spoiler.

Chicago Deep Dish Pizza Head

A friend of mine from Chicago recently informed me that he had a couple hats to send my way. He simply stated that he had somehow come into a large supply of hats that were like the Chicago version of the Wisconsin Cheese Head. Now I pictured a hot dog hat, due the popularity of wieners in Chicago. However, when I finally got the hats in the mail I opened the box to find two slices of pizza. They are in fact Chicago deep dish pizza hats. I have no idea what I am going to do with them. The dog though, found them extremely disturbing.

Balboa-Newport Pier 2 Pier Swim

On Saturday June 11th I showed up in Newport Beach to swim the 2 mile Balboa-Newport Pier 2 Pier swim for the third time. Back in 2006, it was the first ocean race I ever entered thanks to the prodding of my South Bay Swim Team teammates. I missed the 2008 event with a bum shoulder, so it was a test to see what kind of conditions my newly repaired shoulder could withstand. It survived half mile swims a few weeks ago. Since then it got even better conditioned and my stroke became more stretched out. I wanted to see if I could maintain it throughout the 2 miles.

The water temperature was comfortable for a swim. The waves were small, but getting larger every minute before the start. My main frustration with large open water swims has been getting out on the start. Unfortunately this race was probably my worst start experience yet. As the crowd ran towards the water someone got swept up by an incoming wave and went crashing into me knocking me over. I then got carried backwards by the wave while swarms of swimmers passed me by. I was stuck in a pile of people until well past the first buoy before I could start to break away.

I kept a smooth steady pace for the race. Just as the end pier was in good sight I started feeling a pinch in the left shoulder. I maintained the pace I was at to get through to the end, but I had hoped to be able to put down a final surge. I had enough energy to pick up the pace, but the shoulder couldn't do it. It won't be too much longer before the strength is there, some more training and it will get there.