My e-mail about the six-hour training swim
From: JP
Sent: Sunday, June 05, 2005 10:44 PM
To: Sunrisers
Subject: The qualifier...
All,
I wanted to send an update on our Saturday swim and channel training in general.
First off, thanks to Jon Meyer and Allison Kalhammer for piloting me, Bobby for planning the swim, and Joe Bracco, Kathy Bailey, and Joe Butler for piloting Matt and Alli.
We all completed our 6-hour swims. Below is my experience - I'll let Matt and Alli comment on their swims.
We jumped into the tail end of the ebb around 6:30am between Chrissy Field and the GG Bridge. There were a few seals playing around to send us off. I have no idea what the water temperature was, but since no one is complaining (at least about the water temp) these days, I'd have to guess it's right around 60, if not warmer.
The first few hours were fairly uneventful, as I tried (unsuccessfully at times) to settle into my pace. I wish I could tell you that I thought about plans to end world hunger and stuff like that, but I mostly just sang songs in my head and watched for changing views of Sutro tower (as Joe and Gary would say - the roach clip on the hill). I think it took a little over an hour to get to Aquatic Park, a little over another hour to make it to the Bay Bridge, and maybe another hour and a half to get down to Candlestick. (At this point, I was able to see the other side of Sutro tower, which was pretty cool.)
Around this time, we turned toward the center of the bay, and continued further south. The wind and waves picked up a bit, but nothing too horrible. At around 5 hours, the current started to change and we turned from the center of the bay towards the United Airlines building at the airport, and into the oncoming waves. I don't think this was anything compared to what everyone had to swim through during B2B, but it was rough going. The end point was somewhere in the Bay, down by SFO. The ride back was a little bumpy, but warm thanks to Alli's parka. (Anyone else need a parka? I think I need to order one.)
All in all, I felt pretty good about the swim - I was happy with my pace and feeding, but know that there are still a few more things I need to work on.
Our next scheduled long swims are Thursday June 23rd, and Friday July 22nd. Any help for these swims would be greatly appreciated!
For those of you that are interested, here's a little more info on my feeds:
Each Accelerade was alternating green and red (yes, it's a color, not a flavor), normal strength Spiz Energy Drink was 2 scoops chocolate, 2 scoops vanilla per large water bottle (great drink, horrible marketing) Everything was pre-mixed and then put into .5-liter water bottles.
GU's were taped onto all the bottles with duct tape, and I just used them when I felt that I needed them.
Advils were in old film canisters, also duct taped to the bottles.
Before - 2 bottles Accelerade (pissed a lot for the first hour)
1 hr - almost all the Accelerade (mouth was a little dry at this time, but fine)
1.5 - almost all the Accelerade and GU
2 - almost all the Spiz
2.5 - almost all the Accelerade and GU
3 - almost all the Spiz and 1 Advil (felt that it helped to relieve some shoulder tightness)
3.5 - about half of the Accelerade (was craving plain water at this point)
4 - plain water
4.5 - almost all the Accelerade
5 - almost all the Spiz and 1 Advil
5.5 - almost all the Accelerade
6 (afterwards) - Endurox
Again, a huge thanks to Jon, Allison, and Bobby!
JP
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