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[Galzria]

Theory, I thought we had a topic on Swimming quite awhile back when the topics of "Running", "Walking", etc were up, but I can't seem to find it. If it's there, you can just merge this, otherwise, I'll just start this one here.

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I figure posting constantly in the Forum Games "V/LA" thread isn't exactly the most appropriate place to update on what's going on in my life, and besides, if there are other Dominion players out there who swim, but don't play Forum Games (shame on you!), then they wouldn't have a place to come together and talk about their adventures. So here's this.

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I took on Tahoe! Whoohoo! 21.24 miles lengthwise, from Camp Richardson to Hyatt Beach (Incline Village), my total time was 13 hours, 46 minutes, 5 seconds. I walked off the beach and into the water at 11:46 PM, Sunday the 14th, and walked back up onto dry sand at 1:30 PM, Monday the 15th.

The lake was gorgeous, the water was perfect, and the wind was non-existent (which is awesome, as they're in a wind advisory today!). Water temperatures ranged from a low of 61F, to a high of 67F, but really stayed steady between 64F-66F most of the way. Wind Speeds topped out at about 6.5 mi/hour, but that was only on gusts. Air temperature got as low as 45F, but after the sun came up we were back into the mid 70's F.

Some links:

My tracked route across:
http://s30.postimg.org/po598i8y9/Screenshot_2014_09_17_10_17_33.png

And two of me swimming in the water (absolutely beautiful lake, isn't it?):

Me + Kayaker:
http://s8.postimg.org/wd9qfi9px/Kayak_Clouds_Swimmer.jpg

Me + Boat:
http://s3.postimg.org/vpmd2fjv7/10624990_821877774524253_5784379476110642815_n.jpg

Next up:

I plan on swimming from Catalina Island to Los Angeles next year. Most likely, I'm aiming for a July swim, as many of my crew (if I can get them to help out again!) will be riding their bicycles in Paris during the month of August. My pilot is also trying to talk me into doing a crossing of Lake Ontario (Niagara Falls -> Toronto, 31.5 Miles), which I might try and squeeze in at some point.

This swim was absolutely amazing, and it was hands down the most beautiful place I've ever been in the water. If you're on the West coast of America, and you haven't been to Lake Tahoe during the summer (I know Winter is a lot of fun too!), get up there and spend some time in/on/around the water. It's absolutely stunning.

[Lekkit]

I stubled upon one of your posts in the V/LA thread. It sounds like you're doing pretty good.

Have you done any swimming prior to this super swimming challenge?

[Galzria]

I stubled upon one of your posts in the V/LA thread. It sounds like you're doing pretty good.

Have you done any swimming prior to this super swimming challenge?

I've been training since the beginning of the year with Catalina in mind for 2015, and the English Channel in 2016. My goal for this year was to do a swim that was approximately half distance on those (each about 22 Miles, so an 11 Mile swim was my general target). I was kind of eyeing the La Jolla 10-Mile Relay down in the San Diego area, or if I could get it organized, a Lake Tahoe width crossing, which is about 12 miles. Both were ballpark for where I wanted to be.

On August 9th, I swam Bridge-to-Bridge in San Francisco Bay (Golden Gate Bridge, around the city to the Bay Bridge) which is 10k (6.2 miles), current assisted. There were about 60 people doing the swim that day, and we were divided onto two boats. By pure random coincidence, on my boat, I met the founder and sponser of the La Jolla 10 Mile-Relay, and he informed me that due to various issues, they wouldn't be hosting it this year. When I commented off hand that no swim down south meant I would have to aim for a width crossing of Tahoe this year, he responded with "Width? Why would you do that? Go for the length!".

Well, here I am. My training all year had been to do a 11-Mile swim by years end. Half distance of the channels. In what amounted to 36 days (August 9th to September 14th), that distance doubled. I went from my longest swim being 6.2 Miles, to 21.25 Miles. And because of the organization involved (plus rest, recovery, and taper time), I essentially had to make the decision about which swim I was going to do 3 weeks out. So from the moment the idea was put in my head, I had 15 days to train and decide if I thought I could make it.

I'm so very glad I pushed myself. And if I can make it through a full distance channel swim on the little time I had to really prep for it, by the time I put in the right amount of training, I should be in a great place to take on my next few goals.

[Galzria]

My next big swim is scheduled!

I'll be doing a 24 hour relay swim in Aquatic Park, San Francisco, Saturday/Sunday, February 7th & 8th, 2015.

I'm not sure how many teams will be swimming, but there is a maximum participant limit of 75. If anybody's in the area then and wants to stop by and say "hi" while watching crazy people do crazy things (ocean swimming in the middle of winter? No wetsuit? Yeah, we're crazy), feel more than free! If I'm not swimming, I'll likely be doing whatever I can to stay warm!

[Lekkit]

I saw a documentary on some guys doing ultra marathons in the desert. For some reason I thought of you.

Anyway, good luck with the swim! It sounds really crazy. I assume you'll at least enjoy it when it's done.

[Galzria]

I saw a documentary on some guys doing ultra marathons in the desert. For some reason I thought of you.

Anyway, good luck with the swim! It sounds really crazy. I assume you'll at least enjoy it when it's done.

Huh, missed this post.

I'll enjoy it all the way through! I love the cold. Born and raised in Michigan/Chicago, the colder it is, the happier I am. Living on the West Coast is hard, although I appreciate that I can swim year round.

The idea of anything (even as short as a mile) in the desert makes me wilt a little inside. I -don't- do heat.

[Galzria]

And Catalina to LA is in the bag. The swim itself was harder than my Tahoe swim. The waters were at their worst around 5:00 AM, when I had 3-4 foot swells coming in from two different directions. The crash and bounce effect made everything very unpredictable. The salt water was definitely tough on my mouth as well. I still can't taste anything (about 18 hours post-completion atm).

When I did Tahoe, my body hurt towards the end - like, minor injury type hurting. I don't have any of that now, but goodness I'm sore. I feel far, far more physically exhausted than I did after Tahoe last year.

We had a lot of things that added additional minutes onto the swim this time around. Because the main boat was much larger, I couldn't feed off it. Instead I fed off the kayak. Unfortunately I didn't have enough supplies for the kayak to go super long without needing to refill - so they had to stop to approach the main boat every 90 minutes, and when they stopped so did I.

In Tahoe there were no currents or swells. Here, the water never worked in my favor. It was rarely pushing me straight back, but I was almost constantly zig-zagging to match the current in an attempt to stay straight.

Sharks! Ok, I didn't encounter any. Apparently there were a number of Dolphin Schools swimming with me at various points keeping the sharks away (or not). In any case, I've still got all my limbs!  Yay! I did however encounter quite a few mean jellies. Those stings hurt.

All in all, additional challenges included, I finished in 14 hours, 12 minutes, 14 seconds. - only 26 minutes longer than my Tahoe swim last year. Not bad at all!

Next up (although I've no desire to think about it at the moment!) is the English Channel. Preparing for that one is going to be really, really tough.

[Witherweaver]

Congrats on not drowning!