Is it a little late for a V/LA announcement?
Last November/December, I was talked into (challenged, motivated, whatever you want to call it) attempting what's generally referred to as "The Triple Crown" of swimming - Catalina Island to Los Angles (20.2 Miles, point-to-point), England to France (21 Miles point-to-point), and the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim (28.5 Miles). Moreover, the goal set is to complete all three within a 1 year period. The list of people who have completed the three is less than 100 long, and those that have done so in under a year even fewer.
With these challenges set, I've been spending every spare moment (read: Not working/sleeping) either researching, or training. My training right now consists of 5 days of swimming (3 days with US Masters meets, and 2 days of distance swimming (10,000m)). In addition, I'm acclimating myself slowly to the bay area water temperatures (about 58 degrees this time of year) two days a week (usually a 1-2 mile swim depending on how I feel) - although I share days with my other training, leaving me 5 training days, and 2 rest days.
The rest of the time, when I'm not swimming, is spent either working, sleeping, occasionally eating, and driving to all the places I need to be on a daily basis. At the end of the day/week, I've simply got nothing left to spare a thought to.
The training will only increase as time goes on, although some of it will combine (eventually my two distances swims will be entirely contained within my cold water acclimation times). The first swim will be Catalina in mid-late 2015, with the English Channel in early-mid 2016. I haven't yet decided if I want to do Manhattan in 2015 or 2016.
Between water temperature, air temperature, currents, marine life, endurance, feeding, and a million and one other things to train for, this is my (albeit late) notice that my recreational life is basically on hold for the next two years.
I'm keeping a personal log/diary right now, but eventually I'll be setting up a website to update my progress. When that happens, I'll be sure to let you all know. In the meantime, everything sent my way here on f.ds is still filtered into my gmail, so I'm not completely unreachable. I just may not have time to check in for months at a time (as has been the case recently).
For anybody that's curious about the swims:
Manhattan Island Marathon SwimCatalina Island SwimEnglish ChannelTriple Crown of Open Water Swimming (complete list)-Edit-
Oh, and:
Why did this thread die?
Because I gave up drinking when I began training. I think I account for most of the posts in that thread pre-2014.....