Friday, August 1, 2008

Swimming and not running

Tomorrow is another team swim at Aquatic Park. I definitely need a lot more experience in crowded, cold, open water swims. Since my body (not to mention my brain) freaks out in those circumstances, only repetition will help me either get used to it, or get over it.

We were surprised to look on our schedules and see that this is the last team open water swim; the only other team swims are in pools. To help this the coaches are going to be leading Tuesday and/or Thursday swims at the local lakes/reservoirs. Yes indeedy, that means back to Shadow Cliffs. Back to swimmer's itch. Back to being able to swim for longer distances without having to turn around every 25 feet, without being able to rest on the pool floor. We should be able to get more wetsuit practice too, although if the heat returns it would probably be too warm.

When I join Claudia and Rocky for our on-your-own bike ride on Sunday morning I'll have to keep focused. Otherwise I'll be horribly sad that I'm not in San Francisco, running the SF Marathon Half. My streak has ended. Since 2002 I've run either the half or the full every year. It isn't the greatest race, but I like it, like the course and the scenery and seeing the City from that vantage point. It doesn't have cheering crowds like Nike, certainly doesn't have the Tiffany's necklace like Nike. It also doesn't have the claustrophobia inducing hordes of people at the start, the hour plus wait for a bus at the finish or walkers toiling up the hills and blocking the entire road for the whole race. Bummer. Hopefully I'll be running again soon and I'll start a new streak at that time.

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