(July 2012)
So after a challenging start to my last support swim with a kayak I got the opportunity to have an amazing support kayaker!
Even after my 6 mile success swim with only muscle pain in my shoulder vs joint pain I was still a little nervous on how I am going to hold up on my Anacapa swim. I know my conditions could be brutal with winds which in turn could make it a rough day for my shoulder. That being said Julie offered to go out and do a long support swim with me. What a great time! I went out looking for 8-10 miles and was going at it with one big loop of the Laguna coast down to the Newport coast area.
The water was amazing it was nice and warm at at least 65 degrees with some areas closer to 62. The 62 was a bit chilly after swimming in 65 degrees most of the time. It was also clear. I did have some patches of kelp, but nothing too bad. There wasn't any sea life to really talk about it was a fairly uneventful swim, but sometimes I need those uneventful swims to appreciate the training. After about 1.5 miles into the swim I just kept thinking in my mind how much fun this is and was able to appreciate what I am trying to do and take in all the water. It was a lot more fun to be able to break away from the Oak Street laps for a change and know we have a point A destination and flipping to head back to our starting destination.
No we didn't have any wild life but we did have a Gordon! Gordon was out with a SUP and paddled over to say hello when he realized it was me swimming with Julie! What a great surprise to see a friendly face to life my spirits.
We only made it was far as Emerald Bay point and Julie thought the boat traffic was picking up to a point of her not feeling comfortable keeping me 100% safe. The crazy thing is as an open water swimmer I have a larger fear of boats than the wildlife. I opted to follow my supports advice and turn back and finish off with a lap or two at Oak Street once we got back.
While I do love running through the eel grass with it hitting my swim cap I had a startling and painful surprise as I went through some almost at my ending point. I feel like it came out of no where and was hidden in the dead eel grass. I was bombarded with a jellyfish. I felt the sting and instant burn. I screamed a pretty loud and high pitched scream jumping back in the water. It felt as though the jelly was still stuck on my face. There were about 4 guys behind us on boards and they wondered had happened...so was Julie. She said the way I screamed she thought I must have seen a shark. I informed them I was stung by a jelly and then quickly peaked back in water to see what it looked like. It was just like the two I had seen previously at La Jolla and on my 6 miles Semana swim. So it finally got me!
We were right at Oak just a little further past the surf line than we usually are and Julie asked if I wanted to go in now. I wanted to keep swimming though. I finished off my swim to the rocks at Cress Street and then swam back to Oak Street. I did call it day after that instead of doing a lap of Oak to the buoy at Main Beach. Although I will say it was easy to finish off my swim in that moment because the sting burned so badly that the cool water temperature made my face feel so much better. When I had it out of the water I could feel the sting worse.
It was an eventful end to what I determined successful swim even if I didn't get 10 miles in and only had just under 8 miles. I felt strong and when I got out I had no pain in my shoulder joint! It was also one of the best meals at Wahoo's I had ever had...amazing how good food tastes after swimming for a little more than 4 hours.
So after a challenging start to my last support swim with a kayak I got the opportunity to have an amazing support kayaker!
Even after my 6 mile success swim with only muscle pain in my shoulder vs joint pain I was still a little nervous on how I am going to hold up on my Anacapa swim. I know my conditions could be brutal with winds which in turn could make it a rough day for my shoulder. That being said Julie offered to go out and do a long support swim with me. What a great time! I went out looking for 8-10 miles and was going at it with one big loop of the Laguna coast down to the Newport coast area.
The water was amazing it was nice and warm at at least 65 degrees with some areas closer to 62. The 62 was a bit chilly after swimming in 65 degrees most of the time. It was also clear. I did have some patches of kelp, but nothing too bad. There wasn't any sea life to really talk about it was a fairly uneventful swim, but sometimes I need those uneventful swims to appreciate the training. After about 1.5 miles into the swim I just kept thinking in my mind how much fun this is and was able to appreciate what I am trying to do and take in all the water. It was a lot more fun to be able to break away from the Oak Street laps for a change and know we have a point A destination and flipping to head back to our starting destination.
No we didn't have any wild life but we did have a Gordon! Gordon was out with a SUP and paddled over to say hello when he realized it was me swimming with Julie! What a great surprise to see a friendly face to life my spirits.
We only made it was far as Emerald Bay point and Julie thought the boat traffic was picking up to a point of her not feeling comfortable keeping me 100% safe. The crazy thing is as an open water swimmer I have a larger fear of boats than the wildlife. I opted to follow my supports advice and turn back and finish off with a lap or two at Oak Street once we got back.
While I do love running through the eel grass with it hitting my swim cap I had a startling and painful surprise as I went through some almost at my ending point. I feel like it came out of no where and was hidden in the dead eel grass. I was bombarded with a jellyfish. I felt the sting and instant burn. I screamed a pretty loud and high pitched scream jumping back in the water. It felt as though the jelly was still stuck on my face. There were about 4 guys behind us on boards and they wondered had happened...so was Julie. She said the way I screamed she thought I must have seen a shark. I informed them I was stung by a jelly and then quickly peaked back in water to see what it looked like. It was just like the two I had seen previously at La Jolla and on my 6 miles Semana swim. So it finally got me!
We were right at Oak just a little further past the surf line than we usually are and Julie asked if I wanted to go in now. I wanted to keep swimming though. I finished off my swim to the rocks at Cress Street and then swam back to Oak Street. I did call it day after that instead of doing a lap of Oak to the buoy at Main Beach. Although I will say it was easy to finish off my swim in that moment because the sting burned so badly that the cool water temperature made my face feel so much better. When I had it out of the water I could feel the sting worse.
It was an eventful end to what I determined successful swim even if I didn't get 10 miles in and only had just under 8 miles. I felt strong and when I got out I had no pain in my shoulder joint! It was also one of the best meals at Wahoo's I had ever had...amazing how good food tastes after swimming for a little more than 4 hours.
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