My Swim Report – Stage 3 – 8 Bridges 17 June 2013

This quasi race/swim/event report is long overdue.  Hardly seems like it was now just over six weeks ago.  This stage was 13.2 miles down the Hudson River, Poughkeepsie Bridge to the Beacon twin bridges.  Now you might ask what made me want to do this as my first venture into marathon swimming.  This would be many firsts for me, longest swim in distance and duration in open water, taking on nutrition/hydration while treading water, swimming with kayak support at my side and swimming in cold water—for me anyway, I live in south Texas.

 

What on earth made me think this was even possible?  I had completed the typical USMS postal events, i.e., the one-hour (25 yd pool non-stop) for the past 9 years, the long course 5 K (once 2 years ago) and 10 K (2 years in a row), the short course yds 3 and 6 K (2 years ago).  I had also completed the Waikiki Roughwater swim (2.4 mi) in 2011.  And the most important thing that made me believe I could do this was I am a Total Immersion swimming technique swimmer and coach.

 

I began the year restarting my swimming in November of 2012 after a two-month hiatus from the pool due to a right knee revision surgery.  My first goal was the one-hour postal swim in January 2013.  I finished that swim within 100 yds of the previous year with only 2 months of practice.  I felt good about this and the next goal was to do the postal 10K again.  I started ramping up my training in February towards a May/June timeframe for the 10K.  In early March the TI Coaches Summit date/location was announced for late June in New Palz, NY.  I had never really visited this part of New York (although having grown up just outside Washington D.C.) so we started planning an extended trip to the Northeast to visit NY and a side trip to Boston, MA.  About this time David Bara sent out information on the 2013 8 Bridges Swim that coincidentally was being held the week prior to the TI Summit.   This got my attention and I was interested in the swim.  I checked their website, www.8bridges.org, and looked at all the stages for length and date to coincide of course with our mini vacation.  The best dates were for stages 1-3.  Stage 3 was the shortest of all the stages at 13.2 miles.  I contacted Dave many times after this via email and Facebook messaging, probably way too many times for his liking, to get his opinion on the stages and my ability to complete the stage.  Dave was a great help and encouragement.  I kept thinking about the swim/distance/cold water (mid to high 60’s) all of which were out of my comfort zone at the time.  I kept working the dates and planning the 10-day trip.  Near the end of March it came time to fish or cut bait.  I had to finalize our trip plans.  So with one day to go I committed and signed up for Stage 3 at the end of March.  I started to watch the 8 Bridges website weekly, watching the river temperatures.  I noticed they were cold, in the 50’s.  So I asked Dave about expected temperatures in June.  He replied high 60’s to low 70’s are the usual river temps in late June.  Feeling better I continued my training for the 10K.  I was utilizing the tempo trainer quite a bit in training to hone my tempo since I knew I would not be allowed to use it during the 10K or in the Stage 3 swim.  I settled on a tempo of .95 for training.  My training started at around 3K per practice and gradually increased to a max of 7.5K (once a week during the last three weeks).  I was averaging 12 to 18 K per week.  I completed the 10K the last weekend of May.  My goal was to hold a tempo I could sustain for the stage 3 swim 3 weeks away.  In the 50 M pool I started my SPL at an avg of 42 and by the end was up to 46.  My avg pace/100M in the beginning was 1:40 and gradually increased to a high of 1:54 around the 8K point and then brought it back down to 1:46 for the last 1500 finishing in 3hrs-2 min (2 min slower than 2 years ago).  Disappointed in the time but happy about the tempo consistency, which felt right in the ball park of .95-1.0 except for a mental lapse around the 7500 point for about a 1000 meters.  I kept my thoughts on my stroke rotating focal points and counting strokes fighting off the normal mental fatigue thoughts that would only bring me down.  I was happy with this overall effort.  Over the course of the next 3 weeks my training took a nosedive.  It was the longest and quickest taper ever.  I had a personal family issue and clients were beginning to call wanting instruction (not a bad thing since that is my business).  This all meant my pool practice time took a considerable dip (no pun intended).

 

About two weeks out I was getting excited about our upcoming trip to NY and anxious about my Stage 3 swim.  I kept watching the Hudson River temps rise, ever so slightly.  Now my updates were almost daily, as the swim was getting closer.  About one week from the swim with my lack of pool time, doubts started to creep in about my ability to accomplish this goal.  I started to bug Dave more frequently regarding the swim; temps and how long he thought it would take me to complete the stage.  I looked at the two previous years times for the Stage 3 and wondered how I faired against those who had completed the same swim.  I notice Dave had done it both in 2011 and 2012 and his time was significantly better in 2012 and had the stage record now at 4hrs-12 min.  I noticed Terry had completed the swim in 2011 and saw his time of just over 5 hrs.  I had done some swimming with Terry at open water camps and clinics and felt he and I were similar in speed.  I thought 5 hours?  I had only done 3 hours and had the bottom of the pool to rest on while feeding and had the lane lines and walls if I needed them.  Wow only a kayaker, treading water while taking on feed?  I failed to mention that at two weeks out my wife and I went to a local lake and I practiced for the first time feeding in the open water.  What was I doing?  Dave reassured me that it would take me between 4 and 5 hours—I felt better since this was coming from an experienced marathon swimmer.  I also failed to mention the other deciding factor I had entering this race was that I had gotten to know Dave through some TI Open Water Camps and knew of his OW accomplishments.  I also read about his race director partner, Rondi Davies’, and her marathon swimming accomplishments as well and knew that this would be a swim that was run perfectly with support and safety as their number One priority.  So with my next round of butterflies calmed down I looked forward to the swim.

 

With one week to go I still had not been in the water training much, maybe one to two days per week hitting an average of 3K if lucky.  I guess I’d have the longest and quickest taper ever.  The water temps were approaching 68 degrees and I was feeling better.  The Saturday before we left I was up in Austin Texas giving a private lesson and thought, 68 degrees—that’s still pretty cold.  On a side note, if you are ever in Austin Texas I recommend going to Barton Springs for a swim.  It is a spring fed swimming hole of approx. 400 meters in length and a constant 68 degrees year round.  I decided that it would be prudent for me to stop by and do some swimming so I could see just how 68 degrees felt since I usually always swim in water well into the 70’s.  This was an excellent idea and experience as it gave me the confidence that if the water didn’t get to 70 I could still do this at 68.  It was brisk at first but then became really refreshing and invigorating by the end of my short 20-minute swim.  We departed the next day, Sunday the 16th of June, for New York.   On our drive up to Poughkeepsie from NY City, I checked email and had one from Rondi Davies that stopped me cold in my tracks.  The rain that came through NY on Friday and Saturday had dropped the river temperature to around 60-62 degrees and we might consider switching to warm feeds.  Now I remember Dave telling me when I asked about warm feeds that at 68-70 I’d look forward to cold drink not warm.  Now I had to get a thermos to keep my drink warm before they went into the water bottles.  I was panicking to say the least, 60-degree water???????  The distance and time of the swim were no longer my concern.  Water temp and hypothermia became my main thought as I was only allowed 2 caps maximum, goggles and suit (NO wetsuit), and I’m from Texas!  I didn’t get a good nights sleep thinking about this swim.  My wife would be on the main support boat during my swim, which was very comforting, but also a little disconcerting as she is a Nurse and I didn’t want to get into trouble in the water.  The next morning arrived and we drove down to Beacon to catch the van ride back to Poughkeepsie (I know that sounded crazy but go with it) with the some of the crew, Dave and Rondi.  We met Grace van der Byl, impressive young, tiny marathon swimmer from San Diego by way of Houston, TX—yes a fellow Texan.  I had heard and read of Grace’s swimming achievements and she was only one of two swimmers (the other being Rondi Davies) who had completed all 7 stages (120 miles) the previous year.  Great people.  On our journey up to Poughkeepsie I asked Grace about her Manhattan Island Marathon Swim (MIMMS) the week before as I remember reading about it but never heard how she finished.  Bad question for Grace and us.  She didn’t finish due to hypothermia.  As we drove along she recounted her ordeal, which she was extremely fortunate to recover from so quickly—my wife explained the severity to me later.  But, that talk of the cold water only lifted my anxiety even more.  When we arrived at the dock Dave said the water temp was up to 64—a somewhat sigh of relief.  At this point I was firmly committed to starting and just going as far as I could and only stop if I couldn’t take the cold water any longer.  I met my fellow swimmers Hanah, from NY City, and Rick, from Connecticut.  Both accustomed to swimming in cold water and half my age.  I thought this will be interesting; I’m going to be trailing these two the entire way!  We push off from the dock and Grace gives us our instructions and more swim information as we head for the starting point.  She hands out water bottles and tells us to drink up, need to have full bladders ready to pee when you first get in.  Dehydration is not a good thing and leads to hypothermia.  We arrive at the starting point and we are told to jump in.  Dave advised me, and Grace agreed, that since my tempo was a little slower than most I should pick up the tempo for the first few minutes to help overcome the shock of the cold water.  So as Grace said jump, get going I looked at Hanah and Rick and said after you speedy two and they just looked at me and said they weren’t going first.  So I jumped off and it was cold but I immediately thought about my increased tempo while maintaining my technique.  Before I knew it my kayaker, Steve, had pulled up along side me and away we went.  Hanah passed me at some point early on which I noticed during the first feed stop, which was at 20 minutes.  Originally, I had planned on 30 minutes between feeds but because of the cold water I changed to warm feeds every 20 minutes at Rondi’s suggestion.  The first 20 minutes didn’t seem that long but I was ready for a break.  The next 20 minutes flew by and was back within 25 meters of Hanah and Rick was behind me.  I really hadn’t been trying to catch her, just focused on a good tempo, rhythm and stroke thoughts.  I was taken out of my rhythm and thoughts by occasional FLOTSAM, or river debris.  Didn’t run into any big logs but did find a few 3-4 inch limbs and branches.  I noticed that Steve would all of a sudden take off in front of me and I soon realized he was my FLOTSAM breaker as well as the current navigator keeping me in the fastest part of the river!  I just kept swimming breaking every 20 minutes.  Before long 2 ½ hours had gone by and I was actually in the lead.  Kevin said my stroke count had been between 55 to 65 strokes per minute or a tempo range of .91 to 1.08.  We were at the 8-mile mark and I was really feeling good, very confident about the last 5 miles.  We could see the bridge in the distance—really small looking I thought.  The river up to this point had been quite smooth, smoother than I expected.  That was soon to change.  It seemed almost immediately after that break the wind and chop picked up dramatically as we rounded a right turn bend in the river with the finish bridges in the distance-5 miles in the distance.  Didn’t look too long at first.  The chop was taking its toll on me mentally and physically, and I couldn’t find a good rhythm.  I tried changing to shorter strokes, swinging straight arms to avoid the caps hitting my hands.  My wrists were starting to ache a little from the constant hitting the chop, I felt like I was struggling but kept going.  About 2 miles from the bridge the gauntlet was tossed by the additional crewmember, who was ex-Army, I’m retired Air Force.  He told Steve to tell me the Army guy on the boat didn’t think I could bring it home.  Game on.  It took another hour.  It seems the closer you get the further it looks.  I decided that I was not going to consider myself close until I could see the bridge when I breathed to the side.  Finally, it was there and I was coming under the bridges.  I decided to be my typical joker self and finished with 4 strokes of butterfly (that was all I could do anyway).

 

Such exhilaration to finish.  My kayaker came over to congratulate me and we shook hands and I thanked him.  He was my lifeline in the water.  For 4 hours and 24 minutes, every time I breathed I saw him and his encouraging demeanor.  It was like we were the only ones on the water.  It was a special connection.  I was ecstatic that I handled the cold water.  Sometimes I hit pockets of several hundred meters of what felt like 68 degrees and then some that felt like 60 degrees.

This was a great adventure and one that I was glad I did and did with the 8 Bridges Organization of Dave Bara and Rondi Davies, the Riverkeepers and Greg Porteus and Launch 8.

We all have goals with our swimming and occasionally need to strive for something that we think is unattainable for our current abilities.  It is through these opportunities that we continue to grow and set new challenges.  It is because of the Kaizen mentality through Total Immersion Swimming and Teaching that gave me the ability both mentally and physically (with little training for such an event) to accomplish this personal goal.  I am excited about looking and planning for my next adventure.  I hope this inspires you to reach outside your comfort zone and achieve new goals.   I’d highly recommend attending one of the Total Immersion Open Water Camps held in various locations and times of year to help give you or increase your confidence in open water swimming.

 

Swimming is for Life!