It has been a while since my last posting. I can blame it a bit on being busy with non-swimming activities and a bit on planned down time from the ramp up for Malta before I begin the year long training cycle towards the English Channel. Whichever, it is getting close to one year to go so time to get my mind back into swimming.
The cold water acclimatisation during the remainder of the spring went well. We lucked out and had a cool, raining spring (unusual for Colorado) which keep the local lakes at a good training temperature for longer then normal this year. I was able to get sub 60F training in until about mid June. When the cool rain stopped, the lakes quickly heated up to the mid 60F to low 70F. At the peak of the spring acclimatisation, I was able to handle 1.5-2 hours in 58F water with limited shivering and 2-3 hours in 60-61F water with limited shivering. Not quite ready for the channel yet but felt I made significant progress for the spring season. Now the goal will be to make these temperatures feel comfortable this fall and push down to being able to handle even colder temperatures as the lakes cool off.
A quick summary of the distractions I had this early summer. Early June, I went with my son's Boy Scout troop for a weeklong mountain biking trip at Moab, Utah. I was nervous about if I would have troubles with my limited bike training (due to swim training), extra weight on the hills and lack of heat acclimatisation. In general, I had nothing to worry about. It was tougher but still doable. The killer day was on Slickrock trail when my son's derailler broke. We swapped bikes and I ran his bike out in 90F heat for about 7 miles with limited water. I was surprised to find I lost a few degrees of cold water acclimatisation from this trip. Shortly after I got back we jumped in a lake at 58F for a little over an hour and I had some cold issues with the water that I had not had for nearly a month. Two weeks after Moab, I did a 188 mile running relay race with 5 teammates in the Wasatch Mountains in Utah. I was nervous and it turned out rightfully so about the limited run training, extra weight and lack of heat acclimatisation. I ended up running about 30 miles in 24 hours and the suffering was glorious (to quote a teammate). I was a good 2 min/mile slower by the end then I usually am at a running race like this. When I returned from this relay, the lakes had warmed up to the upper 60F so I no longer could tell if I had lost significant cold water acclimatisation. The bottom line is I need to avoid distractions like this over the next year. My wife and I have already decided to skip running the New York Marathon this year which was to be my last non-swimming distraction.
Now that I have these distractions past me, I am starting to ramp up the swimming again. I am hitting the lakes 2-3 times a week and the pool 2-3 times. I just did a 3 hour swim yesterday in a local lake at a balmy 72F. I will continue a moderate ramp up to the Horsetooth 10K in August and then a more serious ramp up to another 6 hour attempt at 60F when the local lakes cool off in late September, early October. Meanwhile, I am following the Channel chat site for preparation and attempts that are happening this summer. It is hard to imagine that a year from now I will be one of those going through the final planning stages.
