June 7th - 6 Hour Swim and Thunderstorm

June 7th was supposed to be a 7 hour swim - with 7 weeks of training to go (and one week serious tapering).

Maybe I was a bit too easy-going. Having overslept I only took the train at 8 p.m. to arrive at the lake in Roxheim at 9:30. Time enough for 7 hours of swimming, I thought. Rain was forecast for 11 and 5 p.m., but that doesn't matter much to a swimmer.

Again, no human soul around. This time I was greeted by a swan and 3 families of black necked geese, which at first were dispersed on the lake, but then strangely enough paddled to the shore within 50 meters of where I was sitting, one family following the other with altogether 10 little ducklings of visibly different age, soon grazing happily in the nearby grass.

Just before 10 a.m. I made it into the water - cool but not cold. Again sets of 2 laps, great feeling, "breakfast" after the 2nd hour, egg-waffles, plenty. I thought of the swimmers in Dover, who would have started around the same time, memories came up from my training there 23 years ago. My first swim in Dover harbour was a 7 hour test swim middle of July - and my training had started at the end of April! I remembered how much I enjoyed that swim - punching the waves in really bad weather and feeling good after 7 hours (with a few days of rest and a few good massages before). After lap 3 I was looking forward to complete the 4th hour - then it would be downhill. During the 4th hour, when my ellbow started to hurt and my arms started to feel a bit lame, I had to smile thinking of Freda, the "General" standing on the shore of Dover harbour with just one firm message: "head down" (great Channel swimmer mantra: "head down - until France") . So I put my head down - no thinking, no feeling, just swimming - and smiling!

Today I swam a great deal with memories, or visulisations, picturing myself in the Channel. My goal today was to do 6 hours plus one. 6 hours as equivalent to reaching the middle of the Channel where I could see both coasts in 1985, the White Cliffs of Dover and the French coast, which was a completely exhilarating experience. At that time I knew I would make it. The only thing was, it then took me 11 more hours from the "middle" of the Channel to France! The seventh hour today was supposed to be visualising reaching the French coast - like in this inspiring video taken from You Tube.

Video
The video below is of Hugh completing his English Channel Swim on 7/8/2004.

After 4 hours again some food - more egg wafers, 2 bananas and some oats with maltodextrine and some sports drink (which didn't go too well with the food), back for lap 5 und 6. At times I was thinking of Lake Zurich or of long training swims in the waves of Jones Beach on Long Island.

6 hours completed. Great! One more than last week. And one to go. My shoulder muscles feel a little sore, my elbow hurts a little, but I can put my head down again. As I step out of the water for a short drink break, I realise the black cloud on the horizon is growing and coming closer. The 11 a.m. rain never happened, so this one is almost on time. Before heading back into the water, I feel an urge to ask the life guards if a thunderstorm has been forecast or just rain. "Thunderstorsm", they say. "Didn't you see the lightning over there? And hear the thunder?" Still hoping it would pass in the distance I went back into the water to swim back and forth close to the shore as long as possible, but the lightning was closing in from 2 sides on the lake. No choice. The wind picked up, the clouds opened - I was one of the last people to leave the beach

So, only 6 hours for today. Come back tomorrow and cancel my long bike ride, because swimming seems more important now? Or be patient, get a good cardio and leg-workout on Sunday and do more 2 hour swims during the week and a 7 hour swim next Saturday and a real long swim of 8 hours the week after? One thing is to have goals, the other to stay flexible.

One poem-song came to my mind (again on Sunday), which can be helpful if you feel disappointed because something did not work out the way you wanted it:

Do the best you can
Cheerfully.
Accept the worst
Calmly....

(Sri Chinmoy)

By the way, when I came home, I found my official Channel Swim number in the mail - registration completed and confirmed! Ready to go!

First Open Water Long Swim - 15 km, June 1st

Silbersee near Frankental

Finally! After thunderstorms on Saturday and the Mannheim Marathon Saturday before, I did my first long swim in open water this year on Sunday, June 1st! Since the 5 hour swim on May 1st I had only done 45 minute to 1 hour swims at most in the pool, since it was either too "cold" (19°C, still have to acclimatise) or too crowded..., plus some weight training, which my teammate Vijaya in New York had recommended strongly. In 1985 I never thought about weight training, but since last year in Zurich I could feel my shoulders after 11 hours, I suppose it is a good idea, especially since with the triathlon I need my arms and legs after the swim still. And it just so happened that Kieser Training were offering one week free training for each life decade = 5 free weeks!



(This foto is from the Zurich lake Marathon Swim 2007, but since the blog does need a few more swimming fotos I am cheating a bit...)

So on June 1st around 10 a.m. I went by train and bike to the "Silver Lake" near Frankental, where I have always trained since 1985 for my longer swims.

I love the peace in this natural reserve area in the early and late hours of the day, with neighbouring lakes full of nesting birds of all kind and other wildlife. The water is pure in the main lake, with sandy beaches, and I can swim for half an hour to an opposite sandy stretch and another half hour back - which makes a lap of almost 3 km. It is perfect - half an hour twice is "easy", it's ideal timing for the feeding break, and all you need to get 3 more km done is one short moment of "self-transcendence" getting back into the water. After a short break, even after three or four hours - it usually feels great again, even if something started hurting before, mostly the flow comes back immediately as soon as I am back in the water.

On longer swims I usually do sets of two laps, then a tiny bit longer break - just to divide "infinity" into digestible pieces and get a feeling of accomplishment on the way - cutting hours off the big cake. The last hour is usually the "icing on the cake" which I enjoy most, even after six or seven hours.

So on Sunday, with 4 weeks from my last long swim, I was happy with 5 hours - it was strong, smooth, rhythmic swimming, faster than May 1st. The water was calm, temperature perfect for now - fresh, but not freezing, at times even too warm on the surface already.

Next weekend the swim will be a bit longer, hopefully there won't be any thunderstorms. The water temperature may even go down by then. So from now on, longs swims every weekend.

I keep reading other Channel swimmers' blogs about their training in Dover - and kind of envy them. I'd love to swim in sea water - it is so much more alive! But I feel it is o.k. for me to wait - I would need more fat to swim in those temperatures now. The more you get used to the cold, the more you suffer in the heat - it will be a difficult balance for August. But I will go over early enough to acclimatisze.

When I biked back to Mannheim train station from the lake in the hot late afternoon (27°C or more?) I knew I would be praying for rain for the biking and running part in August unless some polar air will get swept down south.

"My heart swimming

In silver light,

My soul swimming

In ecstasy's height."

- Sri Chinmoy

One of the aphorisms or poems which often come to my mind or repeat themselves inwardly like mantras during my long training sessions or events, like an expression of an inner state of consciousness I am experiencing - at times, that is. Sometimes I end up only focussing on or repeating single words like "silver light", with the rhythm of my breath or stroke.