The target is in your sights

Rotate ze shoulders ...

Sighting and rotation drills in the pool this week.

It’s not enough just to swim during an ocean swim, you also have to sight your targets and line up. If you just follow the crowd you are liable to end up off course (life lesson there?) and if you don’t sight properly the s bend pattern you adopt may mean you end up swimming much more than the intended course. Equally you lengthen your stroke considerably if you rotate properly.

It proves much easier this time around … in the pool. Get into the open water and all of a sudden what worked in the pool results in salty mouthfuls.

Nonetheless I was able to sight (an admittedly orange clad) bloke on the beach who insisted on moving about to test our sighting abilities. This proved remarkably difficult for those amongst us who have poor long distance sight – do they even make prescription goggles?

Dawny’s Cockatoo Island Challenge is supposed to kick off my ocean swimming season. Collective veto in favour of brunch. Inauspicious start to the season.

Welcome to Frustration Town. Population 1. You.

Back in the pool for the first time in months. I have never been more frustrated. I trained really hard all though winter and did a lot of coaching sessions in Cairns to try and correct my stroke and I am starting from a worse position than last year. Made it through the set, slowly, but it was awesome to be exercising again.

Beach session. Wake up call: you really were sick. Pneumonia is exhausting rather than sickening. I’ve felt worse from colds. So I had no idea how sick I had really been until I tried ocean swimming. Between the adrenalin, exertion, general panic and occasional mouthfuls of salty water my lungs were really up against it today.

We started in the middle of the beach, swam out about 150m and then across to icebergs. All up about 750m but I swear it felt longer than Palm to Whale or Little Bay to Malabar (both 3 times longer).

I muddled through but it was a very welcome indication of how sick I’d been and justification of my recent sloth impression.

Word up to the Bondi Lifesavers who volunteer their time to swim and paddle out with us. Without you we couldn’t too. They are such a reassuring presence. Props to Bec and Alex who were both on patrol. Very reassuring.

Onwards and upwards. Week 2 down. Ten to go.

It starts ... sort of ... maybe later

Week one was spent on Smith’s Lake with the family finishing my course of antibiotics and generally recovering.

Inauspicious start.

Call Anna and it's been pouring, wet cold and miserable down at Bondi whilst I've been hanging by the lake. I believe "Curse you Katie" was the prevailing sentiment.

To Can Too or Not to Can Too

Pro: More fun that you can poke a stick at

Con: More terrifying than being beaten with a stick

Pro: Supportive and helpful environment to get you to your goal swim

Con: You’re still all alone out there (to the extent that is possible whilst surrounded by 1000’s of swimmers and lifeguards)

Pro: Spending Saturday morning on Bondi Beach with friends

Con: Getting out of bed early on a Saturday (backing up after Friday night) to trek across town with the joys of weekend public transport

Pro: Getting fit and healthy

Con: Still taking antibiotics for mycoplasma pneumonia and totally unfit due to resultant medically imposed exercise hiatus

Pro: Facing my fears

Con: It's Scary!

Pro: Improving my time from last year

Con: Possibly being overtaken by Tony Abbott

Pro: Helping Cure Cancer Australia and supporting a great charity; not to mention the knowledge that you Can Too, having done it last year and the challenge of reaching the Fundraising Hall of Fame

It’s a win for Can Too …

Swim season in the tropics

Sprinting up the beach ...
And they're off ... deep water starts are awesome
Double Island, also known as shark gutterHmmm ... not so sure about this after hearing all those croc stories.

When the water is warm all year around the swim season is dictacted by stingers and not by warmth.
The Far North Queensland swimming season starts in May / June - there are only a couple but they are looking to expand.

So I check out the Ellis Beach ocean swim. 1.2km - easy.

Too Rough at the Bondi Bluewater

The final swim of the season was to be the new Bondi swim on Anzac day. They let the 1km kids go and then declare it too rough.
My mates doing it had to swim the whole way underway to make any headway the surf was so tough.

Not a great way to end the season.

Until next season ...

Practice is supposed to make perfect

Spectacular scenery

In the middle of all of these rainbow swimming capped swimmers is a nauseous girl in yellow who seems to be going the wrong way with the wrong stroke. That's me.

The Malabar to Little Bay swim is 2.7km long. Which doesn't seem that long now that I've swum it already. Wonderful boutique swim with excellent organisation and smaller numbers of participants. This means no getting swum over, into, around, on top of etc. It does however mean I fall off the back of my starting wave before the first buoy, but for the first time it takes the next wave until the 3rd buoy to overtake me. Yay!

It's at the 3rd wave when the seasickness strikes, despite anti-nausea tablets and a relatively calm day. Debilitating stuff. Cough, splutter, breaststroke, keep on swimming, cough and splutter again. Finally make it to the end and am made to go around the final buoy before heading to the finish line. Get my own back by pushing against buoy to minimise detour necessitated by it. Am totally disorientated by the end.

Am last in my age category, and in the bottom 20. Couldn't care less. I made a distance that once had me quaking in my boots whilst horribly nauseous. That alone is an achievement I wouldn't have once contemplated. Have however decided against a 5km attempt. For this year at least.