Goggles at Dawn

Not much excitement in the last week or so. On the weekend of 18/19 July we had some goggles at dawn (or shortly after dawn) swimming on Saturday: 1km warm-up in the pool at 7.30am, c. 1.6km in the sea, and another 600 metres to re-warm-up in Freyberg Pool again. The conditions, as the photo suggests, were serene, and the water just below 9 degrees. Sunday morning involved swim squad from 7.00-8.30am, followed by an anti-inflammatory fountain circuit.  Tuesday and Thursday morning I had squad at WRAC, where we're in our speed block at the moment, alternating between drills and swims that emphasise stroke efficiency and comfort in the water (so lots of stroke-counting and reduction, while maintaining/increasing speed) and attempting all-out sprints over 50 metres. On Wednesday I did just over an hour, 4.2pm, by myself at Freyberg, but my decision to consume a pie immediately before  going to the pool compromised the quality of the session: I felt quite odd the whole time. On Fr...

After publishing several posts that had been sitting in the drafts folder, and talking to a couple of people about their plans for large feats of strength in spring and summer ... and then doing some actual work ... I had a space in the day to go to the pool. Fuelled by a vast banana and half of a pain au chocolat, I headed to Freyberg.   My initial place was for about 4.2km, done as soon as possible. However, once at the pool, and finishing the other half of the pastry, I felt inspired to do a little more if my ancient frame could stand it. In the end, the set looked like this (bear in mind I was in a pool that's 33 1/3 metres long!)                                                                                                   Runni...

Over late June and early July we've had some big southerlies in Wellington: icy winds blowing (or so it feels) straight from Antarctica, days of rain, very little sun, low snowfall in the ranges to the north and east of the city, and so forth. I don't object to this weather at all. It provides variety and interest in life, after all. A couple of weeks ago there was endless rain for days. Oddly this didn't seem to affect the harbour much: there were no 'wastewater' overflows at Chaffers/Clyde Quay, and the sea seemed remarkably pellucid. What did happen, though, is that vast amounts of cold, fresh water came down the Hutt River, and gradually spread (in a fascinating pattern) across the harbour. I've borrowed this photo from ocean swimmer Eduardo, who captured the phenomenon from Roseneath. The river water is approaching from the right.  On Saturday 4 July this process was at its peak, we decided on a good 8am group swim as Bre was still in town, and Alice was up...

Reflections on swimming at different levels of alert have probably run their course for a while, and also I'm tired of writing about them. So, I thought I'd post about something current, what I am doing now. As I'm relentlessly pursuing the 'Million Metres in 2020' goal, I wanted to get back into swimming 20km weeks as soon as possible, plus a bit more to make up the shortfall caused by five weeks of non-swimming lockdown. Late April and May were the build-up, and I started hitting 20km weeks from the start of June.  Progress has been as follows: Week beginning 27 April: 13.05km (all in the sea) Week beginning 4 May: 13.6km (all in the sea) Week beginning 11 May: 15.3km (all in the sea) Week beginning 18 May: 18.85km (sea and pool) Week beginning 25 May: 17.18km (sea and pool) Week beginning 1 June: 20.1km (sea and pool) Week beginning 8 June: 20.93km (sea and pool) Week beginning 15 June: 22.43km (sea and pool) Week beginning 22 June: 22.75km (sea and pool) Week be...

One of the thrills of Level 2 was that the WCC pools reopened. To safeguard swimmers, the lanes were all double-width, and only eight swimmers were permitted per lane. There were also limits placed on the number of patrons who could use the facility at any time, and we were discouraged from using the changing rooms unless absolutely necessary. Likewise the cubbyholes and lockers. Some pools changed their entry/exit points to avoid clumps of people gathering, and the staff were very busy cleaning. Luckily, not all that many people flocked back to the pools immediately. A lot of administration was necessary, especially to facilitate the different user groups (clubs, squads etc) to ensure that they got some training time while observing social distancing.  I'm secretary for the Harbour Capital Masters swimming club, and became ad hoc Health and Safety Officer as well, drafting an updated H&S plan for the club which WCC needed to approve before we could resume our bookings. The clu...

As the Prime Minister promised, we moved from Level 3 to Level 2 after a couple of weeks (11.59pm on Wednesday 13 May). This meant very little for me, as life and work continued in much the same way. I suspect this was the same for a lot of people who still worked from home, shopped carefully and as infrequently as possible, and generally avoided people . The big change at Level 2 is that the regulations permitted group activities (with care taken to stay a couple of metres apart and not congregate in groups of 10). From an open water swimming perspective, this was great: we could swim in groups and even have coffee afterwards. On the first days of Level 2, I swam at Worser Bay with Eliza or at Freyberg Beach alone-ish or with whoever was about. One thing I did notice was that it felt like a great thrill and a novelty to see other swimmers in the water and give them a wave and a shout. As more swimmers emerged from seclusion it was hard not to feel lit-up and merry to see people one ha...

After a dead body was fished out of the sea near Hataitai, it became a less appealing place to swim. I've always found it somewhat silty and smelly there, and the thought that a body had been floating around near where we'd swum the previous day made the beach less endearing still.  After a couple more Freyberg Beach swims alone in variable conditions, doing either raft-fountain-raft-raft loops, or raft-raft-fountain-raft-raft loops, a change of scene seemed highly desirable. Thus on the first Saturday of Level 3, I suggested Worser Bay. Eliza and I met there at a decent social distance, and while Eliza's partner went for a run, we inched our way into the sea and plotted a course. Now, while Worser Bay is sheltered in a strongish northerly, this was a northerly coming from an odd direction. We decided to to do laps between a big rock located at the northern end of the beach by the clubhouse to a big pink buoy which turned out to be about 250 metres away. The journey to the ...

A blustery northerly came up on the second day of Level 3, making my bike ride around to Freyberg Beach a less relaxing experience. Although the traffic was light in comparison with normal times, there were some roadworks to negotiate, superintended by a couple of friendly stop-go men. The stop-go men gallantly signalled the waiting three cyclists to set off ahead of the cars but this meant we had to go flat out from just past Balaena Bay to past Pt. Jerningham, with a growing convoy of vehicular traffic behind. I always get the feeling that a frustrated motorist trapped behind a bike will go postal and run me down, so I pedalled like fury to get around the corner.  Adding the northerly into this equation also added an extra level of exertion.  Once at the beach I prepared to broach the chop. A few other swimmers were doing the same, and we greeted each other heartily from afar. I decided that the lighthouse might be a stretch in the conditions, so contented myself with a few ...

This post is now extremely delayed, but things have been busy. Anyway, I thought it was still worth recording what happened when we went to Level 3.  At Level 3 swimming in the sea was allowed, but still had to be socially-distanced. Of course, there are certain risks with swimming alone in the sea, but because there is such a strong ocean swimming community here in Wellington, it never really became a problem. On the first day of Level 3 I cycled around to Freyberg Beach at around midday. It was a beautiful day, sunny, windless, warm, but with a slight suggestion of early autumn in the air. I stripped down to my togs, locked my backpack to my bike, inflated the tow-float (with keys inside) and strode forth into the water. It was an exciting feeling. The water wasn't much cooler than when we'd last swum five weeks earlier, and despite those five weeks having dragged on, it felt just like yesterday that I'd last swum. While I didn't have a socially-distanced swim compani...