Swimming through August

Saturday 29 August


The grey and tempestuous picture is from the penultimate sea-swim of winter. On that morning I swam at WRAC 6am-7am, and then after a restorative snack, took the bus to Freyberg, met Rebecca, and we set out for a dip in the sea, taking in the 2nd yellow marker buoy, and the fountain.  The water was warming up, ever so slightly, and I had my big coat to wear so that the alfresco coffee afterwards was really quite toasty.  Total of 5km.




The previous week I did an early morning at WRAC, fitting in just over 3km in 55 minutes: the pool opened bang on 6am, which meant we weren't in the water until 6.05ish and had to clear out promptly at 7.00am.  After a scone and much-needed coffee, I pedalled like the wind over to Worser Bay to meet Eliza and Cat. After carefully stowing my brand new swim bag in their brand new car, we struck out for Seatoun and achieved our goal in bizarrely swift time, so made the return trip at a rapid rate to see if it was a fluke. Seemingly we were in a swift state that day, so once back at the Big Rock (pictured in the centre of the picture above), we went back to the pink buoy for an extra 500-metre loop. The day was extremely delightful, making our exit from the water an unwelcome prospect knowing that the air would be colder than the water.  I decided not to repeat the mistake of getting dressed in the freezing ice-box toilets and pedalled home as fast as I could. Total of 5.1km

In the pool, my aim over August was to make 25km weeks, and this I pretty much achieved. The week of 24 August didn't go quite according to plan, as our Sunday session was a bit short. 

Week beginning 3 August: 25.6km
Week beginning 10 August: 25.56km
Week beginning 17 August: 25.33km
Week beginning 24 August: 24.48km

The #5kFriday is now an institution, and I try do around 5.2-5.4km in just over an hour and a half, generally with quite a long swim at the start, and then some faster set, depending on crowds in the lane. As we're back at Covid Alert Level 2, because of the clusters in Auckland, Freyberg is using wide lanes for public swimming, and sometimes navigating these lanes is like dodgems. 

Here's the #5kFriday set from Friday 28 August, in a 33 1/3 metre pool. 






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A beautiful day in the south — swimming to Rakiura

Image
Looking towards Rakiura with not far to go. It is now two weeks since I was lucky enough to enjoy a beautiful swim across Te Ara-a-Kiwa/Foveaux Strait to Rakiura/Stewart Island on Saturday 1 April 2023. For many reasons, this was a lucky swim, characterized by a series of beautiful coincidences and experiences that I wasn’t sure how to do justice to. With every swim they complete, our local swimmers write ever more perceptive and vivid blogs, so there is some pressure to match their originality and eloquence. Just this week I've read Adriana's evocative account of her Taup ō swim, and Gr á inne’s thoughtful response , written from the perspective of a support person during the swim (as well as her stories of swims here and abroad). Then there’s also Rebecca’s story of a record-breaking swim in Lake Wānaka , Mike’s day in Taupō , and John’s long-awaited crossing between our north and south islands. Their candid reflections make it harder and harder to find a perspective and t...
Read more

Guest Blog: Swimming Foveaux, Te Ara a Kiwi

Image
Thursday 10 March 2022 was a big day for marathon swimming in New Zealand. On the same day, there were four swimmers in the water, two crossing Te Moana-o-Raukawa (Cook Strait) and two crossing Te Ara a Kiwi (Foveaux Strait). On this particular day, both stretches of water offered some challenges, but ultimately all four swimmers made successful crossings. One of these swimmers was Gráinne Moss, whose account of her 2021 Lake Taupō can be found here . I'm honoured to host the story of her most recent swim, with which Gráinne completed the 'Triple Crown' of NZ's ultra-marathon swims.  ******* Swimming Foveaux, Te Ara a Kiwi – 10th March 2022 The Playlist Blog Among our Wellington Swim Group, the “Spud Buds” there is an accepted tradition that you not only do your open-water swim challenge – you also write a blog about it. Welcome to my blog about swimming from Stewart Island to Bluff, one of ocean swimming's  Toughest 13 . I have structured this blog around a playlis...
Read more

Guest post: Victoria swims Lake Taupō

Image
On Saturday 22 January 2022, my friend Victora Pinarello joined the 40.2 Club by swimming the length of Lake Taupō. It was a privilege to be part of her support crew for this swim. I had huge respect for Victoria’s background in Ironman and other extreme endurance sports, and her attitude to training for this swim during 2021, demonstrating an incredible work ethic, was humbling. Then, the determination Victoria showed during a long swim that had some challenging moments gave me a new perspective on what ‘endurance’ can mean.  Therefore, it’s an especial pleasure to host her swim report on Goggles at Dawn. ******* Total time: 18 hours 26 minutes 18 seconds; expected time 15/16 hours Total distance: 40.9km; expected distance 40.2km * 24 hours awake * 25 SiS gels * 4 bottles of electrolyte * 3 layers of sunscreen * 1 driver – Emma * 2 supporters on the boat – Alicia and Corrina * 1 Phil * 1 Hana I'm told of the tradition to write a blog post-swim, to impart my wisdom and share my ...
Read more