Goggles at Dawn

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...

This is the second installment of  Gráinne's visit to Ireland in July and August of 2022. Having just completed a crossing of the North Channel, one of the hardest of all marathon swims, she sought further adventure ... ***** As I plunged into the black Atlantic Ocean at the farthest tip of Southwest Ireland under the intimidating Fastnet lighthouse at 5am on the 5 th August 2022 I was enveloped with a wonder.  I was astonished at the extreme sense of serenity I felt despite being, literally, a little drop in the 41 million square miles of the second-largest ocean in the world. Whilst I had planned to be in Ireland in August 2022 I hadn’t expected to be here, so how had this happened? A Double Triple Crown? A week and a half after completing the arduous North Channel , my mind started to ponder the 21km Fastnet Rock Swim .  I started to think ‘could I squeeze this swim in before returning to New Zealand and complete a “Double Triple Crown” in one year?’ The New Zealand ...

July 2020 conveniently finished on a Friday (I love it when months end tidily like this - it's even better when they end on a Sunday) and I did a nice long solo swim of 5,333 metres.  Here's the set. I did a longer warm-down, so that I wouldn't need to wait for the bus too long. Earlier in the week, on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, we were finishing the 'speed block' at squad, so the distances were a little less and I needed to catch up. Actually, the culmination of the speed block was fun. The first part of each session focussed on breathing, or coordination, or shape in the water. We also did sets that moved between doing fast 50s and 100s and longer swims. On the Tuesday we did some 50s that involved changing speed on each 25, and I was surprised that I could knock out some 37s and 36s.  On the Thursday, when we swim long course metres, I felt stiff as a board during the warm-up, and didn't look forward to whatever test set was coming up. As it happens, it w...

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...

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...