We are less than 2 weeks away from our Manhattan circumnavigation and Gino and I competed our last 6 hour training swim yesterday! I was nervous about this swim because I am feeling very ready to start decreasing my yardage, but I am glad that I didn’t let my laziness get in the way of completing this swim.
I actually felt stronger as the swim went along, even as the conditions remained challenging and choppy. Gino, Jax, and I met at the Tower 26 parking lot at 5am and the sky was just starting to get light. We started our swim just in front of the tower and headed north to the Santa Monica Pier, before turning back south and stopping for our first feed. The current and chop were pushing steadily north and we had waves in our faces as we pressed south toward the Venice breakwater. I could hear dolphins calling to each other through the water and I stretched out my strokes, digging deep with each pull. When we were approaching the rocks, I saw a dolphin swim underneath me.
It took us about 2 hours to reach the Marina Del Rey breakwater and we turned back north, knowing the current would now be at our backs. As we were passing the Venice Pier for the second time, the sun began to emerge from behind the clouds, warming our backs. I was surprised by how good I was feeling in the water and how much I was enjoying the long swim, especially compared to the other 6 hour swim we did last week.
We reached the Santa Monica Pier again in around 1 hour and 30 minutes and turned back south to finish the swim. The chop once again hindered our progress, but I was still feeling strong and picked up my stroke tempo a little to counter. When we reached the Tower 26 buoy, we needed another hour and a half of swimming, so we pushed on towards the Venice breakwater.
Smiling during a feed!
It seemed to take us forever to reach the rocks and we turned around to complete our last leg. Gino and I both continued to swim quickly back to the buoy, and I felt as if my energy was building and I would have felt good to continue if the swim had been longer. As I look ahead to my Manhattan swim in 10 days, I am confident that this swim, as well as the rest of my training, has prepared me well!
I plan to blog again with another training update before I start my swim but here is link to track my swim on July 14th! I will be escorted by both a kayak and a boat and the tracker will be on the boat (which may not always be right next to me, so don’t be alarmed if the tracker jumps around a little!
Open Water Abby 