No updates yet on Paula as of 9:20am Saturday. If everything went as planned, she should be hitting Michiana Shores within the next three hours. In the meantime, here are a few shots that Dave took before Paula started her swim:
Per Dave:
Rainbow Beach August 21, 2009
The captain of the life guards would not let Paula swim off the beach without a signed permit. So with the help of $20 to buy the captain lunch, he pointed out an area two blocks north behind a rock wall that was not an official beach area in which Paula might just be able to swim from “as he walked way to buy lunch…..”
As you can see in the first photo, her two helpers are smearing on a lot of shark food which she figures will help her swim much faster if a shark is after her. Photo #2 shows Paula posing with Erin and a “Jellyfish” from the ladder #1 gang at Oak Street Beach.
Paula headed out at 12:45ish for her 24-hour swim in 59F degree water which was near flat….
Dave and I had spoke earlier in the day, and he reported lake temperatures of 68F (69F at Ohio Street Beach). Shortly after that, some pretty vigorous thunderstorms arrived and stayed with us into the early evening. The rains subsided a bit after 7:00pm, so I decided to do a run out to Ladder #1 and get in a quick swim.
The water temperature was quite pleasant at Ladder #1 in just my swim trunks. No immersion shock or thermoclines, so the heavy rains and winds had not affected the 68F mark one bit. But the water still had a 12-inch chop along with some rolling swells. This combination provided a “perfect storm” for vertigo – which began to settle in once I started swimming.
I stayed close to Ladder #1 and opted to do back-and-forth laps parallel to the wall. But I was surprised at how quickly the vertigo would set in once I slowed down or stopped completely. I tried focusing on the water rhythms, and that helped a little bit. But the only thing that really shook off the vertigo was just powering through the chops in short but intense bursts.
The key here is that when the lake gives you “washing machine” conditions, you’re not fighting a current per se. This makes it difficult to gauge the rhythms and patterns of the water movements – and the result can be dizziness or vertigo. So if you find yourself in these conditions, don’t go for a long aerobic swim. Instead, make it a short swim with higher intensity “sprints” in the water. And stay close to the edge or the shore so you can “bail out” if you start feeling too overwhelmed.
I just got a note from Paula that the swim is on! She was able to secure a charter boat to accompany her from Chicago to Michiana Shores. They’re still short a kayak, though, so if any of you have one they can use for 24 hours, I am sure they would greatly appreciate it. Just contact Paula directly or let me know and I will forward the message.
Also, Paula is starting her swim on Friday August 21, 2009 at 12:00 noon from Rainbow Beach (77th Street and the Lake). I know some of you have expressed interest in giving her a good luck send-off, so feel free to hightail it down to Rainbow Beach later this week!
Many of us recall our grandparents warning us about “undertows” or “undercurrents” along the coastlines of the Great Lakes or the oceans. A bit later on, the term “rip tides” came into vogue only to be replaced by the contemporary version of “rip currents.”
I caught the sunrise at 5:57am and started my swim shortly thereafter. The water temperature came in at 68F for the first meter of depth. Below that, the thermoclines brought things down to about 57F. Still, that’s more than enough leeway to go without a wetsuit.
The water was perfect – calm, clear, and quite comfortable in just my jammers. I finished my mile and hung around Ladder #1 with my post-swim tea. And despite a closed off parking lot at North Avenue, both Amanda and Laura made it out for a swim. When we took off at around 8:00am, the Air Show mob was just beginning to arrive in full force. Yet another reason to get out there early!
I’ll concede that the lake can get annoyingly cold at times. But even in the midst of winter, I’d still rather thrash about in Lake Michigan than in some of the other open water venues on either coast.
So when you’re spending all that time training in Lake Michigan (and bellyaching about the water temperatures), just remember what we don’t have to deal with here in the Great Lakes:
I had a great conversation with Eleanor Stephanson, Paula’s mother, earlier this afternoon. Paula, a marathon swimmer from Belleville, Ontario, is looking to become only the second person to have ever swum across all five Great Lakes. So far she’s done all four but Lake Michigan – and she’s planning to accomplish that the weekend of August 22, 2009.
The swim route starts right here in Chicago at Rainbow Beach (77th Street) and ends in the Michiana Shores area. The total distance is approximately 35 miles, and Paula expects to complete this distance in 24 hours.
Paula and her team are having difficulty securing escort boats to accompany her on the swim. I’m posting this so you can get the word out locally to anyone who might be able to supply them. This is what they need:
- A smaller size 2-person motorized boat, such as a Zodiac boat, to accompany her in the water and supply her during the swim
- A larger sail or powerboat that can accommodate a crew of 6-8 people on the support team. It needs to have the proper directional equipment necessary to traverse the lake at night during the 24-hour period. Also, this boat would need to have facilities to heat food (i.e. stove, microwave) which will be provided to Paula during the evening part of the swim.
In exchange for this, Paula would be willing to pay any expenses that are incurred by the boats during the swim (docking fees, fuel, etc.) as well as provide food for all of the crew members involved.
I’m sure some of you are thinking, “Why don’t they just get a few corporate sponsors like the marathon/triathlon/Elvis/Hustle/Shamrock/Turkey event always does?” Well, unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way for distance swimmers. Unlike professional athletes in highly visible “TV” sports, these athletes aren’t flaunting their talents in front of huge crowds. Instead, they quietly train long and hard hours and go to day jobs to finance their goals.
So why should any of you consider this? Here are just a few reasons:
- You get to be part of a unique and amazing experience
- You get to show how generous the people of Chicago are to international sports celebrities (which would be a great selling point for the Olympic bid…)
- And most important, you get to be a hero to someone attempting something both positive and monumental:
What I found to be rather significant, though, was this part of the report:
Earlier this summer, two deaths occurred during triathlons in the state. In June, Julie Silletti died while participating in the Elkhart Lake triathlon. Silletti, 54, made it to the point where she could stand up in the 400-yard swim course when she collapsed. The following month, Daniel J. Murray, 33, died during the Pewaukee triathlon a few minutes after the start of a quarter-mile swim.
We have three relatively young endurance athletes who all experienced fatal consequences during the swim course. One of them wasn’t even in the water that long when he collapsed.
We’ve gone beyond this being an incident or a series – we now have an established pattern. I personally think it’s high time the endurance sports community recognizes this potential risk and addresses it during both training and events. In other words, we need to look more at how we’re preparing people to manage both open water swimming conditions as well as the high stress/anxiety scenarios inherent with triathlons.
There is a rather lengthy article posted on the Time magazine website with the catchy title, “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin.” You can check it out if you wish, but it’s basically a fluff piece where the author whines about how hard it is to lose weight through exercise.
Two things stick out. First, it reinforces the false belief propagated by the fitness industrial complex that optimal human health is primarily a function of A) how much cardio/endurance exercise you do, and B) how much weight you lose.
The hard truth is that most people actually do too much cardio and not enough short-burst, high intensity exercise such as strength training.
In fact, nestled within the piece is a very telling nugget:
Another British study, this one from the University of Exeter, found that kids who regularly move in short bursts — running to catch a ball, racing up and down stairs to collect toys — are just as healthy as kids who participate in sports that require vigorous, sustained exercise.
The second point is that all the exercise in the world will make very little impact on your weight (or your health) if you continue to eat non-primal “junk carbs” such as sugars and grain-based products.
The key is, throw out your scale and stop using your weight as an indicator of your health. You are most likely stuck in the “more cardio = more weight loss = better health” downward spiral that leads to nothing but frustration, exhaustion, and illness. Focus less on the grinding treadmill workouts and more on strength training and high intensity interval workouts. And cut out the muffins, lattes, bagels, scones, soft drinks, pasta dishes, and anything termed “whole grain.” They add nothing good to your overall health and wellness.
