I hit the snooze button one too many times and had to hustle out to L1 to catch the 5:55am sunrise. I’m sure glad I did, though. It was a stunner!
We had a great group of swimmers show up today including Cesar, Nick, Beth, Michelle, and Cedric, our newest Lake Monster. The lake temperature came in at 65F on the surface. However, last evening’s storms must have blown out some of the warmer water as the temperature below the 2-foot level was MUCH colder (est. 57F).
But the water was clear and flat on this Air Show morning which made for pretty straightforward swimming. As always, you really should have been there!
Here’s another awesome guest post from Bob Cavallo, our man in northern Indiana. Great job, Bob!
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Wednesday evening I tried a new beach, at least new for my swims: the Lake Street Beach in the Miller section of Gary. I run a race there every spring, the Gallory Gallop, which goes along the beach through Miller and into the dunes. But I’ve never swum there until now.
The beach is long, stretching from Lake Street east to the National Lake Shore over 2 1/2 miles. It has buoys so boats won’t be a hazard.
The water is shallow near the shore, but out by the buoys it gets deep enough for swimming. Wednesday evening was cool with a lot of clouds and some wind, but the water was calm.
Thursday evening I was back to my old haunt at Hammond Beach. Quite a change from Lake Street in that this beach is only 220 yards long before you get into the boats and jet-skiers. But I got in a nice swim in cool but calm water. The shorter distance gives me a good chance to swim intervals harder going east and recover coming back west. Overall, a nice swim.
Here’s another fantastic guest post from Nuala Moore detailing the saga of Annemarie Ward and her North Channel swims. Great job, Nuala (and Annmarie)!
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The North Channel is the 35K stretch of water between Northern Ireland and Scotland. In history, only 9 swimmers have ever accomplished this channel crossing. The first successful crossing was in 1947.
As challenges go, it is a body of water that requires the utmost of respect. Above both the countries we have thousands of miles of sea, all raging and wanting to run south and north. When this water tries to squeeze between the 2 countries, the space being so small forces that water to act very erratically. As the water runs through islands and in and out of headlands and bays, it goes every direction. Therefore, to a swimmer, there is no definite system of movement.
The tides running through Rathlin Island work on nine hours and not the usual six. The erratic nature of these flows is why this stretch of water is the most respected. Add to this the fact that the water temperature is only 12 degrees C (late 50′s in F).
There are those older than us who would be happy if we let this water be. But there are the heroes within our group who decide to battle. Annemarie Ward is such.
Difficulty and challenge is not something that she recognises. She sees arm over arm and most importantly has the most highest level of trust in the crew who this year have assembled around her. During our relay around the Ireland in 06, this group spent years with us in preparation. They worked with swimmers at the lowest ebb of energy, and they pushed us when we were going backwards. Their own personal knowledge of the sea and it’s movements make them the best possible crew to make this happen.
As a team they travelled a few times to the North Channel to swim before the attempt. They studied its form, watched the water, and felt its heartbeat. It is very important to know the agressor.
One day a few weeks ago, they popped Annemarie in the water ten miles from shore. She swam solid for 2.5 hours in the north eastern flow. It was a super successful swim for the crew. Despite rotating her arms for two and half hours, she was in the same place as they started. It was a successful day for the crew because they understood the timing when the flow may not be crossed.
In 2008 Annemarie took her first outing. The weather changes quickly in September, and after 17.5 hours swimming in the North Channel – despite being close to Scotland – the crew made the heartbreaking decision to take her from the water. Her body was being turned back to Ireland. She was fine physically, but would the next two hours hurt her more?
In 2009 Annemarie went back again, and this time the weather and a few decisions forced her out of the water after 2 hours.
Last Tuesday night, Aug 3rd, Annemarie got into the water off Gobbins Island at 10:15pm (the water is calmer at night). She was accompanied with a hardboat and 2 RIBs with Brendan Proctor and Derek, the 2 main marine coordinators. Also along were Team Delta – four guys Ivan, Gus, Joe and Eoin – as well as Noel who trained with her all winter.
The first hour she encountered many jellyfish, taking the stings as she kept moving. The third hour she took in some painkillers in the hope of easing the pain, more devasted that the progress was being hampered. Pain over Progress? The plan was so accurate that the jellyfish were the only negative.
The water was welcoming and calm. The crews despite the darkness were able to identify the blooms, trying to alert her about going right or left. But despite these efforts, the crew had to stand by and watch as more and more stings covered her.
Over the five hours Annemarie hands and legs swelled up and her joints locked. Her leg kick slowed as her ankles and knees seized up. Her mouth was covered in stings. At five hours she made the call herself and knew that it was over. For precaution, she was admitted to hospital. All is well, a few tingles remain, but the team is back in planning.
It is so heroic that a swimmer, despite all the pain, can think only about letting the crew down – and how the crews can be so disappointed about letting the swimmer down. Life is so amazing, and being part of these experiences makes life so much more special.
The work is done, and the North Channel still waits. Hopefully in the coming weeks…
From a personal point Annemarie is one of the funniest and most gracious swimmers. The moment she puts her face in the water, it is for all the right reasons. She is completely at one there.
Two years ago, I predicted that the Point to LaPointe 2-Mile swim would become “one of the preeminent open water swim events in the Midwest – if not nationwide.”
Well folks, it’s definitely there!
The swim is still mostly a Midwest event with the majority of the racers hailing from Minnesota and Wisconsin. But the iconic race sold out at 300 participants and drew competitive swimmers from as far away as New York, California, Florida, and Oregon – far eclipsing the 15 community swimmers who were once the bulwark of the event.
Bottom line, for better or worse, the Point to LaPointe 2-Miler has officially become a serious competitive swim event.
So let’s talk about the actual swim now, shall we?
The race day morning ushered in partly overcast skies accompanied by slightly cooler but quite pleasant air temperatures (est. 65F). An unusually warm Midwest summer gave us 70F water temperatures, making the swim quite palatable in our extra neoprene layers.
Based on previous event conditions, wetsuits were strongly recommended – if not implied as a requirement. I only saw four participants without wetsuits, and I understand that they had to get special permission from the race director to do so. In retrospect, I should have done this as I was quite toasty in my Xterra fullsuit. But I did appreciate the extra buoyancy…
The swim started off just as I remembered two years ago. The large throng of male swimmers salmoned its way out of the Bayfield harbor area to the first swim buoy before finally spreading out and settling into a groove. The equally numerous female swimmers followed eight minutes later with the small band of community swimmers rounding out the “caboose” of the water train.
Sighting was much easier this time around thanks to relatively calm waters and three gigantic yellow balloons (dirigibles?) tethered to the finish line. In fact, I didn’t even pay attention to the other swim buoys lining the race route – I just pointed at the helium-filled lighthouses during my entire time in the water.
I kept a constant swim pace (much faster than I usually do out at L1) and made pretty good headway until about the one-mile mark, when a slight breeze moved in from the south/southeast. This was the exact opposite of what happened two years ago – which gives you an even better appreciation of how unpredictable Lake Superior can be!
This south/southeast sustained wind created a subtle but insidious current which added an extra quarter mile (or more) to the race distance for a number of swimmers. I managed to power through this current, and I’m fairly certain I stayed on a relatively straight course. But it would be quite interesting to see a GPS map of my swim route as I highly doubt it was as linear as I imagined.
I hammered the last 1/8 mile and reached the finish point at 1:17 – quite glad to be out of the water by that time! But the clouds had dissipated by then, and the sun was out in full force, bringing us another perfect high summer day. And as ephemeral as these can be in the northern Great Lakes, one can’t help but celebrate.
As many of you readers already know, I am a big supporter of Mark Sisson and his Primal Blueprint philosophy and lifestyle. But I didn’t just jump on the “evolutionary fitness” bandwagon overnight.
Truth be told, I am extremely skeptical of just about any publicized fitness, diet, or exercise program. Bottom line, I think most of it is unsubstantiated fad that is cleverly disguised by effective marketing. And most of the proponents and practitioners of these programs are, in my opinion, “hucksters” looking to capitalize on the masses that want a quick fix to health and fitness.
It was with this mindset that I first approached Mark’s articles and publications – including The Primal Blueprint, his most popular book to date. And having extensively reviewed them, I can confidently give Mark’s publications a thumbs up and recommend them to anyone who comes to this site for fitness-related information.
With this in mind, I am very excited to pass along the announcement that Mark has just released Primal Blueprint Fitness, a 92-page ebook that you can download for FREE at this link:
Check it out when you get a chance. And stop doing all that “chronic cardio” while you’re at it, too!
