After returning home from Gibraltar, and getting back into the pool at Olympic Health Club and Keystone Lake, it was a great feeling to re-start the engines after a successful swim in Europe. I did my best to kick up the mileage last week, and will continue to push in preparation for the Tsugaru Channel in July! I am very happy to report that my brother, Matthew and I have booked our reservations for the Japanese trip and I could not be any happier to take another step in making the Tsugaru Channel attempt a reality! I am doing my best to continue communication with Yuko Matsuzaki, Steve Munatones and Moriya-san; all of whom have been very helpful in answering the ongoing questions which come with international travel!
A few weekends back we (about 30+ swimmers) did some great training at Hidden Valley Lake, just north of San Francisco, California! Jamie Patrick hosted a large group of open water swimmers, who all came together for a weekend of great food, bonding and plenty of swimming chatter! It was such a treat to meet all the people whom I have met via other swims, or have never met, and have connected with through Facebook. I was sad to leave, but thrilled to have met so many other adventure-minded athletes!
I am also very excited to be able to swim at Murrysville Swim Club in the AM with the FAST Masters team I coach, and then hit up the lake or Olympic in the evenings. The biggest challenge I have is the taper schedule for the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, Tsugaru Channel and the Red River swim in late July; 3 marathon swims in 4 weeks! My plan is to do a LONG swim (possible 25+ mile Raystown Lake crossing) the weekend prior to MIMS, a 5-day drop taper for MIMS, compete at MIMS, then do a two-week taper for Tsugaru and just rest the few days before the Red River swim a couple days after Tsugaru – this is going to be quite a bit of swimming, ha! I am still working to organize the Lake Tahoe, California attempt in mid-August with Jamie Patrick and Jen Schumacher, so I will keep everyone up to date when the plans are more final! Jamie is in training for his Tahoe360 attempt, so it will be awesome to do a crossing with him to help prepare for the journey! Word on the street is there might be a possible swim competition in Turkey as well next Spring – stay tuned!
The past few days have been rough as I have been doing about as much swimming as I can handle to try and hit a solid 100K+ for a 7-day period (going for a 10-day total!). I like to refer to these as “throwing down the lumber”, since typically the body is just completely beat up, and the mind just keeps pushing on! I have felt my body “turn-over”, which is a feeling that you can just go and go and go and just feel really solid in the water. The morning Masters sprint work-outs are great for keeping up the speed, but they make for some rough long lake swims at night!! It is all good though, as I just keep reminding myself that Tsugaru is waiting, and it will not be an easy journey!
Best Wishes to Penny Palfrey and her Florida Straits attempt in a few weeks, and to Paul Lundgren, who will be tackling the Sea of Cortez next week! 103-mile and 76-mile marathon swims – just incredible!! These two are just simply amazing swimmers, and I am in awe of their dedication to training for such monumental tasks! I have complete faith their strong support crews will do everything they can to complete the adventure at hand! GO PENNY AND PAUL!
So as you walk out the door
Take care, and always be sure
That the ones in your life
Know that you love them tonight
Fate has one guarantee
And we all must agree
That the best laid plans
May all change by tomorrow…
–DKM “God Willing”