Anacapa Island is on the right! Doesn’t look THAT far.
To build my marathon swimming resume, I’m going to attempt to swim from Anacapa Island to Ventura (a little over 12 miles) in September! My friend Lynn gave me the idea as I’m trying to build up my swim resume for the way-too-exciting swim that I have hopeful plans for in 2016. I will be swimming in accordance with the Rules of Marathon Swimming recently published by the Marathon Swimmers Federation with the basics of swimming without any assistance (no wetsuit, no fins, no “jellyfish mask”, no one touching me, not touching anyone, no resting on anyone or anything, etc.).
Filling out the paperwork is a pain. It’s a 14 page form! That’s more pages than miles! I scheduled an appointment with my GP back in San Francisco in April to fill out the medical portion. I’m sure it’ll all be worth it though. I’ve got a great support network and should be easy to dig up a worthy crew. 🙂 I really could not do this without those guys and I’ll be thinking of them every stroke of the way. Having some of them with me for the swim is an added bonus.
Can’t someone fill this crap out (and pay for it) for me?
I’ll be doing Semana Nautica’s 10 KM on 13th July first which isn’t the focus on my training right now. Right now I’m shifting my training focus to be Anacapa. My friend Scott Zornig has given me some advice on how to train for it. I’ve also reached out to Jamie for help as he’ll be able to give me more detailed guidance as I prepare. Having a crew of my open water swimming friends is going to be golden though as they’ve been always so supportive and they know exactly what it’s going to be like for me in there. Maybe we’ll find out if I do reach a point in open water swimming of thinking “Okay, ARE WE THERE YET???”
I just hope I don’t get eaten by a shark.
Working on dropping my times as I’ve gone back to intervals. I was with my team last Sunday and Assistant Coach Cindy had a GREAT mid-distance workout that I’m tucking away for later. I’m still doing this relatively heinous workout that Tom had for a Saturday workout a few weeks ago. It’s causing my times to drop though so I’m sticking with it. I pulled a relatively recent PB of 47 sec / 50 yards which I’m pretty out of shape right now so that was impressive. 🙂 Right now my 59 sec / 50 yards is my “Sunday stroll not really working it” pace which when I started swimming again 1.5 years ago was my standard “I’m getting a good steady workout” pace. I’d like to get my 100 meter split time down to at least 1:40 which I know is totally doable for me. Between getting my diet back on track, drinking less, and going back to routine intervals, I can achieve this goal pretty easily!
I got a valuable stroke tip from my friend Mike the other day too. I went back to breathing every other cycle as that helps me keep my upper body stable which I couldn’t seem to get a handle of with breathing every cycle. Mike was watching me swim the other day and said the only thing he’d change was having my right hand enter later when I breath as I was cutting it short. I tried that a few times and noticed that my times dropped a good 2.5 seconds / 50 meters! I can noticeably feel the difference in pushing the water back as I have a much better catch now. I think of that tip now with each stroke which is definitely helping! Thanks Mike!!!
Shaw’s Cove, Laguna Beach – Never get tired of this view!
Off to the 24 Hour Swim Relay at SF Aquatic Park! I’m just volunteering at it (which I’ve baked 4 batches of cookies for and donating a sleeping bag for other swimmers to use) and plan on taking a couple of dips in the Bay while I’m at it just because I can. 🙂
Kelley's Swimming Blog 
Hey Kelley – Great goal setting girl. Looks like you are getting on a serious enough track for your training regime. I probably don’t have to remind you that a swim in the Santa Barbara Channel is nothing at all like pool swimming….at all. You will notice within the times of the Anacapa swims there are swimmers who are strong and fast that finished hours behind swimmers who have been consistently slower in their swim times. That being said, the currents out there are sometimes treacherous, strong and not in your favor which causes the times to be all over the board. I suggest you try and get down to the ocean for training as much as possible to not only get used to how the ocean feels in terms of temperature but also how you feel in the ocean. Is there a closer/quicker drive from Pasadena to the ocean for you? The ocean is a bit more gnarly north of Laguna so you may want to consider training more up there if it is actually closer to you. Anyway, good luck Kelley and hope to see you here more often, in the ocean, swimming hard and having fun!