Another Stinkin' Great Swim

 Next Swims: M-F 6AM, Sat/Sun noon, and other times, often 7 or 8am on weekends...

Last Swim: Friday 6AM 

Water Temp:  68 - "Warm"  

Air Temp: low 70s 

Waves: Chop, about 1-2 feet

Clarity: Meh

Kru:  Lydia the Tattooed Lady, Mermaid Princess,  Showgirl, Lt. MJ, North Shore Nancy, Handyman Hank, Magic Mike  

Shore support:  Gigi the Triathlete

Another beautiful morning courtesy of TTL:

You can appreciate her art background by the way she whips out these beautifully-framed shots so casually.

The stench hit hard as we rounded the bend of the path.  Guano-tinged Barnyard with overtones of Alewife.  Showgirl said, "Like someone cleaned out the chicken coop and the pig pen."  More like someone cleaned out the chicken coop WITH the pig pen...

The temp was 68 and should have felt warmer.  Given the lack of sun, brooding quality of the clouds, and haze on the horizon I opted for a sleeveless wetsuit. Showgirl, Mermaid Princess, Magic Mike and Handyman Hank all went skin.

I still felt cold.  It usually takes me about 400 yards to warm up and after 374 I felt really cold.  Worse, I was hating the swim.  I rarely hate the swim.  But here I was, like Cher in Clueless, experiencing "an overwhelming sense of ickiness." Was it the lowering sky?   The vaguely-threatening haze? The stench (which seemed to stay onshore, thankfully)?  

"Just chill," I told myself.  "It'll feel better when we get to 500 yards."  It was an arbitrary number, but my reptile brain bought it.  Maybe because at 500 you start counting down (up) to 1,000?  

At 500 you get to the new rockwalls and staircases of what used to be Tree Massacre, New Mudslide and Mudslide.  Before I knew it, Showgirl, MJ, TTL & I were all at the Cute Chairs - Showgirl impressively SKIN.  The Cute Chairs are about 1,000 yards, give or take.

It was my first tagging of the Chairs this season.  I recognized the birches they nestle behind, but didn't even hang around to glimpse the actual chairs.  After fighting into the north wind and chop, there was some very satisfying whooshing back.  

My first 200 after turning was freakin fast.  Then just a lot of freestyle with a little backstroke thrown in.  I encountered the eddy that MJ has often commented on by Sewer Pipe (reminder, just a Pipe named Sewer) where it was Sewer Pipe, swim, swim, swim, swim, swim, still Sewer Pipe!

I simply redoubled efforts, applying the tips from all the YouTube swimming videos I've been watching lately, and finally rounded the rocks to touch bottom in Klode Cove, where TTL was indulging in a post-swim skin swim and MJ was doing a few extra laps to make up 2,000 yards.

If you want to work on technique, here's some inspiration:  Mark Spitz vs. Michael Phelps: