January has been productive

It's the end of January and today, (Saturday 29 January 2011, )I did my first 10 mile day in the water in many years.....7.5 in the 55 degree water off La Jolla-no wetsuit (wetsuits are for wimps!!!) and then 2.5 in the 68 degree Endless Pool at home in the afternoon. The longest full day workouts since completing England in 2007!!! Maybe I'm not a "has been" afterall..it's been nice to lose the channel weight and feel stronger the past few months...really looking forward to the Tampa swim...
Brother Dan in training well for his Manhattan Marathon in June...
With God's blessings, we'll become the only siblings in history to complete the "World" triple crwon (England, Manhattan, Catalina) and the "American" triple crown (Tampa, Manhattan, Catalina) in history..
Nice to feel strong again....
Especially nice to lose 28 of the 35 lbs I gained for England...I feel like "Scott" again!!!!!!

The training is progressing

Less than 3 weeks into January and the grind time is here!!! Learned a valuabe lesson last week.....had not been to a "regular" pool in over 4 years.....moral of the story....CONFIRM THE LENGTH OF THE POOL...METERS OR YARDS!!!!! I went to see how slow/fast I am and left sooooo depressed until the guard said "oh that's 25 meters"....suddenly I didn't feel so slow and lethargic after all.....Went back this week with the knowledge that it was METERS and not Yards.....now the clock made sense.....
6+ mile days are becomming a 2x/week occurence...now to see if I can make it 3......
Feeling stronger than I recall from 4 years ago....maybe, maybe not...but the loss of weight has made a difference in the feel in the water.....and I am starting to get some definition in my shoulder muscles...not bad for an old, middle aged swimmer...best to all!!!

Tampa Training has stepped up!!

The past 2 weeks has seen the onset of a new year and the onset of "amping up" the miles/yardage and time in the water in preparation for the upcoming Tampa Bay 24 mile swim.
It's been a bit of a suprise that I had not accurately recalled how tired/sore/fatigued my shoulders get when past the 20 mile + per week range...What's been a postive for the mind and body is the loss of a significant amount of my "channel weight" since August of 2010 (when Dan and I returned from his wonderful EC crossing!!)
I am a bit faster, but the down side is some struggle at La Jolla Cove with no wetsuit!! (Wetuits are for wimps!!!)

The goal is to maintain an average of about 35-45K yards (20-25 miles) per week for the next month, with the majority in the Endless pool, and then it's a bit more "speed" and "power" work, since Tampa is race, and now that I know I can do the distance, it's a chance to see if I can still compete with speed.

Let's hope that the recent warm San Diego weather gives us the summer we missed this past year.
98 days (14 weeks) until the gun goes off for the Tampa swim.