Reasons why I miss Bonaire already...

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Originally uploaded by brooklynmermaid

Photos of Bonaire and the 2008 Eco-Swim

Bonaire Eco-Swim meets Igor's stupid drills

I sent the following letter to my beloved coach Igor this morning....



Hello my darling Igor,

I'm back from Bonaire.
Just wanted to let you know how invaluable you are (and have always been) to me.

I swam the 5k last Saturday, but once again, half-way through, my bicep/shoulder started to hurt. The pain was getting very bad, and since during my last 10k race in Bermuda I swam through the pain and was not able to lift my arm for days, and worse, messed up my training regime, I thought it might be wise to not push through this particular pain again.

So instead, I swam the last 2k doing one arm backstroke (occasionally alternating one-arm breast/fly).

After my initial rising panic, consequently going nowhere fast, I stubbornly waved off a concerned kayaker and managed to settle down and get comfortable enough to maintain (new) streamlined form and timing. Eventually I was even passing some swimmers. One-armed!  But more importantly, I finished the race. Without injury. Most importantly of all, of course, I avoided the boat-ride of shame.

So thank you for all those endless stupid drills. If you hadn't trained me to get so comfortable taking apart my stroke, I would have never been able to finish. But don't ask me what my time was--I was afraid to look.
love you,
Patricia


Bonaire 2008 race recap & photos

Fifth Annual Turkey Dip

Who: All ice-water commandos
What: dip your turkey, man
When: 10am Thursday
Where: Brighton Muni lot/Grimaldo's chair
Why: I've been pondering that off and on for ages

Brighton Beach....and then there were eight....

Today, my proverbial line was crossed. From cold good, to cold still really F'n cold.

Last week was fantastic--I swam for an hour in the glorious rolling waves, crazy wind, and had a grand old time. Felt like I could have stayed for hours, but didn't want to push John too far on that side of slurry. Readings averaged around 52F last week. Today it had dropped 10F in water temp, a 1,000 degree drop in comfort, as far as my toes were concerned. We stayed in for about 20 minutes, and I couldn't make it to the sauna fast enough.

Bonaire, here I come!

The 2008 Pennock Island Challenge 8.2 Mile Swim in Alaska by John DaPrato

My long New York training swims seemed like long ago as I boarded my Alaska Airlines plane heading north (way north) from Seattle. After only 45 minutes over British Columbia, I could see white capped mountains high and clear from my window seat. I wondered --where are the towns? - What about the houses? - Where are the roads? I commented to the woman sitting next to me: “ Hey, are we that far out into the wilderness already?" She said with a surprised smile, “where are you from?" I said: “I live in New York.” She smiled again and asked, "are you on vacation." "I figured I’d be upfront and said: “ I’m not sure it’s a vacation --I’m going to try to swim 8.2 miles around Pennock Island this Sunday.” She said with a slight expression: “Oh, you’re kidding -- you’re one of them?…
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