threadwalker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
threadwalker) wrote2008-08-03 04:54 pm
threadwalker) wrote2008-08-03 04:54 pm
Entry tags:
Swimming in ocean
The short:
I did not get eaten or see a shark. (Yay!)
skachick_101 and her hubby rock! Ty for the spare bed.
Swimming in the Ocean Rocks! I could float on my tummy with my knees bent so my feet were in the air. Very bouyant. Wheee! I'm so glad I did the clinic. I think I would have freaked if my first experience with the kelp was at the race.
Getting Lost again and again..
Saturday night I calledskachick_101 from my cell phone:
me: Hi, I'm out front. How do I open your gate?
Her: My gate? What gate?
Me: The one that's tied closed.
Her: Uhh... Thread_walker, I don't have a gate.
Me: But.. your address is XXY, right?
Her: Yes. but I don't have a gate..
Right house number, wrong street. I was off by a street.
Then Sunday was all lose on the navigation. I made every wrong turn possible and a few extra for good measure. Go ME!
Turns out being late was okay because only half the group has ever done a tri before and I missed only 20 minutes of the Q&A session. Most of the questions were super-basic. And I caught the awesome discussion about technique.
Swim Clinic
There were three coaches and 9 peeps. Great ratio! IMO, it was totally worth it and glad I did it. My coach was really good at just getting us in and swimming and working on dealing with the newness. In fact, our particular coach was full of glee and laughter the whole time. He was a lot of fun; kept encouraging us, grabbing feet, bumping into us (to simulate race, etc). He was just like a big kid; totally having fun and glad we were, too. You can't help laughing with him.
Kelp in the face is not awesome, but it's not horrendous and I got the knack of coping. My boss, who's doing the same Santa Cruz tri I am next weekened was thinking wet suits were optional. I shot him a text afterwards: Ocean very cold. Need wet suit.
I have one pre-clinic regret: A&E ran "Shark Week" on late night TV this week. Hmmm.... I periodically jack-knifed when my brain tossed up a flash-back from last weeks late-night TV stuff. Note to self: no watching ocean predator TV before swimming in ocean.
Overall, I had a blast.
Water Critters
There were 8 seals that decided to play with us. They circled. They broke water. They came within 4 ft of me a few times. Toward the end, they broke water right in my face and alongside me. Totally cute. I flashed to some recent tales of underwater diving and seals that I heard from friends... And I snickered.. who could be afraid of those? they look like water puppies. Apparently they brushed up against the group that was in deeper water. We laughed at them between bouts of working on the serious task of learning how to not get eaten by kelp.
I had one heart-stopping moment. I was stroking along, face in the water, and I suddenly saw something pale and torpedo-like zoom right under me; it passed about 4 feet from my finger tips on the down stroke. I went from free-style swimming to screamming and trying to levitate straight out of the water.
My Lizard brain: SHARK WEEK!!!
My Think Brain: wrong shape for a shark. But wtf? and where did it go?
I stop thrashing (it's gone) and the coach (who's about 15-20 ft away) is laughing in glee. He's thrilled. "Did you see one? How close? That's awesome." Yeah, once my heart rate slowed to normal, I agreed, it was pretty cool to have a seal swim right under you. It's even cooler when you're not totally freaked out. I'm suddenly a TON more sympathetic to my diving friends who've had scares from the water puppies. We are in THEIR world. Their world = their rules.
Post Swim: Stinky Gurl smells like ocean
There was no handy bathroom afterwards for changing in without a big hike. I was just too tired since we'd spent an hour kelp-wrestling. I tried the trick I used in school when we didn't have a changing room; use an oversized t-shirt and change inside it.
sigh.
I was just too tired to make the t-shirt trick work. I was wet, the shirt got wet and stuck to me, the swim top (like a sport bra) got tangled with the shirt and then my braid got tangled in THAT. I didn't want to embarrass myself, but I was just too tired and clumsy to deal with it. If I'd had a pair of shears, I would have cut myself out of it; that's how annoyed I was. I finally just crouched down next to my car and stripped it all off and yanked on a T-shirt.
Ahhh!!! relief!!
Fortunately there were no cops on hand to arrest me for indecent exposure. But I was reflecting that the guys have it so lucky; One towel around the hips and they can discreetly change. It's a little more complicated for gals.
The family was so glad to see me when I got home. I tried to snuggle up to the hubby, but I was informed I smelled bad and needed a shower. "You stink like shore-line! Yuck! Stinky Gurl! Go take shower!" My loving husband. LOL.
I did not get eaten or see a shark. (Yay!)
skachick_101 and her hubby rock! Ty for the spare bed.Swimming in the Ocean Rocks! I could float on my tummy with my knees bent so my feet were in the air. Very bouyant. Wheee! I'm so glad I did the clinic. I think I would have freaked if my first experience with the kelp was at the race.
Getting Lost again and again..
Saturday night I called
skachick_101 from my cell phone:me: Hi, I'm out front. How do I open your gate?
Her: My gate? What gate?
Me: The one that's tied closed.
Her: Uhh... Thread_walker, I don't have a gate.
Me: But.. your address is XXY, right?
Her: Yes. but I don't have a gate..
Right house number, wrong street. I was off by a street.
Then Sunday was all lose on the navigation. I made every wrong turn possible and a few extra for good measure. Go ME!
Turns out being late was okay because only half the group has ever done a tri before and I missed only 20 minutes of the Q&A session. Most of the questions were super-basic. And I caught the awesome discussion about technique.
Swim Clinic
There were three coaches and 9 peeps. Great ratio! IMO, it was totally worth it and glad I did it. My coach was really good at just getting us in and swimming and working on dealing with the newness. In fact, our particular coach was full of glee and laughter the whole time. He was a lot of fun; kept encouraging us, grabbing feet, bumping into us (to simulate race, etc). He was just like a big kid; totally having fun and glad we were, too. You can't help laughing with him.
Kelp in the face is not awesome, but it's not horrendous and I got the knack of coping. My boss, who's doing the same Santa Cruz tri I am next weekened was thinking wet suits were optional. I shot him a text afterwards: Ocean very cold. Need wet suit.
I have one pre-clinic regret: A&E ran "Shark Week" on late night TV this week. Hmmm.... I periodically jack-knifed when my brain tossed up a flash-back from last weeks late-night TV stuff. Note to self: no watching ocean predator TV before swimming in ocean.
Overall, I had a blast.
Water Critters
There were 8 seals that decided to play with us. They circled. They broke water. They came within 4 ft of me a few times. Toward the end, they broke water right in my face and alongside me. Totally cute. I flashed to some recent tales of underwater diving and seals that I heard from friends... And I snickered.. who could be afraid of those? they look like water puppies. Apparently they brushed up against the group that was in deeper water. We laughed at them between bouts of working on the serious task of learning how to not get eaten by kelp.
I had one heart-stopping moment. I was stroking along, face in the water, and I suddenly saw something pale and torpedo-like zoom right under me; it passed about 4 feet from my finger tips on the down stroke. I went from free-style swimming to screamming and trying to levitate straight out of the water.
My Lizard brain: SHARK WEEK!!!
My Think Brain: wrong shape for a shark. But wtf? and where did it go?
I stop thrashing (it's gone) and the coach (who's about 15-20 ft away) is laughing in glee. He's thrilled. "Did you see one? How close? That's awesome." Yeah, once my heart rate slowed to normal, I agreed, it was pretty cool to have a seal swim right under you. It's even cooler when you're not totally freaked out. I'm suddenly a TON more sympathetic to my diving friends who've had scares from the water puppies. We are in THEIR world. Their world = their rules.
Post Swim: Stinky Gurl smells like ocean
There was no handy bathroom afterwards for changing in without a big hike. I was just too tired since we'd spent an hour kelp-wrestling. I tried the trick I used in school when we didn't have a changing room; use an oversized t-shirt and change inside it.
sigh.
I was just too tired to make the t-shirt trick work. I was wet, the shirt got wet and stuck to me, the swim top (like a sport bra) got tangled with the shirt and then my braid got tangled in THAT. I didn't want to embarrass myself, but I was just too tired and clumsy to deal with it. If I'd had a pair of shears, I would have cut myself out of it; that's how annoyed I was. I finally just crouched down next to my car and stripped it all off and yanked on a T-shirt.
Ahhh!!! relief!!
Fortunately there were no cops on hand to arrest me for indecent exposure. But I was reflecting that the guys have it so lucky; One towel around the hips and they can discreetly change. It's a little more complicated for gals.
The family was so glad to see me when I got home. I tried to snuggle up to the hubby, but I was informed I smelled bad and needed a shower. "You stink like shore-line! Yuck! Stinky Gurl! Go take shower!" My loving husband. LOL.
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