i am now an ocean racer

I am pleased to report that i successfully completed the Bilgola 1.5k ocean swim and it wasn't too tough at all. The week leading up to it was far from ideal, i had very little time to train and have not been at my enthusiastic best. I nearly didn't bother registering for the race as it was a busy weekend and i didn't really fancy driving all the way down to Bilgola.

On Saturday for my training session the surf was unbelievably big. I was actually quite keen to go out in it because if the surf was like that for a race it would not be cancelled so i was keen for some experience in real conditions. So far our surf sessions have been pretty tame. But the coached didn't think everyone was ready for it so we went to Manly Cove to swim instead. The coaches said they'd take a few of us out in it if we wanted but in the end didn't. It was nowhere near as nice to swim in as the view of coke cans and dead crabs doesn't really rival the beauty of cabbage tree bay. it also wasn't nice swimming wise either. We just did some circuits around some boats and, because of my lack of training i felt pretty rubbish.

Regardless i was all signed up for Bilgola so up the coast we went on Sunday. It turned out to be a beautiful day and the conditions were really nice. There were a few of the cantoo guys competing as well so it was nice to be amongst friends. One of the coaches was down there too and he won his age range. The swim went according to plan and it was good getting the experience swimming in a crowd. The highlight was nearly getting in a fight with a swimmer (toward the back of the pack i might add) who thought it was incredibly serious and worth telling me to f%#ck off and try to kick my head in after he swam a line underneath me.

I'm still yet to find out my result as it was done with electronic timing and the results won't be released until tonight. I'm pretty sure i swam it in a little under 40mins which i'm not altogether happy with. i was first really disappointed because i remembered doing 15oo in the pool in around 20-25mins. Once i realised i was not Grant Hackett (wr is a little under 15mins) then i was not as concerned. My main concern was, although the race was an effort, i came out of the water with plenty left in the tank. I am able to swim, seemingly, forever but struggle to bump up a gear for a shortish distance. None the less i've got a few weeks training and 2 more races before the big swim so hopefully i will be happier with my performance then.

If anyone is interested you can see some photos from Bilgola. notably the starting photo off the yellow group you can see a big guy with some awesome looking calves seemingly pushing someone out of the way. also there is a photo of the course as marked by swimmer carrying a gps.

In terms of fundraising things are slowly ticking along but i'm starting to get a little concerned. I've hit the halfway mark which is great but would really like to have the total met before i actually do the swim. If i do that i will get a little presentation at training (which is nice) but more importantly i will be able to focus on the swim without worrying about money. If anyone was planning on giving but haven't got around to it yet please go to the website and enter my surname (shurey) and follow the prompts. i know i will make the total one way or the other i would just love to not have to stress about it for too much longer.

For everyone about to give and everyone who has already been so generous i am truly thankful.

cheers

stepping up

Sorry to anyone who actually reads this for my absence in the past week or so but my time to write has been limited.

This post is all about good news tho. On the fundraising front things have been going really well. Things have slowed down after an initial surge but i am really happy with how things are coming along. i now feel confident (as long as people continue to be generous) that i will comfortably make my total. I'm also now in the process of trying to organise my jelly wrestling event which, should i be able to get some people together, should be great.

On the training front things have been going really well. Despite a severe lack of sleep due to the lovely Eva (1yo yesterday!) i have been working really hard and achieving some great results. I was feeling down last week as the head coach told me the lane i was in was right despite the fact the other guys in it could not even complete the drills we were given (we are grouped by skill level in separate lanes). after that i decided to show it was not good for me and made sure i kept up with the level of intensity with the next lane up. After that he approached me and told me i needed to definitely go up a lane and said i was progressing really well. I also put myself into the stronger group at the beach and haven't been the slowest in it. it's actually been really good as the intensity is much higher and I'm finding the challenge really rewarding. On Saturday we swam probably a little over 2ks but with a couple of stops in between. it felt great and was a real confidence booster for the big 2.7.

I've also been trying to swim in the ocean every day and have been largely successful. it's becoming quite addictive, not only the exercise element but the beauty of being immersed in the water for half an hour or so watching the fish or even just the ripples of the sand at the bottom of the water. i occasionally pop my head up and think 'crap I'm in the middle of nowhere' and also when it's a little murky have some irrational thoughts about sharks but on the whole it's an awesome experience.

So for the week ahead I'll be trying to swim as much as possible and hope (finances and time allowing) to do the bilgola big swim. although it is only a 1.5k race it will be hard as there is no headland and no benefit of rips. it will also be good practice for swimming in race conditions.

I'll let you know how it goes.