Race Report: Green Lake Open Water Swim (again) 2018

Green Lake Open Water Swim (GLOWS) was my first open water swim event, and has become a family tradition.  My Sister-In-Law swam it long before I did (well, by "long" I mean a few years, it hasn't been going on that long) and now my nieces swim it. (Earlier Race Reports, 2010, 2012, 2007)

GLOWS is a family friendly event with a choice of the half mile (one way) or the mile (round trip) in a small protected (if a bit dirty) lake in the middle of north Seattle.

The first time I did GLOWS, I panicked in the water. I was training for a triathlon and between the cold shock and the adrenaline I had a hard time recovering my breathing. I remember thinking, in the middle of the lake, "this is how a strong swimmer drowns".

Now, with a lot of open water swimming under my belt, the half mile distance seems "cute" and compared to Alki, Green Lake is not cold at all!! I guess this is a sign of improvement.

The nieces were doing the half mile, and my sister-in-law was going to swim with the younger one.  The older one is a lifeguard now, so she was on her own. I arrived just as they were getting on the shuttle, wished them luck and went to get my gear and find my brother.

We watched the half mile swimmers get closer and closer, until we could spot the family. All swimming together and looking strong. After cheering them to the finish, and glowing like the proud auntie that I am, I got my cap and goggles on and got ready for my swim. I told the spouse to expect me in about 45 min, and that I might be the last finisher.  In my mind I thought 42 min was more likely, but I didn't want to be embarrassed if I was slower.

The water felt great. About half way through the swim the sun came out and turned it into a glorious day.  I got my rhythm pretty quickly. One of my goals was to increase my front crawl as a percent of my swimming. I'm usually a breast stroker. So I bounced back and forth between the two strokes.  As a right side breather, with the buoys on the left, sighting was hard. With breast, you can sight every stroke. Not so for crawl. I'll need to work on sighting in crawl if I'm going to get serious about it as a stroke.

As the pack spread out, I found myself just behind a woman in a shorty wet-suit with a pink cap on (not the green cap handed out by the event). She and I were amazingly well paced with each other. She'd pull ahead a tiny bit when I'd switch strokes, but I pretty much kept in her bubbles the whole way. I may Facebook stalk her and see if we can swim together in the lakes some time.

I felt great the whole swim.  I noticed the lead swimmers coming back when I was more than half way across. And saw the last swimmer behind me when I was well past the turning point. I spent some time singing and some time just reflecting on how lucky I am to have a body that can swim, and live in a culture that promotes this type of community activities, keeps its bodies of water reasonably clean, and makes it safe for participation.

As I got near the end, I considered working to pass the woman I'd been swimming with. But decided I didn't need a full sprint to the finish, so finished at a steady pace, and with her about 20 seconds ahead of me.  The biggest shocker was the time clock when I finished. 37:40.  Even faster than my hoped for fast finish time!  My confidence and speed today let me see that I really am an intermediate open water
swimmer.

What a difference two years makes!

Facebook has that delightful feature where they remind you what you posted on this day in years past.  Here's one of mine for today, from two years ago.

That's me. In a swim cap, googles, and a wet suit.  In front of the "Open Water Swimming Permitted" sign at Lake Washington. My caption says "let the season begin! easy half mile in lake Washington"

Two years ago I was still wearing a wet suit.

Two years ago I was swimming mostly in Lake Washington.

Two years ago May 9th was my "season opener".

Two years ago I could swim half a mile.

Now I swim "skin" and haven't worn the wet suit in 18 months.

Now I swim mostly in Puget Sound.

Now I swim year round, so there is no season opener.

Now an "easy" swim is a mile, or more.

It is always fun to see progress.  This is a great example of how far I've come!

Taste of the Water

In the past week I've had the pleasure of swimming in Puget Sound, Lake Washington and the pool at my local gym.  One of the things that struck me about the first swim back in the Lake, after a winter in Puget Sound, was that the water isn't salty!  It know, it isn't profound. It is definitely something I knew, intellectually.  But the realization was visceral.

I don't love the taste of Puget Sound. I know some of my fellow swimmers do. But the salt bothers me.  Lake Washington, doesn't have the salt taste, but it isn't really a clean taste either. It is always a bit "green" like there is something growing.  Which there is.

The best tasting lake I've swum in recently is Crescent Lake in Olympic National Park. The water had no taste at all.  It was amazing. So clean!  The color was remarkable too, blue, and clear deep enough to trigger my fear of heights as I came close to shore and could see the bottom again.

Crescent Lake

So although I don't try to drink the water (though I often get a face-full on a windy day) I am aware of the taste of what I swim in. Just one more reason to avoid polluting our waterways!

Moses Lake

The family spent a week in Yellowstone and the surrounding areas. I didn't get to swim, but I did spend one day on a horse.

The horse really did spend most of its time eating!

And one in a raft. 

I'm in a raft, here, not that you can tell.

 
And I got to see things that looked like this:

On the way home it was over 100* in Missoula, and in Spokane it was 97.  So I stopped to swim in Moses Lake.  We asked a local at the DQ where people swam in the area.  She pointed me to two local parks.  I couldn't find one, so went to the other. It was Cascade Park. There were a lot of teenagers jumping and diving off a pier, so I figured I would join them. 

Turns out the dock said "no swimming from this dock" on it.  I ignored, it as the kids were.

The water was warm, and a bit mucky.  It stank and had an algae bloom or something else suspended in it.  Small bits of mud or dirt or algae.  But it felt refreshing.  I swam about 1/4 mile out, parallel with the shore, and back.  Easy. Refreshing.  Then got back in the car for the ride home.  A stop in Ellensburg at the brewery made the day complete.

I should have known...

I should have known this wasn't going to be a great swim when I got to the lake and saw white caps.  But I was determined. I'd rested my shoulder this weekend because it was sore from tumbling class, and I really wanted to swim.

I should have known it wasn't going to be a great swim when my goggles strap broke. I'd left my spare pair at home, trying to streamline what I carry with me.  I was able to make do with the stump of the strap, but they didn't fit quite right.

I should have known it wasn't going to be a great swim when my Vibrams started irritating my toe with the missing nail.  The nail is growing back slowly.

I should have known it wasn't going to be a great swim when I kept getting hit in the head by my swim safety buoy.  Usually it floats behind me and I don't even know it's there.  Today the wind kept blowing it at me and it got in my way.

I should have known it wasn't going to be a great swim when the waves started making me sick.  I swam north, as I usually do, with the wind coming from the south east, the waves crossed me in a way that made me ill.

But then I turned around.  Into the waves.  And swam back.  And suddenly, it was a great swim.

35 min. Water temp- 64* Air temp- 62*

And she's back....

Got back in the water for the first time today.  Did about a half mile "shake down" swim.  Everything still seems to work (mostly my body, the gear is all fine too), and once I was warmed up, it wasn't too bad.  Air temp was 80. Water about 55.

So what happened to the winter swimming??  Mostly, life got in the way.  I missed a few weeks in a row while my husband moved in with me.  And during that time the lake temperature dropped significantly. Suddenly it seemed too cold. I'm sure if I'd kept things up those weeks I would have been fine, but with the time off, I couldn't face the cold.  May try it again next winter.  In the mean time.... it is time to swim through summer.

Lake Chelan- Labor Day Weekend

For the past five years a gang of my friends has gone away together for Labor Day weekend. We have visited the Washington Coast, Orcas Island, Mt. Rainier, and this year, Chelan, WA.  Thirteen of us rented a SWEET house, that included it's own private pool, and spent the weekend hanging out and swimming.

 The pool was a two lane, lap pool  Seriously good for both hanging out and swimming in.  Saturday, I did my first (and only?) pool swim of the year.  It felt weird to be confined to a pool. No wetsuit. No milfoil. Just chlorine. And a bunch of dead bees.

The house was up on the hills, above Chelan with an amazing view of the lake. We spent many an hour sitting in Adirondack chairs with a Pimms Cup admiring the view. Evenings we played with the pingpong table and had our own dance party.

 Sunday, we rented a boat. A simple pontoon boat, that had a wimpy motor, but could still pull a person on an inter-tube. We went swimming and tubing.

After about an hour of enjoying motoring up the lake we found a place to swim. KP, DF and I (the same friends I'd swum with in Baker Lake) lept from the boat and took off for a quick swim to shore.  KP's friend, a beach lifeguard, followed quickly behind (catching up with us easily). The water was amazing. Clear, and really soft on the skin. Few waves. No fish or other sea-life that we could detect. We touched bottom on the rocky shore. Rested for just a minute, then returned to the boat. It was a short, but excellent swim.  We continued to play and float in the water, dive off the boat and generally enjoy ourselves for another 40 minutes, before having to get the boat back to the rental agency. We were able to enjoy a local winery on the way back to the house.

 

 

 

I did a final pool swim on Monday morning. Enjoying having the pool to myself. Sad to leave it. We all agreed that this house will be rented again. Some future Labor Day.

On the way home (ok, out of the way) we stopped at Grand Coulee Dam. If we hadn't been focused on getting home, and the 3 hour drive in holiday weekend traffic, I would have asked for a swim stop, in Banks Lake or one of the many other beautiful bodies of water we passed.

Thanks to my friends, and swim buddies for a fabulous weekend.

Harrison Hot Springs

CJ (my partner) and I went away for the holiday weekend. It was a holiday in both countries. Sunday we drove up the Frasier Valley to look for a campground. Our one goal was a camping site where I could swim. Oh yeah, and spending some quality time together.

Kilby Park was our first stop. At the spot where the Frasier River meets the Harrison River, this campground is on a spit of land surrounded by water. It would be perfect, for camping, for a swim....except.... within moments of arriving and getting out of the car to pay our fees, we each got approximately 8 mosquito bites. The spot was immediately nixed. And off we went, in search of less buggy grounds.

There isn't much to the town of Harrison Hot Springs. Except the hot springs, some hotels, and one VERY LARGE Lake.

After a quick pic-nic and walk, I donned the wetsuit and headed out. The plan was to swim, parallel to the shore, while CJ walked along, spotting me. I swam what google maps shows to be about 2/3 of a mile, in what was very cold water. I wished I had my booties, as my feet never warmed up. The hands did, once I got moving.

Following shore I was able to wave to lots of people out walking. And communicate with CJ when needed. The water was not very clear-- I couldn't see my hands when my arms were extended. Probably the minerals from the geothermal pools nearby.

After, CJ and I had a conversation about safety. He'd like to get something he could throw to me, if I was in distress. So we brainstormed ropes with buoys on them, or other options. I'll do some research and see.

Air Temp: 68* Water Temp: Unknown (but cold) Time in the Water: 25 min.