A lovely morning spent at the beach today. For me (Ollie) it started with a high tempo 2.5k run to rottingdean and back to check out the course for the days swim and prepare for Sunday's Aquathlon on Hove beach. I made it back to the carpark to be greeted by Pete and Hildi pulling in and working out what to wear for the swim which I announced was rottingdean and back.
We headed to the beach and with Hildi opting for the non wetsuit option in prep for the pier to pier on Saturday we guestimated times and conditions. On the beach we were joined by Theresa - welcome! - for the first time who quickly got ready. Joan arrived with Sara and Domino and after all ready, we headed to the shore. I half had in mind a mass beach start that didn't really catch on but nevermind. It was interrupted somewhat by Paul's late arrival and Steffan's fully clothed arrival so we just agreed to meet about 100m out.
Steffan joined us clothed in the sea opting to get some life saving fitness in, and Pauls late arrival meant he would decide to do a couple of laps of Saltdean buoys as he had missed the express train to Rottingdean. Joan and Steffan also stayed at Saltdean to enjoy the 17 deg water. On board the train to rotters was Theresa who really has a very good stroke. Little or no drag, and a big catch, I want to see it close up if I can stay level for a few more strokes next time! - perhaps I need to ditch the baggy board shorts for something a little more figure hugging.
Other passengers on the train were me, hildi, Pete and Sara in that order as we rolled on to rotters. through some rather stubborn current towards the last 300m we finally made the buoy at rottingdean. theresa had stopped her watch on 20 mins, me about 5 mins behind. We waited at the buoy for Hildi but turned to see we had drifted 20m from the buoy which confirmed the hard effort and the chance to nick a good time on the return leg. After picking our sighting spots (the large crane at Telscombe water works) we watched as Pete and Sara had taken a wide loop to rottingdeean, perhaps wanting to get in some extra distance (rather than going of course I'm sure). Sara fessed up to chasing a shoal of whitebait as she got back to her water weasel roots. so on we went, for me I put in a relaxed 1st half and then went for it in the last 500m trying to hold on to the stroke as fatigue set in. Trying to keep the core rolling, head tucked in, arms pushing all the way back to the thighs with the triceps starting to really complain as I rounded the final groyne and hit the beach. theresa was already getting dressed up the beach and hildi about 150m behind me. We ate delicious brownies on the beach as Pete and then Sara came in and all agreed it was a jolly good swim. theresa confirmed she was back in 16 mins so that would be a 36 min 2.5km which is great to see.
Further chat about upcomming events mainly Pete's Alp d'huez on Wed 27th july. It sounds like a tough one, we are all rooting for him.
ooh...and I forgot mention, very clear waters - we could see the sea bed all the way there and back even at 200m out, it was perfect!
so a little bit of everything today, until friday
In 7:10
Out 8:00
swimmers: Joan, Steffan, Paul C, Sara, Pete, hildi, Ollie, Theresa
non swimmers: domino
No comments:
Post a Comment