It was another picture perfect day at La Jolla Shores, making for a spectacular ocean swim. I have been really looking forward to these lately. The water was relatively calm, decent visibility, and the water in the low 60s. With the bright sun and the 85° air temperatures, it would be hard to ask for anything better!
Swim Coach Robbie (who is part fish)
As we are two weeks out from the Wildflower race, the goal today was to go as far to the cove as possible. From The Shores to The Cove is approximately 1 mile each way, making for a long 2 mile swim. Some of us weren’t quite up to that distance yet, so our target was about 1/4 mile out from The Cove to give us a 1.5 mile swim.
Clowning around...
It was a long swim for me. I started out fairly strong, going about 300 yards or so before getting my bearings. There was a gentle swell and current and I quickly got into a groove. 35 minutes later or so and I was nearing the turn around.
The way back in seemed much longer and I had to stop more often to catch my breath. I know that I need a lot more work on my swim, so I wasn’t surprised I was feeling tired. What concerned me more was that my right shoulder was already getting sore and I still had another 1000 yards in… Another 40 minutes and I was back to the shore, feeling generally good, but with a sore shoulder. Talking to Robbie, it is clear that I am powering my stroke much more with my right arm than my left — this is happening when I rotate to breath on the left. I don’t do bilateral breathing but I am going to have to conquer that someday soon. Maybe next season.
The water looks so perfect!
Go Team!
