As of this morning I am back swimming in the morning. Since moving to Perth I have been swimming in the afternoons, up until now that is. Starting this week I have been able to move to the morning sessions with SwimSmooth. It is good to be back swimming in the morning. Although I had forgotten just what it is like heading to the pool deck on a winter morning, I haven't missed that so much. It was a touch below 8 degrees this morning, so not the most inviting morning to strip down to almost nothing and jump in a pool. The steam rising off the pool always looks pretty cool though.
The thing is, the water is nice and toasty warm, and you know it is going to be. But there is always a part of my brain that is trying to tell the rest of me that the water is going to be cold. So it is always a bit of a struggle getting myself in. Certainly very nice once you are in though. Then the struggle becomes making yourself get out again.
I was swimming with the guys who are training for the Manhattan Island Marathon again this morning. I mentioned this crazy race in a post a couple of weeks ago, but for those who can't be bothered reading that far back, it is a 45km swimming race in the Hudson River, in New York. Yes you read that correctly, and no I didn't miss a decimal point, it is 45kms. Here is the link again.
Manhattan Island Marathon
This is description of the predicted water conditions from the website:
Approximately 62 °F to 68 °F (17.1 °C to 19.9 °C). There can be a substantial amount of chop in the water from wind, tide action, and boat traffic. The waterways are salt water and there is shipping traffic. There may be random jetsam and flotsam in the waterways.
Sounds....fun?
Anyway, those guys head off pretty soon, this weekend I think. So hopefully they all have smooth sailing, and also some smooth swimming. The mind still boggles at what that race entails. It is funny listening to them talk about their training sessions though, a 10km swim here, a 20km swim on Sunday. Wow. I like to swim, but I am not sure I could take that. Hardcore be thy name.
On the bike tonight for a ride that hopefully doesn't involve rain. Fingers crossed. We had a very nice day for most of yesterday (after the bit where I got rained on in the morning) and today is looking similar so far. The ride will involve hill repeats, so I am off to King's Park. Looking forward to getting out and giving the hills a solid effort. I am yet to feel as comfortable on these hills as the ones I used to use for hill repeats in Darwin, which were like a second home. A very unpleasant, bumpy second home, but home nonetheless. I could probably tell you every crumbled road edge and pothole on those hills. These Perth hills don't feel as familiar yet, but I am hoping they become so.
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