25Oct12 - CAPS

The custom made swim caps are here!  They got here yesterday and they look GREAT!!!  They are exactly how I wanted them and the silicone is of good quality.  I haven't tried them in the water yet but I put one on at the dinner table and it was perfect.

These are the caps that can be earned for anyone that wants to join us.  The requirements are:

4 ways to get a cap: 

1. 5 jumps into the water when it's under 50. Must go fully under. No time limit.  You can just run in, dunk, and run out. Must be on 5 seperate dates.

2. 10 min swimming up to neck under 50 degrees. I'm not going to require a full head submersion for swimming ones. If you do heads up breast stroke for the whole swim, it will count.

3. 5 min swimming under 40 degrees

4. 2 min swimming under 35 degrees

A more detailed explanation is HERE.

The founding members of the WFPBC have all met the requirements and will automatically get a cap.  Ours will also have our names on it. Sweeeeeeeet!

Come out and join us and earn your cap!!!

UPDATE

This afternoon I met Jim and his grandson at the GSL.  Water temp read 55.  I gave Jim his new silicone cap and I put mine on.  They are really good quality and look GREAT on us!  :P
There were some people from Boston there watching us and saying we were nuts.  (It's always funny to see people looking at us when they are in thick clothing, jackets, wool hats, etc and we are standing next to them in only a Speedo and THEY are the ones shivering!)  They said there is a group in Boston that goes for a swim yearly on New Years Day.  Seems to be a trend!
As usual, Jim wasted no time and got right in.  I was 20 seconds behind him.  He said the water felt much colder than it did last week.  It did feel a bit colder but I adjusted quickly.
I go through this cycle on a regular basis.  When I'm at home and thinking about doing the ice mile, I tell myself that I can do it, I'll be fine.  Then when I get to the marina, I start to get a bit nervous.  I get in and I'm REALLY cold for about 15 seconds then I start adjusting.  During that adjustment period I'm thinking, "WTF was I thinking??  It's easy to think I can swim in ice water when I'm inside and WARM!  I can't do the ice mile.  I'm MISERABLE right now!  It's too cold and it's too hard to do!"  As soon as these thoughts make their rounds, I am adjusting and start thinking it's not so bad.  Then after a few minutes, I truly feel fine and I could stay there for several hours and never get uncomfortable.  I then start feeling confident about doing the ice mile again.
 Jim and I both swam to the marina opening then very slowly floated our way back while chatting.  When I got near the boat ramp, I didn't want to get out.  My hands were a TINY bit chilly but otherwise I felt 100% warm.  I just laid on my back and floated there for awhile.  I know it's just the beginning of our season but I can't believe that 55 degree water brings NO discomfort to me after a few short minutes.  Most "normal" people would be freezing half to death and there I am in only a Speedo, spread eagle on the water with my eyes closed thinking I could take a nap like this if I relaxed my mind enough!
I had to get out but had full motor control of my hands.  Got some small shivers on the way home but nothing out of the ordinary. 

Was a great day today.  Lake is 55 degrees and will probably be slowly dropping as the weeks pass.  I plan on going more than once a week to get my body prepared.  

18Oct12

This is a week late!
Went to the GSL after work.  Took a temp reading and it was 60.2 degrees.  Beautiful.  By next week it will be below 60!!  I got in and the nerve between my eyes stung for a bit and I was without a swim cap.  My head hurt for the first few minutes.  I left the marina and headed to the first buoy.  I did not have a cap on, my SSD, or any feeds so I just turned around and swam back in.  I haven't been swimming at ALL the past few weeks so I took it easy.  I only care about going out each week and getting myself used to the cold all over again.  I'm off to a good start.  Still refuse to take hot showers.  I seriously hate them now.  I did have to put really hot water on my left shoulder last week because I strained a muscle.  Still hurts.
This is the beginning of my weekly trips out there.

500 yards OW....I guess!

1Oct12 -WFPBC start!

Okay, the "official" season for the WFPBC has started as of today.  I'm planning on putting on a few lbs this winter for some insulation and growing my beard out.  As of now, I'm 210lbs and have a "small" belly.  I don't know what weight I'll stop but my wife is obviously supporting me since I came home to a gallon of eggnog in the fridge and some pumpkin flavored pop-tarts!  Wow I love her!!!
I have parent-teacher conference Thursday so I won't be able to make our first meeting.  Kind of a pisser but my job is more important.
Hopefully the caps will be here soon and I can start handing them out.  Although it's doubtful, I'm secretly hoping we run out of them this year.

28Sep12- WFPBC

Around this time last year, Gordon and I were standing alone after a swim in the GSL chatting.  A thought had crossed my mind but he came right out and said it.  "How would you feel about coming down here once a week for the whole winter for a swim"?  I was already in!  Last year was a great success and on that note...........
The new winter season for the Wasatch Front Polar Bear Club is almost here!  I'll admit I'm pretty excited about it.  I plan on doing a lot of cold water swimming this year and 1Oct is when the season begins.  We will all meet every Thursday at the Saltair marina throughout the whole winter until the end of March.  COME JOIN US!!!  I plan on going out on most Tuesdays and Saturdays from the Antelope marina.
Since we are trying to get more people out to join us (and a CASH prize didn't work!), we are going to offer special made silicone swim caps.  There will be requirements to get one.  These caps will not be given out for just showing up.  They must be earned.  This is to hopefully get people to come out more than once and for us to make new friends with swimming.  There really is a special bond with people who do these swims together.

 Only ONE requirement met is needed to get a cap!  The requriements will be:

4 ways to get a cap: 

1. 5 jumps into the water when it's under 50. Must go fully under. No time limit.  You can just run in, dunk, and run out. Must be on 5 seperate dates.

2. 10 min swimming up to neck under 50 degrees. I'm not going to require a full head submersion for swimming ones. If you do heads up breast stroke for the whole swim, it will count.

3. 5 min swimming under 40 degrees

4. 2 min swimming under 35 degrees

**************Allowed to wear for qualifying*********************

Any goggles

Any cap including thermal - we all did it last year!

brief or thigh covering speedo

thermal gloves

thermal booties or small fins like Jim wears

*****************NOT allowed*************************

torso wetsuit

more than 2 caps at a time

long fins

Those that want to get into to IISA (like I'm training for), those are a seperate set of rules. 

The 5 "founding members" are Gordon Gridley, Josh and Jake Green, Jim Hubbard, and Goody Tyler IV.  We will be the one who validate all swims and will reward the cold water swimmer accordingly.

No "honorary caps" will be given for any A-list swimmer that comes and joins us.  They must earn theirs too like everyone else.

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT SAFETY IS STILL OF THE HIGHEST IMPORTANCE. 

Everyone is encouraged to join us and I sincerely hope we get 100 people a week showing up!  BUT if anyone is swimming beyond their ability or starts showing any signs of the cold getting to them, they will be pulled immediately and the swim will not count.  Your life is NOT worth a swim cap!

Be responsible too please!  Bring lots of warm clothes, towels, and some blankets with you if you are new to this.  There is a MAJOR adjustment period and the best way to get better at cold water swimming and tolerance of it is coming out regularly. 

We will have a kayak with us if needed and life saving devices.  All new swimmers will get a safety briefing on where to swim, how to swim, when to get out and proper warm up procedures.  (Yes, warming up the wrong way can kill you!!!)

A complete safety list is being made and all the founding WFPBC members will have a copy with them at every swim.  This is to ensure that proper safety measures are followed for every swim.

Let the season of red skin and "anatomy change" BEGIN!!!!

24Sep12 - Announcement

I'm done with training for awhile.  The OWHOF conference this weekend was great.  I got to meet a TON of people I admire and got to refocus myself on some swimming ideas.  I was getting a bit behind on my end of year goal of 500 miles.  If  I were to meet that goal, I'd have to swim daily over 4000 yards.  Just like last year, mentally I need a break.  I still love swimming but it's becoming a chore now instead of something I love and look forward to doing.  I still plan on swimming but getting up daily to "get my yards in" just so I can say for 2 seconds that I hit 500 miles isn't worth it to me.  I'll go over 400 which is still good.  I'm going to prep myself for cold water swimming soon.
My main thought is that if I keep going the way I am with yards per day to meet my end of year goal, by the time I get the goal, it will be a new year and I'm going to start training seriously again for more marathon swims.  I would be burned out for sure and it would take a serious toll on my training or care of swimming for next summer.
I'll still get up to swim once and awhile so I don't completely lose it but I just need a break to let my body 100% recover from all the work this year...(I still feel some aches that I know I've gotten from so much swimming the past few months) and to let my mind relax from thinking about swimming so much.  I've talked with other ultra marathon swimmers and they say they all do the same thing.  Some even take several months off with ZERO swimming to relax their mind and let their body fully reset.  I'm just going to take a few lights months is all.
I still consider this year a better year than last year.  I've gone farther than ever before for miles accumulated for the year, had some AMAZING swims with some of the best friends in swimmig I could ever hope for, and had my heard DESTROYED by swimming too.  Good year overall.
I'll still post when I've done swim workouts.  I'm not cashing it all in by any means, I'm just going to pull the reins back some is all.

20Sep12

Got in around 0430 and just swam.  I just focused on going non stop until Karen showed up at 0500.  I got in over 30 laps when she arrived.  It was nice to just swim with not worrying about intervals or anything else.  Helped her swim some more while I swam more too.
I don't know exactly what I did but it was mainly slow 50's then some butterfly mixed in.

2500 total

19Sep12

In the pool at 0430.

500 WU
250 K
250 Pull

 I then did butterfly by the 25 or 50 nice and easy.  Karen showed up a bit after 0500 so I was helping her and doing some of my own swimming.  I did get some hypoxic training in which was nice.  Hurt like hell but I did it.  I also did a 100 fly trying to go SLOW.  I ended up with 1:35.  2 thoughts occurred to me when I saw this time:
1) I was seriously trying to go slow and even did a dead man float for 1/2 second after each pull and I barely did a 1 stroke kick and not once did a 2 kick per stroke like you are supposed to but still got a decent time, so even when trying to go slow, I still end up with a good pace.
2) Maybe I should have been a butterfly guy this whole time!  The way I'm built, if I had actually trained to be a flyer, I maybe could have been a serious competitor in fly events.  (Not just locally)
 The 100 fly didn't make me tired.  I'm going to start stepping up my total fly I do each workout and the total distance I'll go without stopping each week.  I was planning on starting this in January but I don't mind doing fly and it mixes up the HORRIBLE boredom of pool swimming.

I stopped with 50 clicks on my finger timer so 2500 total today.