Wow. I’m still processing this awesome swim.
Rewind back to February 2020 – I booked 3 Rocks with Pacific Open Water Swim Co. after a long phone call with Sylvia. I called her to talk about some potential swim plans and we had just decided that I should book the Catalina Channel. While discussing training options we talked about me coming up to do the 3 Rocks 10k as a training swim. I had seen the videos from another woman’s swim and was inspired to do it too as it looked like a lot of fun. It’s short (for a marathon swim) but has a lot of challenging elements. I booked my flights, hotel and swim within minutes of getting off the phone with her. It all happened pretty fast, but I was really excited.
Now, rewind a little further to August 2019. I had just flown into Lake Tahoe by myself for my very first ultra marathon swim. I had no crew, no friends, no family, no physical support. Sylvia and Bryan at Pacific Open Water Swim Co. answered all my questions and put me at ease. I followed their suggestions for feeds and acclimatized for my swim according to the plan they gave me. Sylvia met me at the docks ahead of Bryan after only knowing me through email and I felt her calm, assertive energy immediately. Once Bryan had the boat checked, he gave me all the safety information I needed to know plus more and I knew right that second three very important facts:
1. I trust Sylvia & Bryan,
2. I respect them,
3. They’re the most professional Pilots I’ve ever met.
And you know what? I went on to crush my Tahoe swim.
Fast forward to June 2020. We’ve been in a pandemic and quarantine. My masters team shut down operations in March and I moved to another city in April. At one point, I wasn’t even sure I would be able to swim enough to get into shape to swim my 10K in the Bay. By some stroke of luck, the beaches in Orange County opened up and I was finally able to meet up with a group known as the LBOWS (Laguna Beach Open Water Swimming). My training partner and acountabili-buddy, Abby, has been staying about an hour away near Santa Monica and the LA County beaches were starting to open up as well. We wasted no time and started putting in the miles as soon as possible. We trained apart Monday-Friday and then went long on Saturdays (10-15k).
I have to admit, that first 10K Saturday took a lot out of me. I was wiped out after, almost fell asleep driving, and ended up taking a 3 hour nap when I finally got home from the beach. Every weekend we did a little more and then a little more. Memorial Day weekend, I clocked 25k in 3 days. By the time June 1 came around I knew I was ready to go for my Bay swim. Abby and I had a long swim with our kayaker, Jax, and we crushed it. I started feeling more and more confident and energized after swims and the naps subsided. I could really feel myself getting back into shape.
The week leading up to my swim, I allowed myself a little “taper”. I flip flopped between short one-mile swims at a faster pace and stretched out 3k swims. The water temps also dropped the week before my swim, which helped me mentally prepare for colder water. At this point, it’s not the water temperature that bothers me, it’s the fluctuation of temperatures that I have a hard time with. I find myself getting more cold when transitioning from the warm to cold spots in the water than I do when it’s just plain cold water. It’s probably safer to just admit that I thrive better on consistency.
The day before my swim I traveled up to San Francisco. It’s a short flight and with the airports being so empty it was rather uneventful. Except for the fact that I didn’t account for all the airport restaurants being closed, so lunch was a mix of nuts, gummy bears and pumpkin seeds. Once I got into my hotel, my friend and fellow swimmer, Georgia, came to visit. We ordered DoorDash for dinner and hung out in my hotel, since no restaurants were open for dine in yet in San Francisco. For those of you who aren’t aware or have not read my Tahoe blog, Georgia was my observer for my Lake Tahoe 21.3 swim. After that swim, we became fast friends and have stayed connected. It was so nice to have a friend come visit and help me forget the little nerves bubbling in my stomach. We gossiped about swimming and started getting me pumped for my swim the next morning. I’m so happy to have met Georgia, she’s just lovely.
Bryan called me around 6:30/7pm with an update on what time Sylvia and I would meet him at the dock and we went over some other details and chatted back and fourth. Another thing to note is that Bryan started a swim on Sunday at 2am and CRUSHED IT. He piloted another swimmer to a course record on a very difficult course. So you have to believe he was a little bit tired. My call with Bryan at about 7pm was my second communication from him that day. He also called me hours before my flight to talk some other details over. Bryan was planning and doing his homework for my swim and I am grateful for his expertise.
Sylvia and I had organized for her to pick me up at 5:30am so I wouldn’t have to take an Uber to an unfamiliar harbor. Plus we would get more time to chat before my jump time. This is why I love them. Bryan and Sylvia are like family to me. They are first class people who are committed to their business but also care about their swimmers. Bryan poured over charts, maps and weather predictions for days leading up to my swim to make sure he soaked up as much information as he could to pilot and navigate me to the best of his ability. I picked this date because Sylvia did her homework and suggested the most ideal date based on the tide predictions. Everything about my decision to swim this date was planned and researched by Bryan and Sylvia.
Sylvia and I have just always clicked. We just get each other. We have had so many long phone calls about everything from swimming to social life and everything in between. She is a strong, confident and wicked smart woman and I look up to her. It would be an understatement to say that I feel safe and supported every stroke of the way when I see Sylvia and Bryan on the boat. There are no words to describe the depth of my faith and trust in them. There will be so many more swims with them in my future and I can’t wait.
We planned my jump time to be 7:00am. For those of you who are not marathon swimmers, “jump time” refers to the time I jump in the water and start my swim. Once we got on to the boat at around 6:15am, Bryan was already on the phone. He was nailing down the timing of the three freighters that were on their way into the Bay and quickly calculated that if we hustled, we could get to the start point and go 10 minutes early, which would position me to swim between the three big container ships…as long as I kept a specific pace. I started to get some butterflies in my stomach as I usually do right before a jump.
Pacific Open Water Swim Co always puts safety of the swimmer first. Bryan went over the swim plan in full detail with me. He explained how he would signal me, where I was to sight & when and, of course, reminded me to have fun out there. Sylvia double checked my feeds with me and coordinated with my Observer. As I was standing on the back of the boat quickly applying my Vaseline to my under arms and behind my back straps, I saw a sea lion swimming about 20 ft from the boat. I heard him before I saw him, he gave me a few loud barks as if to welcome me to the San Francisco Bay and then swam over to Anita Rock, the buoy that I would pass as my final “rock” of the swim. I believe strongly in signs and I felt a surge of adrenaline and excitement after that. I took a few steps to the platform and, true to tradition, belly flopped into the water and headed to the start point.
Once the siren went off from the boat, signaling me to start the swim, I ran into the water and headed towards my first sight point. The first part of the swim was relatively calm. The winds were low and I swimming across the current so I focused on long, powerful strokes and kept my head low when I wasn’t sighting. I only breathe to the left because of an injury to my neck so the boat stayed anywhere from 10-30ft to my left the whole swim. From the water I can see Bryan at the helm, Sylvia midship watching me or giving instructions and the observer at the back of the boat. There was never one millisecond that I didn’t see someone watching me. The Bay is busy waterway and I was nervous about boat traffic so I hugged close to the boat a little bit more than usual.
Before I knew it, I suddenly noticed the Harding Rock buoy right in front of me. It’s a pretty big buoy so you would think I would have seen it earlier, but I didn’t see it until I was practically on top of it. I thought I was still crossing the Bay, but what happens is that at some point the current starts to carry you sideways. When Bryan signaled me to redirect, we were RIGHT THERE. I hit the buoy turn perfectly! It was so cool how fast I rounded the buoy and felt the change in the way the water was carrying me towards Alcatraz. It was as if the water went from feeling “heavy” to feeling “light” almost similar to the sensation of lifting heavy weights and then picking of a lighter one. I knew this was not the time to relax my pull underwater, so I readjusted my head and checked my elbow position and on I went.
Swimming behind Alcatraz was really cool. The water calmed down and the island protected me from the wind. I was ahead of our predictions so the tidal change didn’t get me stuck in the “treadmill” at all. I took a feed and Bryan told me to take it easy and slow down my pace because we were ahead of schedule and would have to adjust to an incoming freighter. So we chatted for two or three minutes and then I stretched out my stroke for about 50M and added in some signature breaststroke.
While I was comfortable and giggling behind Alcatraz, the winds had picked up in the Bay. I was about to turn and go head first into 18-20mph winds and white capped chop. I felt it before I saw it. The calm water changed to texture and started to feel heavy again. It was hard to find a rhythm so I kept reminding myself to be patient with the water and keep my stroke as long and smooth as possible. I just kept repeating to myself, “Submit to the water, let it wash over…pull, lift, kick through”. I was able to kick down a few waves and get some extra distance per stroke. I had to adjust the angle at which I was breathing to protect my mouth. When it gets choppy, I tuck my chin to my shoulder and almost breathe looking behind me to protect my mouth from the incoming wave so I’m not swallowing too much water or taking too many choppy waves to the face.
I’m a pruist when it comes to open water swimming. I wear one cap, one pair of goggles and one suit. Where most swimmers spend the bulk of their money is on their goggles. Goggles are extremely personal to a swimmer. There are some who wear $50-$150 pairs of goggles. This is just another thing I don’t understand. I can’t even justify spending $25 on a pair of goggles. I wear Malmsten Swedes. They are the most basic goggles you could purchase. There is no padding, no polarization, no “glow in the dark” strap – they’re held together at the nose bridge by a piece of string, the eye pieces are colored plastic and the straps are typical rubber. But I’ve owned the specific pair that I wore for this swim since I was in College. Actually, I was wearing these goggles when I tore both of my shoulders in 2007. You know how much these goggles cost me? $6. I wear $6, 13 year old goggles for my marathon swims.
Not only do I complete my swims in swedes, I also train in them. I have an entire drawer dedicated to Malmsten Swede goggles. I have them stock piled in all colors – mostly for the straps and nose piece. The only downside to these goggles is that I have to be wearing a cap that stays in place. I wear the strap a little high so that the eye pieces fit properly in my eye sockets so that they don’t rub. On this particular swim, I wore my pink Pacific Open Water Swim Co cap, which I had accidentally stretched out by wearing it as a top cap for so many training hours. By the time we hit the choppy water in the final stretch of the 3 Rocks swim, my cap did NOT want to stay in place. Every 10 minutes or so I had to duck dive or breaststroke and pull my cap down so my goggles wouldn’t slide into my eye. Needless to say, I was pissed off at my cap. I just wanted to charge it home through the chop and my cap was NOT being my friend.
After a few duck dives with some choice language directed at my cap, I realized I could see the beach. I looked up at Bryan and Sylvia who were excitedly redirecting me to swim direcly into the beach and I knew I was within minutes of the finish. I put my head down and started making my way in. I made the mistake of sighting too much; It felt like the longest 300M of my life. I cleared the water, threw my hands in the air and heard the siren go off! I was done. I finished.
Strangely, I was sad I that I was done swimming so soon. I ran back into the water and took a few strokes and forced myself to slow down and “swim down” back to the boat. I climbed on board and got hosed down by Sylvia. I looked up at Bryan and he said, “So, what do you think your time was?!'” I replied with a, “I don’t know, I did 6 feeds so like 3hrs 15min?” He looked me square in the eye and chuckled as he said, “No, 3:03. Great swim!” – I looked at Sylvia immediately and I knew it before anyone said it. I beat the women’s course record. I didn’t know what to say or how to react so I just sat down, grabbed my towel and looked at the Golden Gate Bridge. Did I just do that? Is this real? How cool is that? I was immediately filled with self confidence, pride, happiness and a bursting appreciation for Bryan and Sylvia.
If it wasn’t for them choosing my date, navigating me, supporting me…none of this would have ever happened. It’s a team effort. As much as marathon swimming is a solo sport…it isn’t. This sport takes a support system, a team. I’m so grateful for Bryan, Sylvia and Abby. My sponsor A Long Swim Org, Doug McConnell and Zumo Swimwear. This is my team, this is my family. There are a lot of really cool new swims in my future and I’m so pumped to chart new waters with my team.
Unicorns and Jellyfish 