CHANNEL BLOG

Monday, August 31st (Current English Channel Water Temperature:  65ish degrees.)

Well, folks, I hate to say this, but there is no longer a need to follow this blog.

As a symbol, here's a picture from the White Horse pub.  It's a very famous place where successful channel crossers get to write their name on the wall.  It's rather appropriate.

The wind and sea conditions have not improved at all, and our boat's captain doubted there would be any chance to swim within our scheduled window (which ends Thursday).  On that news, four members have already begun packing, and they will be gone by early morning tomorrow.

Marcia and I remain (with my parents), but we're pretty sure that we can't pull it off between the four of us (should we get the call), so I guess our journey to cross The Channel has officially ended.

Kathy and Nicole are returning to their families in the US while Chris and Susan are off to Belgium for some sightseeing and additional touring.

Marcia and I are staying here, content to ride it out as planned, swimming in the The Channel harbor, and just enjoying the sea.

So, I am signing out and going off the air.  It's been fun, challenging, interesting, and a learning experience.  I've learned things about myself and about others.

If you're curious, I am not waiting for next year or thinking about attempting it again.  The journey has truly been the adventure, and oddly, I am satisfied.

Thanks for following our adventure and for all of your support!

Here is what my mother wrote about our journey:

"Every day four women and two men bundled up ... And then the call came. There would be no Channel swim this week. Mother Nature and Hurricane Bill with Hurricane Dan lurking behind had conspired against them. They could have cried; they could have cursed; they could have railed against God. They did none of that. They bit back their disappointment and sadness, knowing this team wouldn't be back here together again. Next year are Worlds in Sweden for one, Nationals in Puerto Rico for another, families for all.

The character of these six swimmers and the inner drive that brought them together this week made them who they are today: better people, better team players, and far different from that first day in early spring when they swam in 53 degree water in a high Colorado lake. In spite of Mother Nature they had bested the Channel in their own way. Maybe not physically, but emotionally and spiritually. There are no regrets.

The next day four women and two men, the Colorado Swim Dogs sponsored by UBS, The Finals, their families, and their friends back home, stripped to sleek swim suits and plunged into the Harbor, now warm and inviting. They laughed and splashed and with renewed vigor talked about the future with new challenges and new worlds to conquer."

Sunday, August 30th (Current English Channel Water Temperature:  65ish degrees.)

Still on hold!  Last night, it didn't look good at all and everyone was trying to figure out whether to try to stay an extra couple of days, wait until next year, or cancel altogether and get our money back.  It's an interesting question with no good answers.

This morning, though, there is a glimpse of hope as our Captain texted us stating that, "all hope is not lost.  There may be a two-day window coming up."  That's it...no more information.

It's been great hearing the encouraging e-mails from many of you.  I know that Victoria Vanderpoel (Nicole's youngest daughter) is checking this blog religiously:  Thanks V!  Your mom wishes you her best.

We're all missing our families quite a bit.

This morning, we swam again in two groups.  One group has to stay behind to watch the stuff on the beach.  We've heard that people steal stuff, but I think it's some aggressive seagulls and the tide changes that carry things away.

Kathy and I raced the harbor today in the same direction as the Enduro Challenge athletes from yesterday as we wanted to compare how we would have done against them.  The fastest swimmer yesterday made the harbor triangle in 40-minutes and 40-seconds, so that was my goal.  Kathy was trying to break 45-minutes.

Both of us accomplished our goals:

Kathy came in at 42:25 and me, 37:40.  Sadly, I spotted Kathy five minutes and only beat her by 4:45, so I owe her an English candy bar (they are quite good, I must say).

I've been drinking a new product to keep up with the cold and all the swimming, Pure Sport.  It's a drink mix with protein to help with training.

We're all playing around with different foods and mixes in preparation for the crossing, and I think this one's pretty good.

Saturday, August 29th (Current English Channel Water Temperature:  65ish degrees.)

We're not officially getting desparate.  Chris met with our Captain Eddie, and learned that there are several low pressure systems lining up off the western English coast providing the constant winds for The Channel: He's asked if there's any way we can extend our trip or re-schedule until next year!  It's not looking good, and we're not really sure what to do.

Today is actually the nicest day of the trip as the winds have died, and you can really see France.  Literally, it's close, but figuratively, it's further and further away.

The Enduro Challenge (bank relay) even got shut out, and they swam their race in the harbor.  Interestingly, one of the teams is from UBS, one of our sponsors (Thanks Glenn Malloy!).  The UBS team is pictured on the left, and the group start for the relay is on the right.

Saturday is also the time to see other swimmers as the Channel Swimming and Pilots Federation come down to the beach to run some training and sell their shirts and stuff (see below).

We all think that we should really be out there swimming across The Channel as the winds are calm, but by noon, it picks up again, and it's blowing 35 knots by 2pm.  The Enduro relay teams are getting hammered.

So another day is down....five to go...ten tides.

Friday, August 28th (Current English Channel Water Temperature:  65ish degrees.)

Another day of waiting...and today, it's really blowing!  So far, the mornings have been pretty calm, and it doesn't pick up until around 10.  This morning, however, it was a different story as we were pummeled by wind from the get-go.  Training went on regardless.

The harbor is about 1400 yards wide and on the downwind, it takes about 18 minutes.  On the upwind, it takes 22-23 minutes, so you can see the impact of the wind in a PROTECTED harbor.  When you look out just beyond the breakwater, you can see that it's really howling with white caps and very rough seas.  We all want the chance to swim but not at the risk of safety.

The picture above on the left is me standing in front of one of the monuments to the swimmers at the harbor.  The Dover Castle is on the hill in the background.

The picture on the right (I know you can't really see anything) is the shadow of our friendly sea lion who visits at high tide each afternoon.  I thought I was going to be able to get a very good shot of him, but he disappeared into the depths just before I had my camera out.  I'll keep watching for him.  We heard that he's friendly, by the way.

Thursday, August 27th (Current English Channel Water Temperature:  65ish degrees.)

Our team spent the day being tourists again today as the weather remains very blustery.  We have not had any rain, but the wind continues strong at around 30 mph.

We had to put in the morning swim, of course.  Even though we're not quite sure when we'll be swimming, we're all trying to stay in shape.  The harbor is actually a pretty fun place to swim as you have to avoid windsurfers, sailing schools, sailing boats, ferry boats, and wildlife (a seal).

Most of the group hiked up the hill to explore the Dover Castle.  What was billed as a 45 minute walk straight up hill turned into about a five-minute walk from our B&B.

While one group was at the castle, my mom, dad, and I headed for the White Cliffs.  I like the off-road adventures and sometimes I get my travel companions into trouble.  We went through the bushes and brambles to come across a monument to the first person to fly across the English Channel in an airplane.  The monument was placed on the exact spot that the person landed in 1902.  On the bush-whacking, my father took a bit of a spill (see below left)

The walk was worth it as the White Cliffs of Dover are very cool.  The chalk formation goes for several miles along the southeast shore and there are trails everywhere.  It's a part of what's called the National Trust, and I think it's like our National Park system.

On our way down, we met an older woman who lives at the very base of the cliffs.  Her home is so tucked into them that she has an entrance to a cave in her back yard that goes several feet into the cliff itself.  During World War II, over 40 soldiers hid in the cave behind her house.  If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the White Cliffs looming over Gloria's house.

If you're reading this blog, wish for calm winds.

Wednesday, August 26th (Current English Channel Water Temperature:  65ish degrees.)

Today our window opened, but it's been too blustery for anyone to get out in The Channel.  From the websites, it looks like it's blowing 30-35 miles per hour.  So...after our morning swim, we headed by bus for Canterbury, which is famous for its cathedral, university, and shopping.

We spent most of the day wandering around the cathedral and the city.  The church, built in the 11th Century by King George was instrumental in the formation of the Church of England and the divorce from the Catholic Church in Rome.

Personally, I was more interested in the shopping and the people watching.  Canterbury is a has a very busy little city center with lots of cool shops and restaurants.  In my opinion, it's everything Dover should be.

Even though it's only the first day of our swimming window, our team is getting concerned about ever getting onboard at boat for our swim.  We are in the second position during the 8-day window, but the weather's been so windy that no one's getting out until Saturday.  On top of that, there is a bank race (the Enduro Challenge) that takes our boat during Saturday.

You think we're crazy, the Enduro Challenge is a six-person relay that starts in London on Friday, where they run 89 miles to Dover, swim the English Channel and the ride bikes 180 miles to Paris!  Arch to Arch.  This is for all you tri-athletes out there.

So last night, our team sat around the basement apartment of the B&B and stressed about not getting the chance to swim.  No one has given up hope yet, but some are more cynical than others.

Please keep your fingers crossed for us.

Tuesday, August 25th (Current English Channel Water Temperature:  ??? degrees.)

The first full day in Dover, and everyone is getting excited for the swim....and our window doesn't even start until tomorrow!

Before heading for the beach, we ate a real English breakfast with our guest house host, Alastair and Betty Dimech.

The English are pretty quirky, and the food is interesting for breakfast:  beans, toast, eggs, sausage, and bacon.  But Alastair and Betty seem very nice and their place is funky.

After breakfast, we all headed for the beach to meet with all the swimmers for the 10 o'clock morning swim where everyone but me hit the water.  I was being a wimp and figured I would swim instead later in the day.

The best part of the morning was that my mother and father (Gil & Bernice) arrived at the beach to hang out with our team.

After the swim, we hung out around Dover taking in some of the sights.  It could be a much more interesting city than it is.  Our host has stated, "the city council has done much more to damage the City of Dover than the Germans every did."

Monday, August 24th (Current English Channel Water Temperature:  ??? degrees.)

We made it to our final destination this morning: Dover, England.

From the swim beach, you can see the White Cliffs of Dover, just like you would imagine them (see photo above).  I must say that they look pretty cool looking down upon the swimmers below.

We got up early in London this morning for a two-hour train ride from Victoria Station to Dover Priory.  It was an uneventful train ride where we all talked about our plan for swimming over the next 10 days.

When we arrived in Dover, we quickly checked into our B&B and gathered up our stuff for our initial plunge into the Straight of Dover.

Chris was the first to test the water to check the temperature...Not bad, we thought at 68-degrees, but we were near the swim beach and pretty protected from the sea.  The air temperature was wam at around 75 or 80.

The beach in Dover is not sandy but a rather rocky beach.  As we walked up, we spotted several other "crossers" out training.  We felt in rare company.  There were a few other people scattered on the beach but not too man.

So we took our first training swim, and I must say that it was a bit anti-climactic.  We had been training so much in the cold water that this seemed rather warm.  I didn't even have to use my earplugs which had become such an important part of my routine.

We swam in a protected little swimming area between the main harbor and the ferry harbor.  We used the ships to sight while swimming, and I even used the White Cliff to spot while going north.  That was pretty cool to think about.

We each swam for about 35-45 minutes.  I still don't foresee us having much of a problem, however I did notice that the tides are VERY significant.  I think it will be important to hit the tides at the right time.  Swimming against the tidal flow could add hours to the swim.

The waiting could get interesting.  The tour books are right.  Dover is not much of a place to spend time.  There is a cool castle in the city, but after that, I'd say it's a run-down little port town.  And, with the construction of The Chunnel a few years ago, Dover's importance has waned, I'm sure.

But, there will be some exploring for sure, and lots of swimming.  Our first chance at swimming across The Channel is Wednesday, the 26th. Consensus is that we want to swim early, and in the back of our minds, we are hoping for Thursday, I think.  The weather and the tides look to be favorable that day.

Sunday, August 23th (Current English Channel Water Temperature:  65.3 degrees.)

Our team made it to London!

We all traveled different routes.  My flight on British Airways, Nicole and Kathy flew United direct, and Chris, Susan, and Marcia routed through DC, also on United.

There's a seven hour time difference between Denver and London, and it was an 9-hour flight, so needless to say, everyone's pretty tired.  Thankfully, Marcia's group took good notes on how to get to the hotel, so I got off my plane at 12:30 and was to the hotel by 2:00pm.

Everyone's pretty excited about getting out to Dover.  We already called the Channel Association letting them know that we were here and asking about practicing in the harbor tomorrow (Monday).  We're spending the night here and then taking a 2-hour train ride to Dover in the morning.

Finally, thanks to Dana for taking me out to DIA!  I miss you already.

If you're trying figure out when we'll be swimming, our window starts on Wednesday, August 26th and lasts through Friday, September 4th.  When the stars, moon, and weather align, we'll be swimming and led by the 43-foot boat, Anastasia, based out of Dover harbor.  Scroll just down to see a realtime link to the boat.

Thursday, August 20th (Current English Channel Water Temperature:  65.8 degrees.)

Only two days to go and we're all scrambling for more cold water.  In the last week, we've done Chatfield, Green Mountain, and Wellington.  The whole group got together for Wellington, and it was great! (see below).

It's probably the last time we'll all be together before hooking up in London on Sunday.

Everyone's prepared, I think.  The only thing that I believe can stop us is the "unpredictables," like weather, jelly-fish, sea-sickness, etc.  I don't think the cold or the length of the swim will set us back at all.

I ran into a very cool website recently where you can track the actual progress of our boat, the Anastasia.  Go to www.marinetraffic.com/ais/.  You'll need to spend a little time to navigate through he site, but if you can zoom into the English Channel, you'll see realtime boat traffic.

The Anastasia is a "pilot" boat, so you can uncheck the other types of vessels if you'd like.  You can "GO TO VESSEL" to see if our boat is underway.  Now, you won't know if it's us on the boat unless you've gotten word.  SO, if you want updated info, send me a message at Coach@SwimDogs.net, and I will add you to my distribution list.

Next time I write, I will probably be on the plane to England!

Monday, August 10th (Current English Channel Water Temperature:  64.8 degrees.)

It was a big weekend for cold-water swimming as we ventured even higher into the Colorado Mountains to find the appropriate temperature to swim.  Unfortunately, we were greeted with some VERY COLD AIR TEMPERATURE at 10,000 feet.  It was 20-degrees at Turquoise Lake!

The cold temperature made the morning swim interesting as it was blowing about 12-knots, too.  The wind and the cold stirred up the cold water in the lake, too, as it was about 60-degrees in the water.  We swam for about an hour in one of the most beautiful spots to swim.

I was able to get out early on Saturday morning to swim an hour with Nicole, Vonnie, and Wyatt at Green Mountain.  That afternoon, I headed for Leadville and Turquoise Lake, where Chris, Susan, and I swam for an hour.  The conditions for the afternoon swim were awesome.

Since it was so nice at Turquoise, we decided to cook our dinner at the lake.  The food (bbq kebab, courtesy of Dana), was one of the best ever!  Unfortunately, a 30-knot wind came up making it a bit tough to hold onto your food.  Once the sun went down, the wind died, and it was a beautiful evening.

That night, of course, it cold very cold!  We got the fire started early the next morning and Chris made pancakes and bacon for the three of us hearty soles.

Kathy and Marcia came up at around 9 (it had already started to warm up) and we headed for our swim on the lake.  Did I say it was cold?  We swam for another hour.

The drive back to Denver was a pain in the butt as weekend traffic coming down from the mountains always backs up around Georgetown.  A 60-mile trip takes about two hours.

Thursday, August 6th (Current English Channel Water Temperature:  64.0 degrees.)

The training in cold water began again this week with a trip up to Green Mountain Reservoir, 20 miles north on Highway 9 out of Silverthorne.

Nicole, Kathy, and I made the journey up yesterday and found perfect conditions for a quick swim.  The reservoir backs up the Blue River that passes through the Factory Outlet stores in Silverthorne (which most people are familiar with from skiing trips).  The lake sits at about 8,000 feet above sea level and the temperature was a perfect 62- to 63-degrees.  It was an awesome day, and we swam for about 30-40 minutes.

The day before, Nicole and I swam in the last race for the AquaMan Series at Cherry Creek Reservoir in southeast Denver.  Due to my Swim Dog's coaching schedule, I was not able to compete during the season, but since we finished up last weekend, I decided to give the 2-mile swim a go.  The wind picked up in the afternoon, making the swim pretty tough, but I thought it was a blast.  Some people said that the conditions were worse this night than they would be in The Channel.  If that is true, we have nothing to worry about.

The southward leg of the race was a bit challenging as we headed directly into a 15-knot wind.  The chop would hit your arms in recovery, and every once in while, I swallowed lots of nasty lake water, as I was washed over by a swell or boat wake.  My final time for the 2-mile was 47:18 which I was pretty happy with.  I negative split the miles.

We have another camping trip planned this weekend...10,000 feet to Turquoise Lake outside of Leadville!

Monday, August 3rd (Current English Channel Water Temperature:  63.9 degrees.)

It's finally time to really start thinking about swimming the English Channel.  Mark and Nicole have been heavily involved with Summer League teams, and Kathy's been traveling with her children to soccer matches and other vacations.  But now, everyone's back on schedule!

Over the weekend, Mark's Swim Dogs had their last meet of the season, and Mark, Susan, and Chris all swam (Mark pictured above in 1500M).

Nicole and Marcia made their way up to Wellington on Saturday and told of odd water conditions:  It seems they opened the valve into the lake to let in run-off water and the temperature fluctuated from 55 to 68 degrees.

We had all hoped to go up there this week, but there's a pagan tribe of nudists (yes, that's right!) using the lake, and it's recommended that we NOT swim there this week.  Sounds interesting.

The quest for cold water sends us higher into the Colorado mountains, so we'll probably head for Grand Lake, Green Mountain Reservoir, and Turquoise Lake in the coming days.

Only three weeks until we take off for London!

Monday, July 22nd (Current English Channel Water Temperature:  62.4 degrees.)

One month until we leave for London!

There's been a bit of a lull in the training lately as all of us are overwhelmed by Age-Group and Summer League swimming schedules.

Last weekend, however, we all went camping at Wellington Lake and got to swim at ton.  The highlight of the weekend had to be Saturday night's swim in the dark.  Surprisingly, the water seemed warmer at night than it did during the day?  When you swim in the dark, you're required to wear a glow stick.  So, there we all were, heads rocking back-and-forth with green lights attached to the back of our goggle straps.  It was a blast swimming at night and not scary at all.

Since then, it's been back to the pool for training.  The Swim Dogs also hosted a Masters meet at DU, and that was pretty fun.

I'm headed for Chatfield this afternoon for a loop around the lake!

Monday, July 6th (Current English Channel Water Temperature:  61.5 degrees.)

Got a much-needed break from training this last week as Dana and I took the Fourth of July weekend off in Las Vegas.

The temperature in Vegas hovered around 105-degrees all weekend long!  That will be a far cry from what it is in England in less than two months.

During the week, our team received a message from our boat captain regarding a successful Channel crossing by two women.  Their crossing took 11 hours and 14 minutes in 61-degree water.  From the pictures below, it does not look like they had rough conditions.  As a matter of fact, it looks quite nice.

Once back in Denver, training resumed.  Most of the team made it back out to Chatfield on Wednesday night, and I swam nearly three laps of the pond (about 4,000 meters).

This coming weekend, I am excited for our team camping trip to Wellington Lake where we're planning a night swim!

Sunday June 28th (Current English Channel Water Temperature:  60.4 degrees.)

Our trips to Wellington Lake have become a habit...and they are popular with others.  This week, Joe Wolf, Vonnie, and Emily Garnier took the trip up with the ENTIRE TEAM this week.

We headed out of town a little earlier and hit a perfect day at the lake.  There were a few sail boats  out, and they were all quite impressed by our endeavor.

Since we had so many with us this day, I got to swim pretty much on my own through the center of the lake.  It was fun trying to swim straight without sighting.  I was able to go about 100 strokes without looking forward (150 meters or so).

The water temperature is rising at the lake.  It's not about 65-degrees.  We're going to have to move up in elevation to find colder temps.

In addition to Wellington Lake, the EC Swim Dogs continue practicing in the pool and at Chatfield reservoir.  I'm really having fun in the open water.

Sunday June 21st (Father's Day)

The week's training was right on plan as the weather started to improve in the Denver area making it easier to swim in the afternoons at Chatfield.  Again, the highlight of the week was Sunday's trip to Wellington Lake in the mountains west of Denver.

The lake is quite beautiful with a towering cliff on its west side.  The day's temperature was about 62- to 63-degrees and it seemed like there were colder pockets.  The lake is about one-mile long and 1/2-mile across.  Today, we went on a loop around the entire lake, taking about two hours, so we probably swam 3 to 4 miles in total.

We are pretty much the only people swimming.  We have spotted a few others, but they are all in wetsuits (wimps, I say).  The lake is ringed with campers and fisherman who are very curious about what we are doing.  We get to tell our English Channel story pretty often as we tour around the lake's perimeter.

Today, a funny thing happened...We were about 1/2-way around and a woman yelled at me from the shore.  Since I wear earplugs, it was hard for me to hear, but I thought she wanted help finding something in the water.  Sure enough, it seems when she was casting her line from the shore, she accidentally let go of her fishing pole and heaved it into the icy water.  Luckily, a random swimmer was passing by (me), and I was able to dive down and retrieve her fishing pole.  It was not easy for two reasons:  Diving down in the cold water is not as easy as swimming on top of it, and the water is not very clear, so I had to feel around the bottom to find the pole.  Needless to say, she was very appreciative.  We continued along with our swim.

Sunday, June 14th

One of the best parts about our training is our venture to uncharted lake swims with the goal of finding cold water.  Today, with Vonnie's help, we made it to Pelican Lakes near Windsor...and swam in the lake just off the golf course (pictured below)!

Unfortunately, the water was pretty warm at 67-degrees, but it was a beautiful day, and the road trip up there was very nice.  We all got to ride together in Nicole's vehicle making the drive go much faster.

We swam about an hour, which was plenty for me as I still feel like I am "over training" a bit.  Yesterday, I swam about 2.5 miles at Chatfield at 65-degrees.

I feel like I'm ready for the swim and the cold water.  The only unknown in my mind right now is sea-sickness.  I've never felt it before, but one never knows.

Vonnie, a two-time Channel expert is advising us to already start loading up on ginger tea, candy, etc. to prepare our systems for any issues.

Overall, I think the team is pretty confident.

Sunday, June 6th

The training for the Channel continues.  This week, I am getting the feeling that I don't want to "over train," if that's possible.  Normally, I swim one hour per day, four to five times per week.  Lately, however, I've been swimming pretty much every day and sometime even twice in one day.  Such was the case this week as I wanted to get in as much open water training as possible.

The highlight of the week was the team trip to Wellington Lake in the mountains west of Denver.

Five of the Colorado Swim Dogs Channel team drove up to the lake together.  Even though we were a little reluctant to get into the 56-degree water, we decided that we'd traveled too far to wimp out.  At first, we just swam across this little cove...MAN, WAS IT COLD!!!  I thought we'd only make it back to the other side, but peer pressure took over and most of us turned it into a 45-minute swim up the west shore of the lake.  The timing of the swim was perfect as we had the last sunshine of the day to warm us before the clouds came in.

The cold takes it's toll as you can see from the photos above.  Everyone's pretty excited BEFORE the swim, and everyone's cold AFTER the swim.

Included in this week's swimming was a LC meet at Lowry...YUCK!  I think I've been training so much for distance that I've lost all feel for speed.

Saturday, May 23rd

One of the requirements for swimming the English Channel is a two-hour swim in 61-degree water.  As the temperatures in Denver during the last week have been warm, our team was afraid that the gravel pond at Chatfield would be too warm already to make the swim.  Fortunately, when we arrived on Saturday morning, the surface temperature at the beach was 62, so we deemed it was close enough.

Susan, Chris, Nicole, Kathy and I got into the water at about 7:45am.  Marcia is participating in SwimFest'09 in Houston, so she was not able to make it.  My goal was two-fold; swim for 2-hours and hopefully make it four laps in the pond.  It's about 1800M per lap, about 7200M total which is 4.5 miles.  I think that is the longest I've ever swum straight.  We've done 100 x 100s on New Year's Day, but that is a broken swim with lots of rest.

With the silicone earplugs, the cold water is much more manageable, and I am not really having any trouble with the cold.  However, my patients for long swims is not that good.  In order to warm u in the beginning, I start out at a good clip, but once the initial stinging subsides, I tried to find a stroke cadence that I could hold for two hours.

As the morning goes on, there are more and more swimmers at Chatfield.  It can be difficult to sight a straight line, but more difficult is sighting oncoming swimmers in their black wetsuits.  There are probably about 50 swimmers in the water on this Saturday, and I'd guess about 90% are wearing suits.

My first length in the pond takes just over 15 minutes; about as predicted.  Since I'm in a zone to complete four laps, I just keep on going without much rest at the south end.  Successive lengths take between 16 and 17 minutes, and I finish my four laps in 2 hours and 11 minutes.  I'm happy to have passed the main test....and I don't feel bad at all.

Kathy, Chris, and Susan all complete the two-hours in the water.  NICE JOB TEAM!

Nicole had some other obligations, so she didn't make the entire two hours.  She did, however, make her first extended swim in the cold water.  Her low body-fat is a concern, but her conditioning is next to none, so I think she'll be fine.  She just needs some more time getting used to the cold water.

Monday, May 11th

There's a slight setback to the training for the English Channel as I have partially ruptured my Achilles tendon.  The doctor put me in a boot and told me to rest it for one week, but I am determined to be back in the water by Saturday at the Chatfield Pond.

The incident happened while swimming in the USMS National Championship Open Water Mile at Millerton Lake north of Fresno.  I was having a good swim, and upon leaving the water, it felt like someone kicked me in the back of my calf muscle.  When I looked behind me, no one was there, so I knew that I did something bad.

Saturday, May 2nd

The pond at Chatfield officially opened today, and we were there!

The official temperature of the water was 52-degrees...still extremely cold.  However, this time, we all swam with caps and silicone ear plugs to keep the water from freezing our brains.  I must say that it was much easier to swim this time as we made it about 100 yards and back.  The cold water stung a bit, but I felt like I could get used to it.

Thanks to Jeff Magouirk for being the volunteer check-in person for COMSA on Saturday.  He attempted the Channel two years ago, and he's been a great inspiration to the Swim Dog's Team.

Tuesday, April 28th

The Swim Dogs English Channel Relay is getting some national attention!  Visit the USMS (United State Masters) website: http://www.usms.org/features.php?id=130 to read more or download the .pdf file:  USMS Feature Article.

Sunday, April 26th

It can be said that our training officially began today as Chris, Susan, and I ventured into the icy cold waters of Cherry Creek Reservoir.

The water on this day was about 50-degrees which is 10-13 degrees colder than we expect in the English Channel.  I couldn't believe how cold it was!  Chris and I swam about 15 strokes out and back or the equivalent of 50 yards.  I could not have gone any further.

OMG!  We Couldn't Get Out Quick Enough	Susan Kept Watch While We Swam.  Then it was her turn!

I got an immediate ice-cream headache, and we decided that we need to get some earplugs to keep the water from freezing our brains.