An unusual New York activity
This past weekend, I jumped off a pier into the Hudson River...
...and yes, I was sober!
It all started on Monday night when I tried to complete a swimming time trial: 1 mile (1.61km) in less than 50 minutes. Well, I thought I did a really good swim, but unfortunately I couldnt seem to keep count of my laps (15 laps or 30 lengths of a 50 meter pool). I guess my concentration levels were at a low (see previous post). At the end of the night we were supposed to sign off that we completed the mile swim in whatever time we made and this would act as a qualification to enter the New York Swim Club's inaugural Flag Day Intrepid Swim Race.
The USS Intrepid is an aircraft carrier - a National Historic Landmark - that participated in many famous war battles since before World War II. Commissioned in 1943, she officially retired in 1974 and was opened as a museum in 1982.
So, I was terribly unhappy with my Monday night swim and refused to guess at my time/lap count. On Wednesday morning I tried again. Ilona came with me and before I work I used my new training watch to clock each lap. I managed to swim one mile continuously in 44 minutes and 45 seconds. I was somewhat pleased with that. Note: I found it hard.
So Saturday came around and it was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm. I biked to the park and around and around until I'd done about 16 miles (plus two miles getting to and from the park that day). I worked really really hard to keep up with my friends and pushed myself to my limit. You see I have a steel frame bike, which is terrific quality, but partiularly heavy. Also, not being a tiny, slight woman, I am carrying a fair load of myself on those two thin wheels. After about 1 hour and 10 minutes, I immediately jumped off my bike, threw down my helmet and took off for a 5 mile run which coincided with a women's 10km race taking place in the park that day. Running along at a nice steady slow pace, we watched the Gazelle, oops, I mean first woman, glide past us almost silently. We yelled out to all the women who passed us (well, at least the first 20, we started getting horse when the other 1500 women ran past us). The run was great. We ran the course we will be running on race day for the first time. I had a bit of a lactic acid burn in my right foot so I decided to prevent an injury and walked for 7 minutes. My friend Ken came along and I picked up his pace and we ran the rest of the way chatting and heavy breathing together.
Three hours of rest at home and I gathered up my wetsuit, lube, goggles and nose clip and off I went to the new location for our first ever Hudson River swim. The day before, the organizers, the New York Swim Club was told by the Coast Guard, that we couldnt swim around the Intrepid because of security reasons. So at the 11th hour, they decided we would jump off the pier at Christopher Street, (further downtown) and swim to Chelsea Piers (at 23rd Street). So there I was, so nervous... I took one look at the water and almost started hyperventilating. It had white globs of bubbles that looked alive. I breathed deeply and walked the pier to the end. We ended up blistering in the sun while waiting for the current to change before jumping about 6 feet into the water. There were 157 of us. Most of the competitors happened to be Team-in-Training New York Triathlon group using it as a trial run of Hudson River swimming.
My Ratings:
Temperature: with a wetsuit on, the water was quite pleasant, considering it was really hot that afternoon.
Taste: suprisingly good. not too salty and not too brackish. still dont want to measure how much I actually drank, coz I know it was a lot.
Current: ridiculous. against me, across me, against me, across me. Oiy!
Speed: negative 0.75 miles an hour. Swim ten strokes forward to find yourself in the same spot, or further towards New Jersey.
Direction: there was a strong attempt at swiming in a straight line, but with the current, no visibility and nerves (see next line), I scalloped my way across the course, probably adding distance (see futher)
Nervousness: 10 out of 10. very hard to control my breathing, little oxgyen getting to my muscles, heart wanted to jump out of my body and would have if it wasnt for the tightness of my wetsuit.
Distance: the original swim around The Intrepid was supposed to be 1 mile, this swim was probably a bit longer (according to my lovely swim coach Earl), add to this the scalloping affect - that is like driving along a winding road... Oiy - again.
Retrospectively:
I didnt swim that much. I spent some time doggie paddling, some time on my back floating, some time just immobile and keeping my head above water. I talked to my kayakers - yes, they became "my kayakers" because they basically followed me most of the way. There was Tanya, who I had to share with my one teammate behind me, and Sully - who seemed cute from my angle - and who tried to convince me that we were doing something really hard, and that I was doing fine and that I WOULD be able to do the Triathlon in two weeks time. He told me I had to finish so the Coast Guard guys could meet me afterwards!!???! You know, that's a lot of pressure, come to think of it. I had quite a few people watching me panic in the water!! Hmmm. But I was determined to finish and I was determined not to be pulled out of the water by the Coast Guard boats. So I finished second last after both calves cramping up and then getting a charlie-horse in my left one. I hung onto the nose of Sully's kayak for quite a way and finally swam the last quarter mile in to the finish.
My time: official: 1 hour and 50.1 seconds. According to my watch it was 1 hour and 4 minutes. Oh well!
...and yes, I was sober!
It all started on Monday night when I tried to complete a swimming time trial: 1 mile (1.61km) in less than 50 minutes. Well, I thought I did a really good swim, but unfortunately I couldnt seem to keep count of my laps (15 laps or 30 lengths of a 50 meter pool). I guess my concentration levels were at a low (see previous post). At the end of the night we were supposed to sign off that we completed the mile swim in whatever time we made and this would act as a qualification to enter the New York Swim Club's inaugural Flag Day Intrepid Swim Race.
The USS Intrepid is an aircraft carrier - a National Historic Landmark - that participated in many famous war battles since before World War II. Commissioned in 1943, she officially retired in 1974 and was opened as a museum in 1982.
So, I was terribly unhappy with my Monday night swim and refused to guess at my time/lap count. On Wednesday morning I tried again. Ilona came with me and before I work I used my new training watch to clock each lap. I managed to swim one mile continuously in 44 minutes and 45 seconds. I was somewhat pleased with that. Note: I found it hard.
So Saturday came around and it was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm. I biked to the park and around and around until I'd done about 16 miles (plus two miles getting to and from the park that day). I worked really really hard to keep up with my friends and pushed myself to my limit. You see I have a steel frame bike, which is terrific quality, but partiularly heavy. Also, not being a tiny, slight woman, I am carrying a fair load of myself on those two thin wheels. After about 1 hour and 10 minutes, I immediately jumped off my bike, threw down my helmet and took off for a 5 mile run which coincided with a women's 10km race taking place in the park that day. Running along at a nice steady slow pace, we watched the Gazelle, oops, I mean first woman, glide past us almost silently. We yelled out to all the women who passed us (well, at least the first 20, we started getting horse when the other 1500 women ran past us). The run was great. We ran the course we will be running on race day for the first time. I had a bit of a lactic acid burn in my right foot so I decided to prevent an injury and walked for 7 minutes. My friend Ken came along and I picked up his pace and we ran the rest of the way chatting and heavy breathing together.
Three hours of rest at home and I gathered up my wetsuit, lube, goggles and nose clip and off I went to the new location for our first ever Hudson River swim. The day before, the organizers, the New York Swim Club was told by the Coast Guard, that we couldnt swim around the Intrepid because of security reasons. So at the 11th hour, they decided we would jump off the pier at Christopher Street, (further downtown) and swim to Chelsea Piers (at 23rd Street). So there I was, so nervous... I took one look at the water and almost started hyperventilating. It had white globs of bubbles that looked alive. I breathed deeply and walked the pier to the end. We ended up blistering in the sun while waiting for the current to change before jumping about 6 feet into the water. There were 157 of us. Most of the competitors happened to be Team-in-Training New York Triathlon group using it as a trial run of Hudson River swimming.
My Ratings:
Temperature: with a wetsuit on, the water was quite pleasant, considering it was really hot that afternoon.
Taste: suprisingly good. not too salty and not too brackish. still dont want to measure how much I actually drank, coz I know it was a lot.
Current: ridiculous. against me, across me, against me, across me. Oiy!
Speed: negative 0.75 miles an hour. Swim ten strokes forward to find yourself in the same spot, or further towards New Jersey.
Direction: there was a strong attempt at swiming in a straight line, but with the current, no visibility and nerves (see next line), I scalloped my way across the course, probably adding distance (see futher)
Nervousness: 10 out of 10. very hard to control my breathing, little oxgyen getting to my muscles, heart wanted to jump out of my body and would have if it wasnt for the tightness of my wetsuit.
Distance: the original swim around The Intrepid was supposed to be 1 mile, this swim was probably a bit longer (according to my lovely swim coach Earl), add to this the scalloping affect - that is like driving along a winding road... Oiy - again.
Retrospectively:
I didnt swim that much. I spent some time doggie paddling, some time on my back floating, some time just immobile and keeping my head above water. I talked to my kayakers - yes, they became "my kayakers" because they basically followed me most of the way. There was Tanya, who I had to share with my one teammate behind me, and Sully - who seemed cute from my angle - and who tried to convince me that we were doing something really hard, and that I was doing fine and that I WOULD be able to do the Triathlon in two weeks time. He told me I had to finish so the Coast Guard guys could meet me afterwards!!???! You know, that's a lot of pressure, come to think of it. I had quite a few people watching me panic in the water!! Hmmm. But I was determined to finish and I was determined not to be pulled out of the water by the Coast Guard boats. So I finished second last after both calves cramping up and then getting a charlie-horse in my left one. I hung onto the nose of Sully's kayak for quite a way and finally swam the last quarter mile in to the finish.
My time: official: 1 hour and 50.1 seconds. According to my watch it was 1 hour and 4 minutes. Oh well!
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