ANOTHER GETAWAY: ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

You’re probably wondering why a “retired” couple living in a resort-style community would want to get away. Well, we really don’t need to get away; we are extremely fortunate to have a happy life, just the way it is. But, when the travel bug bit me in my youth (thanks to my mom and dad), it bit hard. And, thankfully, I am married to a great guy who enjoys the adventures, too!

So, here we are in St. Augustine; another road trip getaway to a place we were curious to see, being East Coast newbies.

Did you know that St. Augustine is the oldest city in the U.S.A. and is celebrating its 450th birthday? Well, I sure as heck never knew that, even with my college education. Either I missed that little nugget of knowledge while out sick one day or none of my history teachers never shared that interesting fact. Same goes for Bruce; he didn’t know it either.

So, now, as adults, that little factoid interested us enough to see what this 450 year old city is all about.

We arrived on Sunday, at our cozy 1930’s era rented Vilano Beach cottage (www.homeaway.com ), located maybe 100 yards from the beach. It’s just over the bridge from the historic downtown area and a perfect location for us. A terrific boat ramp is just three minutes down the road; perfect for launching our kayaks into the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway), for a short paddle over to Poncho Creek.

In our area of Vilano Beach, we are away from the hotels and tourists in a quiet residential area. Just like in Sanibel, beach houses- 3 stories at most- line the beach, rather than high rises; our preference over tourist beaches, such as Miami and several other Florida beaches.

It was so nice on Sunday, during the late afternoon, walking along the beach and seeing very few people. The tourists are drawn more to St. Augustine Beach, according to the reviews on Trip Advisor. Fine. The tourists can have St. Augustine Beach!

On Monday, our day started out very much like one of our typical Sanibel days: Go kayak fishing first thing in the morning (although our “first thing” was too late; the fish had already eaten their breakfast), followed by a trip to the local pool for a swim workout.

The results were the same: No fish- yet. We set the alarm for an early rise, today, in hopes of some redfish having what was on the end of Bruce’s fishing line for breakfast. Again- nothing. But, I got to observe these roseate spoonbills eating plenty of munchies for breakfast.

As for the community pool, it is nowhere near as nice as the one at the Sanibel Recreation Center, but it will do. I had to share a lane, on Monday, but had one all to myself, when I returned yesterday for a swim. I finished just in time before hundreds of kiddie day campers took over the lanes surrounding me. Some of them were even sitting on the edge of the pool on each end of the swim lane I occupied, with their little toes dangling into the water; a bit of a surprise, when I did a backstroke turn, pushed off, and saw their little faces staring wide-eyed at me!

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Our afternoon on Monday was pretty quiet, after a morning of kayaking and swimming. We stopped by Kyle’s Seafood Market to pick up fish for dinner, since the redfish seemed unwilling to sacrifice themselves for our meal.

Have you ever tried cobia? I had it for the first time on the Mississippi river cruise and fell in love with it at first bite. Delicious! It was locally caught and very fresh at the market, so that was our selection. Mmmmm!

Our other little excursion was to find the “castle” in Ponte Vedra. I had heard about this from Laurel, the gal who cuts my hair, and assumed she was being a bit dramatic in her description. But, she was right. Check it out here: http://www.castleotttis.com . What a trip…

We skipped kayak fishing, yesterday, and opted to head straight to the pool, instead. The afternoon was spent at Whetstone’s Chocolates ( http://www.whetstoneschocolates.com ), for a chocolate factory tour and tasting, followed by San Sebastian Winery ( http://www.sansebastianwinery.com ), for a winery tour and tasting. Wine and chocolate; life is good! Just for the occasion, I wore my t-shirt with a graphic of a glass of red wine and dark chocolate, with a hand holding a prescription that reads: “Red wine and dark chocolate. Doctor’s orders.” It will get another wearing on Saturday afternoon, when we go for the Tour de Chocolate, a chocolate walking tour being conducted by St. Augustine City Walks ( http://www.staugustinecitywalks.com/?page_id=67 ).

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So, back to Whetsone’s, we enjoyed the chocolates and bought some of our favorites to enjoy later. Our favorite was the De Leon Blend Dark Chocolate (at 47%, it is technically a semisweet chocolate), and I also liked the Menendez Blend Dark Chocolate (72%); a European style bittersweet chocolate.

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Whetstone’s buys their beans from South Africa, a question our tour guide was able to answer. But, when I asked her if they make any single origin chocolates, she didn’t have a clue what I was talking about. Neither did one of the sales staff behind the chocolate counter. So, the answer to that question would be, “No.”

We enjoyed the tour and our chocolate tasting, before making our way down the street to the winery. San Sebastian was quite generous; the tour was free (Whetstone’s was $8 per person) and the tastings were plentiful. Unfortunately, the wine wasn’t our style; there was only one dry white and one dry red. The rest of the wines were quite sweet to me. Our guide even recommended one of them be used to make “winesicles”, combining the wine with blueberries and peaches in popsicle molds for a refreshing summer treat. I’ll pass, but we enjoyed the winery experience and our guide’s sense of humor!

After a late afternoon walk on the beach, we enjoyed another Cooked Creation by Bruce Cook: Fresh shrimp from Kyle’s ($9/lb. for 30 VERY fresh shrimp), sautéed in garlic, olive oil, and red pepper flake. The shrimp was served over pasta with steamed broccoli and tomatoes with a little pesto sauce stirred in; perfect with my glass of bubbly. Ahhhhhh…

SWIMMING, SHELLING, AND KAYAKING IN SANIBEL

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

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Like our last visit to Sanibel Island, this has NOT been a sedentary vacation! And, I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Following my last post, Bruce and I took a late afternoon walk along Lighthouse Beach to photograph the shells, watch the birds and fisherman on the pier, and just enjoy the beauty all around us.

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Notice I said “photograph” the shells. Last November, we collected all sorts of shells, but ultimately decided to keep only the most special ones. The remainder came back with us to Sanibel. I threw them into the water at the end of the pier, to wash up on the shore, once again.

Yesterday morning, after my 45 minute open water swim, I walked along the beach looking for shells, while Bruce continued to fish. (Notice I said “fish”, rather than “catch”.) I found a beautiful lightning whelk on this hunt; definitely a keeper that won’t find its way back to Sanibel, next time around.

The swim before my shell hunt was another in-the-zone experience: Perfect water conditions, a gorgeous morning (just after sunrise), and a dolphin swimming by just 50 yards away, as I headed back to the shore. My sighting even improved (Alligator eyes for you, Cooooach Mike!) as I felt more comfortable in my surroundings and adapted with my Meniere’s.

The activity for the day didn’t end there, as we made our way to the Sanibel Recreation Center for our real workout. While Bruce exercised in the gym, I managed training 2,500 yards in the pool; a not-so-fast sprint session, since I already had an open water session behind me. After that: PT exercises in the gym. It was afternoon before we finally had “breakfast”.

Today was another fitness boot camp day: Four hours of paddling (with a few stops to photograph the birds), followed by a full training session in the pool and gym. Pure heaven!

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And, now, to cap off a perfect day, a toast to my friends Melody and David: With Frisky (Fresca and Spiced Rum; Melody’s invention) in hand, we celebrate the success of your surgery and David’s remission. Cheers!

SWIMMING IN THE ZONE

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

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I don’t remember the last time I swam any distance in open salt water. Since swimming during the summers of my youth at the Alamitos Bay Peninsula, in Long Beach, I have kayak surfed, body surfed, snorkeled; just about everything BUT swim for any distance in anything other than a lake. So, returning to the saltwater for a good long swim was pure joy.

While Bruce fished from the shore, this morning, I swam back and forth, practicing my sighting for the upcoming Clemson open water swim, in June, and the Georgia Games 3k and 1k swim, in July. In my very first open water swim competition, last summer, I swam in the Georgia Games and swam the 3k and 1k back-to-back. Winning a silver and gold in my age group was the icing on top of a fantastic experience- and, learning I am really better suited for long distance swimming, after all.

In my first open water swimming experience since those races at Lake Ackworth, I really felt like I was swimming in the zone. The water was a perfect 78 degrees, I swam straight, and, Bruce even said a dolphin swam alongside me for awhile; something I didn’t even notice, since I was turning toward the shoreline to take my breaths and the dolphin was on the other side of me.

It was a beautiful morning, capped off with a pool workout and PT exercises in the gym, before heading back to Seahorse Cottages for breakfast.

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My Article Was Published!

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

Well, it isn’t exactly the most widely distributed magazine where my article appears. In fact, my first published magazine article was only distributed to about 5,000 homes. But, it’s not like I am trying to make a full-time career of writing, either! This is just a fun project I have taken on for the heck of it. I enjoy writing; the reason I started this blog.

Griffin/Zebulon Life Magazine is a new free community magazine that is direct mailed to homes in the south Griffin and Zebulon areas of Georgia. Hibu (the yellow pages people) started publishing this magazine in February and is in the process of rolling out what will ultimately be 3,500 community magazines throughout the country.

My first contact with the publication manager of this magazine was on behalf of Griffin Choral Arts, in hopes of getting my press releases and photos included to publicize our concerts. That was accomplished- and, more.

Soon after my initial contact, I received an e-mail from one of my media outlet contacts from my job, Mike Boylan, letting me know he had left the newspaper he had been working at for 14 years and took over as publication manager of Griffin/Zebulon Life. (The former publication manager was shifted to the northern Atlanta region of publications.) One thing led to another in our e-mails and I am now writing articles and doing photography for the magazine, in addition to submitting PR for Griffin Choral Arts.

I am writing a series called “Encore”; my first article appears in the May, 2013 issue. Mike had asked me to write about U.S. Masters Swimming, after he saw my swim meet photos on my website (www.ExquisiteCards.Fototime.com) and learned I was a competitive swimmer.

Here is a scan of my article:

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2013 Goals: She SCORES!

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

I’m not one for making New Year’s resolutions, but I am big on setting goals; something I have done for as long as I can remember.

This past year, I did pretty darn well achieving my goals and even succeeded in making some I didn’t even have set at the beginning of the year (including winning the Georgia Championship Series for high points in U.S. Masters Swimming and swimming 3K & 1K races to achieve it). Like the experts say, always write your goals in pencil!

I will admit that I “write” my goals on the computer. But, I do leave plenty of room at the bottom of the printed out page to add more goals or make changes. This last year, I added winning the series and the open water swims, just so I could have the satisfaction of putting a big fat check mark next to it! Same goes for my 900, 2000, and 1000 yard butterfly swims. “Are you KIDDING me?” That’s what I would have asked YOU, if you had asked ME if I could even swim 200 yards of fly! But, I tried it one day, amazingly felt like I could keep going after 200 yards, and kept going… and going… and going…

But, when I added that new goal of winning the Georgia Championship Series, there were three goals (the only goals I did not achieve) that I was not able to achieve because of it: Making National Qualifying Times in my three breaststroke events; my core events that I am best at. Swimming a full slate of events at each meet to win high points meant not being rested enough for each race, in order to swim my best. My breaststroke times, for the most part, suffered this year. So, I was unable to achieve NQT’s for Spring Nationals (a meet it turns out that I won’t be attending, anyway). But, I sure did have a lot more fun at meets this year! I hate sitting on the bench…

2013 Long Course (50 meter pool) Summer Nationals, in Mission Viejo, California, is really what I am shooting for, when it comes to making National Qualifying Times. By making NQT’s in my three core events, it would give me the opportunity to swim three additional individual events, for a total of the maximum six individual events allowed per swimmer. In 2010, at my first Nationals, I did not qualify in any of the events, so I only got to swim three events. The following year, I made NQT in the 50 yard breaststroke, so I earned the right to swim four events, at both spring and summer Nationals. And, the same thing happened this past spring. So, I have been working towards qualifying in all three breaststroke events, so I could swim six events, just like the big boys (and girls).

As it turns out, I have officially made NQT’s, according to the U.S.M.S. rules that allow swimmers to use their best times going back two years. I recently received confirmation from a staff member at headquarters that my times from the St. Nick’s short course meters meet, in November, 2012, count. When entered in Swimming World’s Time Conversion Utility, I qualify with time to spare in both the 50 meter and 200 meter breaststroke, but make it EXACTLY in the 100 meter breaststroke: 1:42.58!

Now, having said all that, U.S.M.S. doesn’t actually verify your times; it is all on the honor system. But, even if I don’t swim those times on race day in Mission Viejo, I absolutely wanted to honor the honor system going into the meet.

So, my main swimming goal for 2013 (once again) is to re-qualify, so my times are up-to-date; at least more current than going back to 2011!

This is where Nationals will be held, August 7-11; the pool where several Olympians, including Greg Louganis (diver) and Dara Torres (swimmer) trained:http://www.mastersmvnswim.org/SubTabGeneric.jsp?team=scmvnm&_stabid_=23601

My chosen events will be:

August 7: 1500m Freestyle

August 8: 100m Breaststroke

August 9: 50 Breaststroke

August 10: 400 Individual Medley and 200 Breaststroke

August 11: 200 Butterfly

And, if our team can field enough swimmers for relays, I hope to swim relays each day, as well.

As for other 2013 swimming goals, I have set 475 miles for my U.S.M.S. Go the Distance goal (I set 400 miles in 2012 and swam 452 miles). And, there are a few non-core races I have set goals for swimming personal best times. Oh yeah, and I’m going for the Georgia Championship Series, again, too.

Meanwhile, I also have non-swimming goals, too; just the usual stuff.

How about you? Have you set goals for this year? If so, feel free to post your goals in the comments section; I would love to hear about them!

Happy New Year!

Jolly Ol’ St. Nick

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

Atlanta Rainbow Trout deserves an award for originality when it comes to swim meet trophies. Their Spring Splash High Points trophy is quite cool, but their St. Nick’s High Points trophy is a hoot! Yes, it’s a waving jolly ol’ St. Nick. I don’t even celebrate Christmas, but as soon as I saw that trophy, my determination to win high points for the meet was reaffirmed. Jolly ol’ St. Nick was going to be mine.

The year started with my usual list of goals; none of which included winning the Georgia Championship Series. I’m not the fastest swimmer in my age group, after all, so I didn’t think I would have a chance. But, as you may have seen in a previous post, I ended up winning high points at the Spring Splash and was told I had a good chance of winning the entire series. So, as of April, I was on a mission. I won the long course meet, in Athens, and then won at the Georgia Games Open Water swim. At that point, I had eliminated my competition for the Georgia Championship Series, however, I was determined to win in style and make a clean sweep of it at yesterday’s St. Nick’s Short Course Meters meet, at Georgia Tech. So, I entered the maximum five individual events, swimming my three best (50, 100, and 200 Breaststroke), and rounding out with two distance events (400 Individual Medley http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkk525w-Qk0&feature=share&list=UUaJqJScxsYtclOJAW-i-gpw and 400 Freestyle; something my coach feels I would be best at if I train for distance, rather than sprints. To add to the heap, I was placed in two relays; swimming lead-off in a Women’s 200 Freestyle Relay and breaststroke in the Women’s 200 Medley Relay.

Although my times suffered due to the heavy workload, I was happy to win every event, including our relays. OK, some of those events were uncontested by anybody in my age group, but I had competition in others. In all, there were seven of us in my age group.

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It was great seeing so many of my Killer Whales teammates also win high points awards; I went around with my Santa giving high-fives to their Santas. (See photo; Santa does have one hand in the high-five position!).

My Forumite buddies (U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums) also won high points in their age groups; definitely a meet highlight for me, given the pre-meet discussion we had online in the days building up to the meet. Frank Thompson (on right) came all the way from Michigan, Swimosaur (Judd Jones) drove out from Tennessee, and ekw (Ellen Wilson) drove over from Alabama. They each now had their own Santa to accompany them on their travels home. And, as you can see by our final picture, our Santas gave each other a kiss goodbye…

‘Tis the story of Jolly ol’ St. Nick, who now holds a place with my other awards, on top of the wine cabinet, in my home office.

And, that, my friends is (almost) the end of my year as a baby geezer. I will soon be turning 51, on Inauguration Day, so I will no longer be the baby geezer; just a geezer. But, later this month, I will be joining a few of my Forumites in swimming 1,000 yards continuous butterfly, to close out 2012. I swam 2,000 yards continuous fly last June, so I know I can do it!

How Many Laps (In This Pool) Is A Mile?

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

When we made reservations with Seahorse Cottages, on Sanibel Island, I wasn’t concerned whether it had a pool or not, since I had done my research and knew the Sanibel Recreation Center pool was suitable for training. So, I really didn’t give any thought to what I would find, once I arrived to our cottage. Imagine the look on my face, however, when I saw this:

Needless to say, I never laughed so hard at the sight of a “pool” in all my life! It is, I’m sure, smaller than Sun City Peachtree’s spa! I thought about getting my suit on and having Bruce photograph me “swimming” backstroke, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet; I’ve been too busy swimming in this pool, instead:

So, what do you think? How many laps do you think it would take to “swim” a mile in our cottage pool? I should measure the pool and figure it out…

Meanwhile, Sanibel Recreation Center’s pool is quite nice. The facility is only five years old, so everything is in excellent condition and quite clean. And, I don’t get kicked out of the pool between 9am – 10am, like I do at Sun City Peachtree, when the four or five noodlers get the entire pool all to themselves for their “water aerobics” class! Here, they keep two lanes open at all times during every water aerobics class! And, it really is water aerobics (no cd’s) with a teacher who encourages those ladies (and gentlemen) to move. She is an excellent instructor; so good, even I might even become a noodler, if I lived here on the island. These noodlers have it good!

I’m a Baby Geezer!

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

When Bruce and I made the decision to move to a Del Webb Sun City community, I decided it would be a perfect opportunity to switch from being a gym rat and return to being a water dog. The treadmill hadn’t been kind to my paws; I had developed a fierce case of tarsal tunnel syndrome and knew it would be an ongoing battle. But, the pool where we lived in San Antonio was an outdoor pool, open only during the (very) hot summer months. That situation wasn’t kind to me either; I developed fierce heat intolerance issues.

Sun City has a climate controlled indoor pool- perfect!

So, I returned to the pool, in 2009, soon after settling in at Sun City Peachtree. I worked on building up my endurance. Then, one day, I decided to try swimming my old competitive stroke again: Breaststroke. Once I built up enough speed and confidence to time myself, I brought my watch to the pool and timed my race from a push off the wall. Aaaaaack! It was far from the 1:19.06 best time I got as a high school senior. But, I went home red-faced, sat down at the computer, and looked up where my time would have ranked if I had competed as a 50 year old, at the Georgia Golden Olympics. Of course, I was only 47, BUT, I was also just getting back into it and figured I would have plenty of room to improve.

To my surprise, my time wasn’t so bad in my age group. So, I looked up where my time would have placed me at the National Senior Olympics and was relieved to see I wouldn’t have placed last! Actually, I would have ended up in the middle of the pack.

So, at that very moment, I set a goal for myself and announced to Bruce: “In 2012, when I turn 50, I am going to compete in the Georgia Golden Olympics!”

It was time to get to work.

After 8 months of swimming on my own, I realized I didn’t have a clue how to properly train to return to competition. And, I could tell by watching the Olympics, in 2008, that breaststroke had changed dramatically, since 1979. I needed a coach. Badly.

After doing some research, I learned that the closest indoor competition pool, Steve Lundquist Aquatic Center, was located 25 minutes away, in Clayton County. I called the pool to see if they could refer me to a coach who could take a look at my strokes and get me back on track. That is how I met Mike Slotnick, the founder and head coach of SMART (Smart Motivated Athletic Respectful Teammate), a kid’s swim team.

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Lucky for me, Mike was willing to take me on for reasonably priced private coaching sessions. He had his work cut out for him, for sure…

Meanwhile, I remembered that my sister had been a member of United States Masters Swimming, so I checked out the website and decided to join. Unfortunately, the nearest team was located too far away to train with, but I could still compete with a team at swim meets.

One month after my first coaching session, I competed in my first meet. Thankfully, Mike was there to help calm my nerves, give me last-minute advice, and clue me in as to when and how much to warm up before each race. It turned out to be a great experience!

The following month, Georgia Tech hosted U.S.M.S. Short Course Nationals. How could I miss that with it being just up the freeway from my home? But, Nationals? Whoaaa; that’s way beyond my swimming level. But, U.S.M.S. is an inclusive organization, allowing all members to compete in three events at Nationals, if they don’t qualify to swim more (up to six). So, I went, competed, and ended up second to last in my events. Mike competed, too, we gave each other a lot of encouragement, and I ended up having a blast. The best part was meeting fellow “Forumites” (U.S.M.S. Discussion Forums members) and cheering each other on. And, nobody cared about my swim times; they only cared that I was happy to be there and competed with enthusiasm.

It was because of my great experience at 2010 Nationals that I have gone to most of the Nationals since. And, it has been well worth it! And, all of the local and southeastern Dixie Zone meets have been swimming highlights, as well. It has been a terrific 21/2+ years as a USMS member.

Fast forward to January 20, 2012; my 50^th birthday. After swimming in numerous U.S.M.S. meets, I had come to realize that the level of competition is far greater than at the Senior Olympics level. Comparing qualifying times and Nationals results, there was no comparison. But, I had set a goal and I was excited to see it through.

So, 2012 became the year of competing in Senior Olympics meets, in addition to U.S.M.S. meets. As I wrote previously, I competed in the Gwinnett County Golden Games, last April, as my very first Senior Games. It was at that meet that I officially declared myself a “Geezer” competing in the “Geezer Games” and was proud of it! And, as the youngest competitor there, I was even more proud to sit next to my team’s matriarch, 95 year old American Record Holder Anne Dunivin, for the medals photograph. I had won two golds and three silvers. Anne, one of the oldest competitors in the country, proudly admits that she has won those records by outliving her competition. She also won five gold medals at that meet.

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The Geezer Games I was really looking forward to competing in, however, was the meet I had my heart set on, back in 2009: The Georgia Golden Olympics, my adopted states’ qualifying meet for Nationals. So, last month, we made our way to Warner Robins to compete in the maximum allowed five races. My coach, Mike, competed too, as well as several of my teammates. I ended up again with two golds and three silvers (my first two medals shown below), getting beaten at both Geezer Games by former collegiate swimmers who were awesome breaststrokers. The gal at the state meet crushed my time; I didn’t have a chance for the gold. But, I achieved my goal, had fun, and swam well, considering the poor conditions (slow pool, too-warm water, too-warm air, no warm-up or cool-down lanes available; it was a joke, really…)

I won’t be going to Cleveland for 2013 Nationals, however, even though I qualified in four of my events . Cleveland isn’t exactly at the top of my bucket list and I am allocating my travel budget, instead, to U.S.M.S. Long Course Nationals, in Mission Viejo, for 2013.

My final Geezer Games competition as a baby geezer was the following week. The Clayton County Senior Games was organized by my coach, Mike, and ran in conjunction with one of my favorite meets, the U.S.M.S. Southside Pentathlon. As the women’s sprint pentathlon (50 yard races in each stroke and the 100 yard Individual Medley) winner in 2011, I wanted to defend my title, so I signed up for both meets. Four of my events counted for both simultaneously, but I was the only baby geezer who signed up for the Geezer Games. So, by default, I won four gold medals. But, I did defend my Sprint Pentathlon title and won another trophy, beating out a 39 year old in the process.

My teammate, Joyce and I wearing our Georgia Golden Olympics medals from the previous week and the Sprint Pentathlon trophy I had just won.

It has been FUN being 50. If it weren’t for Mike’s excellent coaching and friendship, U.S.M.S., and my fellow Forumites who have coached me online, I would have never gotten to the level where I am now with my swimming. And, it just keeps getting better and I keep having more fun, trying new things. Between the Geezer Games, Nationals, my first open water races, winning the Sprint Pentathlon, and winning the Georgia Championship Series trophy (the last meet for the Series is in December, at Georgia Tech, however, I have already mathematically eliminated my competition), it has been a fabulous year.

Life is good being a baby geezer.

There’s a First Time for Everything

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

I didn’t intend on the year of my 50^th birthday being a year of firsts, but it sure has turned out that way! This has been a year full of firsts; our first time visiting Washington, D.C. and my first time seeing Chicago, for starters. But, more than anything, it has been a year of fun firsts as a U.S. Masters swimmer. What a blast! But, first, before I get into that, there is another first I am very excited about…

In my July 1, 2012 post, I wrote about Cullen Jones, one of my favorite swimmers who I admire and respect not only as a swimmer, but more importantly,as a person. If you watched the Olympics on August 3, you saw him in action, winning his first individual Olympic medal; a silver! He even beat sprint great, Cesar Cielo, current world record holder in the 50 meter freestyle. In addition, he won silver in the freestyle relay and gold in the medley (he swam in the preliminary heat). Congratulations, Cullen Jones, now a medal winner in two Olympics!

My firsts in swimming are, ummm, extremely modest in comparison, but they are my firsts:

In February, I decided for the first time to sign up for the maximum allowed individual events in Auburn’s two-day short course (25 yards) meet; eight for that particular meet. They were all 50’s and 100’s, besides the 200 yard breaststroke. But, it was a lot for me at the time; especially since I was also placed in two relays. I ended up with personal best times in three of my events, so I was happy! And, encouraged to try it again…

I did it twice in April; once at my very first Senior Games. Yes, at 50, I’m officially a geezer, so I now call Senior Games “Geezer Games”, since I am one of them and can get away with it now. So, I entered five events at Gwinnett County’s Geezer Games and ended up having to swim them all in 1:15! I won a gold and four silver medals for my efforts and enjoyed every minute of it.

I also signed up for five events at the one-day short course Georgia Championship Series meet, at Georgia Tech, hoping to have a shot at winning high points in my age group. I also swam in two relays. I ended up with another personal best time in one of my events and won the high points trophy.

At that point, Walter, our team relay coordinator, had a talk with me at the post-meet social and said, “As high points winner, you are now in the lead to win the Georgia Championship Series trophy for your age group. So, you need to swim in two of the next three events in the series to qualify and be in the running.”

Well, I had already planned on swimming in the Athens long course (50 meter pool) meet, in June, as well as the short course meters meet at Georgia Tech, in December. “But, what if you get sick or hurt and can’t make it to the meet? You need to swim in the open water meet just to make sure you get your three events in and qualify!” Walter was very convincing…

As you can see by my last post, I entered the open water swim at Lake Acworth and swam the 3k for a silver medal, immediately followed by the 1k, for the gold. And, yes, it was another first; I had never competed in open water before and ended up winning high points. (I also won high points the month before, in Athens).

So, without having to include December’s meet at Georgia Tech, I won the Georgia Championship Series for the first time. (I still plan on entering the meet at Georgia Tech, though, and going for high points.)

That high points thing really got me thinking. High points awards aren’t necessarily won by the fastest swimmer, because some of the fastest swimmers only enter their core events at meets to focus on getting their best times. But, I don’t fall into that category. Not only am I not the fastest breaststroker in my age group (I rank in the top 35-40%); I haven’t been able to beat my best time in quite awhile. (Perhaps aging is working against me here!).

I’m in this for FUN. And, as much as I love swimming breaststroke, beating my head up against the wall trying to beat my best time is getting to be NOT fun. So, I’m trying new events and entering a lot of them at meets to see where my other strengths (if any) may be. Having goals and working towards achieving them is what keeps me motivated and if I win a high points trophy along the way, all the better!

Two of the hardest events in swimming are the 400 IM (Individual Medley; 100 of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle) and butterfly. I had avoided them like the plague, because I didn’t think I had enough strength and endurance to tackle that much butterfly. Besides, I’m a sprinter! But, it was time to put my body to the test and see if I could prove myself wrong…

In my quest to see if I could swim 200 yards “fly” without needing lifeguard rescue, I actually kept going and ended up swimming 900 yards continuously. Here it is: http://youtu.be/4fmP1szg4mo . Two weeks later, I decided to try it again and swam 2,000 yards of continuous fly. I was so slow and the digital camera file was so large, the camera stopped at one point to write to the file. So, the swim is in two files: http://youtu.be/4PJouksr3wI and http://youtu.be/BfKKZa3uUYM .

At that point, I realized something it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out: If I could swim 2,000 yards of continuous butterfly, I surely could swim 200! It may be slow, but I can do it! So, that little exercise in endurance was a whole bunch of firsts that made June an exciting month of swimming for me. And, at that point, my coach, Mike, declared me a “distance swimmer”; a very different pill to swallow, considering I was a breaststroke sprinter who walks fast, talks fast and basically does everything like a hare, rather than a tortoise.

For my next meet, I decided to enter a full slate of events at our regional championships, “Dixie Zone Long Course Championships”; 10 events in two days, in addition to getting recruited to swim in two team relays. My new events on Saturday included 100 meter butterfly and 400 freestyle. Sunday’s new events included 200 fly, 400 IM, and 800 free. The goal: SURVIVE. Knowing there would be a bunch of fast swimmers at this meet, I knew I wouldn’t win high points. And, I knew it was too much to expect of myself to get any personal best times, considering the circumstances; especially since my 400 free event didn’t go off until 7:30 PM, we didn’t get to the hotel until 9:00 PM (and still needed to eat dinner), and had to be back in the pool at 8:00 AM the following day for warm-ups. To make matters worse, the indoor/outdoor “climate controlled” pool facility was not exactly climate controlled. The huge doors were rolled up and it was very hot and humid in Greenville. The only air conditioning to be found was in the locker room. The locker room became my friend- as was the shower turned on COLD.

In the end, not only did I survive last weekend’s meet; I had a blast. A swim buddy of my on the U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums posted this about me and Bruce: “Elaine had a great meet! She boldly took on the toughest events in the pool, including the 200 fly, and the 400 IM, and the 800 free, all on the same day! At the end of the day, she was still full of energy, bouncing up & down on the deck, saying, “Let’s do it again!” It was fun hanging out with Elaine and Bruce.”

And, after looking at my times in the 400 and 800 free, my coach, again, declared me a “distance swimmer”. I will never give up sprint breaststroke, but it looks like I will be wearing a new hat (swim cap?), as well.

So, it was a weekend full of firsts! And, it has been a year full of fun firsts. I love firsts; it’s what makes life exciting, inspiring, and sweet. But, I also learned something from all those firsts: Always write your goals in pencil- and leave plenty of room at the bottom of the page to add more!

GinaBarber,ElaineKrugman,CherylAyers,NanaWhalen

These are my 400 Women’s Medley Relay teammates: Gina Barber, Cheryl Ayers, and Nana Whalen. Nana is 75 and won high points in her age group. She swam butterfly in our relay and also swam the 400 IM and 800 free!

DavidMiller,ElaineKrugman,MalenaHankins,MikeStilles.jpg

After swimming my first 400 IM, I celebrated with my Georgia Masters Teammates: David Miller, Malena Hankins, and Mike Stilles. Malena and I swam on the 200 Mixed Freestyle Relay together. The previous week, she swam in a 10 mile race!

This is my buddy, Mark Rogers, immediately following the 800 free race. He was in the lane next to me and made up for coming in after me in the 1k open water swim. He beat me in this race by :45!

Our team won the high points award against all teams who were from outside of South Carolina. The only reason I’m holding the trophy was because Walter (far left) asked Bruce to shoot the picture!

No Lane Lines, No Black Line, No Walls: Georgia Games Open Water Swim

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

Today, I went back to my roots in swimming; open water. As a kid, I used to swim the bay and ocean of Long Beach Alamitos Bay Peninsula, long before I made my way into a swimming pool. The first time I had been in a pool with lane lines and a black line on the bottom was when I joined the swim team at Lakewood High School. Pool swimming was all new to me then, but all I have known ever since- until I competed in Georgia Games Open Water Swim, today.

I decided to register for today’s event, because it was what I needed to compete in, to clinch the Georgia Swim Championships in my age group. After winning the high points award at the short course meet, at Georgia Tech, back in April, I was told by my team’s relay coordinator that I was in the lead for the championship trophy in my age group. And, to win it, I would need to earn the most points in my age group in three out of four designated swim meets: The short course yards meet at Georgia Tech, the Long course meters meet in Athens, today’s open water swim, and the short course meters meet. Since I won high points in the first of the series, I was determined to win high points, again, at the long course meet, in Athens. And, I did. So, I signed up for the open water swim, just to make sure I got three of the four events in the bag, in case I miss the St. Nick’s meet, at Georgia Tech, in December. (You never know if a bug is going to strike the immune system that time of year…)

Today’s event included a 5k, 3k, and 1k swim at beautiful Lake Acworth (http://www.acworth.com/attractions/lake-acworth/), north of Atlanta. I decided to challenge myself and sign up for both the 3k and 1k swim; a total of about 4,300 yards. A few swimmers did all three swims, but I figured I needed to leave that challenge for next time- maybe.

The expected conditions concerned me way more than the distance of the swims; I knew the 3k and 1k would present no problem at all. But, I have Meniere’s, an inner ear disorder, and I just didn’t know how I would do swimming in a lake with no visibility- and no black line to follow! I didn’t have this condition as a kid, so it was a new challenge for me as an adult swimmer. Would I get dizzy? Would I lose my sense of direction? Would I have to sight constantly to keep my eye on the three buoys I would have to turn around on the course?

The other concern was the heat and water temperature; both expected to top 90 degrees. Fortunately, we had cloud cover for the first 2k of my 3k swim, and, at 85 degrees, the lake water was the coolest it had ever been for the Georgia Games. (You call 85 degrees cool? Yikes!). Competition pools are set at 78-81 degrees, so 85 degrees was warm! But, as it turned out, swimming without a cap was just what I needed to stay cool (enough) to swim hard.

On paper, the odds were against me having a successful day, or, for that matter, even having an enjoyable day. But, I had my heart set on it and I was going to give it my best! Besides, my buddy, Mark (another open water newbie), decided to swim it, as well, so he could clinch the Georgia Championships in his age group. Mark always calls me “Champ!”, so I couldn’t let him down!

Several of my other teammates participated, too, and I was happy to see them on the beach. Mike, for one, was on one of my relay teams at Nationals, in Greensboro. As an experienced open water swimmer, Mike had been very helpful and supportive in getting me prepared on what to expect today. I was so happy to see him after his 5k swim! And, his encouragement fired me up.

Sunscreen on, Blistex on my lips, Vaseline around my eyes, goggles firmly in place; I was ready to swim. And, we were off!

01-3K Start.jpg My main objective in my first ever open water race was to stay on the outside of the pack (to keep from getting kicked and clawed) and keep from getting dizzy and seasick from my Meniere’s. The first couple hundred yards or so were tough; I was disoriented and starting to feel nauseous from the dizziness. Panic started to rear its ugly head, but I took a good long look at the buoy, put my head down, talked myself into a relaxed state of mind, and settled on a good, steady pace, frequently sighting the first buoy to stay on course. After a short time, I was good to go for the remainder of the swim.

The swim felt great and I felt strong. Rounding the final buoy, I decided to pick up my pace, knowing I was almost home- at least for the first of my two swims. My goal was to reach the finish line before the start of the 1k, so I could do that swim, as well. The two races were set to go off one hour apart; no problem if the 3k had been a pool swim. But, with being a newbie at sighting and having no walls to push off of every 25 yards, I knew not to expect too much. But, as I reached the shore and stood up to run to the finish line, I saw a large group of green-capped swimmers facing the water, ready to race the 1k. The 5k group was orange-capped (except for me, Mark, and a few others who opted to go sans cap), so I knew I had made it in time.

WoooHOOO!

1:1:24.14 was my final time; less than two minutes past the 1k start time. And, lucky for me, they held back the 1k start for a few more minutes; just enough time to get a high-five from Bruce, grab a gulp of Powerade, and join the pack for the next race.

Mark had come in three minutes ahead of me, so we headed out for the 1k together; the last time I saw him until we both rounded the buoy together and I looked up and said, “Hi Mark!” After that, I put my head down and swam hard for the beach. Little did I know until I saw the photos Bruce had shot, Mark was right behind me at the finish line. He had tried to catch me (according to Bruce), but ran out of real estate.

As it turned out, I ended up beating three other gals in my age group for the silver medal in the 3k. In the 1k, there were only two of us in our age group and I ended up beating my competitor by 11 minutes to win the gold.

Another day, another challenge! And, another day of pure joy.

Elaine-iaK's Travels: A Traveler's Tales of People, Places, Photos, Pools… and CHOCOLATE!

Category Archives: Swimming & Pools