GregInTheWater
CENTRAL SCOTLAND OPEN WATER SWIMMING COACH
Archives
The last Saturday in July and the last of my swim adventures in New York City was due to take place. The location was Governors Island just off the southern tip of Manhattan in New York Harbour. The swim was around a large portion of the island over a distance of two miles (or 3.2 km). The island has an interesting history as it was a key army base up until the… Read More
So the 2012 season is now over. What was my progress over the season? Well to recap in 2011 I had competed in six races with a total distance of 13.4 kms, and I struggled to finish some of those races. For distance covered in Australia I was ranked 1,398 out of 43,462 and in NSW 509th out of 17,154. For the oceanswim handicap series in 2011 I did three swims for… Read More
The first swim of the year at Newport on the northern beaches of Sydney. A chance to get back into the swing of swims after the Christmas break. The squad had not trained at the pool since the week before Christmas, though I had done a few sessions at Clovelly and North Bondi for a change. It was nice to be able to get to those beaches without worrying about the normal… Read More
We had been planning a trip to New York City for a few months, and my research had revealed a swim under the Brooklyn Bridge was to be held while I was there. I was intrigued by the course and the reputation of the waters around New York of being quite dirty. I had read of the exploits of Shelley Taylor Smith swimming the marathon round Manhattan swim and coming across bodies… Read More
The swim at Mona Vale is held towards the end of June each year. It comprises a short swim of 1.2 km from Bongin Bongin Bay around the point to Mona Vale beach. Swimmers are given the option of swimming with or without wet suit, with encouragement given to the latter. Even though the swim is held in winter, the water is usually quite warm, and on the day it was still… Read More
This swim was scheduled for Easter Monday, but was postponed due to adverse conditions, with large swells making the swim unsafe. It was finally held towards the end of May. Now you would think that having a swim in the last week of autumn would mean cold water. Well in Sydney you would be quite wrong as the water temperature stays above twenty degrees until June each year. Remember water takes longer… Read More
Now that I had joined a squad, I quickly increased my training distances. I was now doing around thirty km in the pool per month which was about double what I had been doing previously. In addition to the increased distance, I was also getting fitter with faster laps and repetitions with the squad. I was also enjoying pushing myself in the pool and trying to understand the instructions from the coach…. Read More
I had come to realise that if I was to be more confident in the ocean swim environment I had to be fitter, and also get more comfortable swimming in the ocean. So I decided to change my training pool to the Andrew Boy Charlton Pool in Sydney. The only problem was this pool was closed during winter, and was a thirty minute walk from where I lived. Thus I continued swimming… Read More
GregInTheWater 