First Ocean Swim

Today, bright and early, I packed-up and headed over to Zuma Beach in Malibu, site of the forthcoming Malibu Triathlon, to join about half the team and Joy, our assistant coach, in an open-ocean-water swim. At the last minute I borrowed a wetsuit and into the freezing Pacific we dove. We did a small swim out past the waves, up the beach about 100 yards, then back in. Then we did it again.

I've swum in the ocean before so it wasn't a first for me. What was a first was going out that far and swimming without a boogie board, in a wetsuit, with goggles. The water was so clear you could actually see the bottom! It was still a bit disconcerting though, but the second lap we did was much easier than the first. I'm very happy we did this, the ocean is as different (or more) from a lake as a lake is from a pool.

We all got out, warmed up, and hit the bikes for a 25 mile ride along the route to be used in the triathlon. That went pretty well, and I was amazed at just how many hills are on PCH. I noticed while I was riding that I was getting chain noise when in the low-front gear and low rear gears, more than before. When I got home I took the bike in and Kevin told me that there's a trim adjustment for the low front gear as well as the high front gear (which I did know about). That fixed the problem - guess you learn something new every day.

The bike by the way is holding up very well.

We came back and talked for a few minutes, and I drank 12oz. of protein as a recovery drink. Someone then suggested going for a 2 mile run so I switched shoes and off we went. At about 1 mile I had some pretty bad heartburn, and 1.5 miles I could taste the drink, so I slowed to a walk. After a few minutes I picked-up the pace again to the end. Feeling sick to my stomach I rested for a few minutes and everything settled down, so I jumped in the car and headed home.

Total time: Arrived 7:50am, departed 12:30pm. What a great training session! Special thanks to Joy for organizing and running it and Ali for loaning me the wetsuit!

Bike: 2008 Giant TCR C2
Recovery Drink: Cytomax Recovery (Mocha)
Hydration: GU20 drink and gel