Swarm Pattern

Swimming in open water is completely different to swimming in a pool. You have to see where you are going, and you can save energy by drafting other swimmers. You are also effected by currents and wave patterns. I enjoy open water swimming because it throws everyone together and it is not necessarily the fastest swimmer who wins, but the one with the best strategy. 

Gold

This is the team that broke the world record. Ryk Neethling is on the far right, overshadowing a small-looking Phelps. You can read more about Ryk at his website: www.rykneethling.com. At the far left is Roland Schoeman, who went on to win a silver and a bronze. What makes their performances so remarkable is that these guys are not really given the sort of of money or sponsorships that other professional athletes get. Not even close. This was the subject of some controversy in South Africa. The South African swimmer's said, at a press conference afterwards, that they hoped the sport's bodies in South Africa would begin to appreciate their athletes, and be more forthcoming with assistance. One of the responses: "If they want to swim for Uganda, they must go there, and we will have no problem signing their transfer papers." You can read the full story at: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=623&set_id=6&click_id=623&art_id=qw1093443485587B255
 

Killer Whale

This is one of the flexible wetsuits triathletes use. This one is called the P-Flex. Buoyancy and streamlining means the swim in the sea or lake is a few minutes faster and easier. These suits are a lot softer than wetsuits divers use but may be too thin for very cold sea conditions. Earlier this year we swam in temperatures of 13 degrees, and these thinner wetsuits don't provide much warmth in these conditions. Most triathlons are in places where water and air temperatures are more bearable. We live in a time where records are broken and new challenges are made. It will be interesting to see a triathlon held in Antartica. I am sure it is possible, people do dive in those almost freezing waters. I also think it would be risking life and limb, but it would be interesting to see it done, and who would do it. 

Black Mamba

This is Ian Thorpe. He has virtually patented the full length black speedsuit. The Thorpedo has been so good, so dominant, one wonders why no one is out there wearing what he is wearing. The speedsuit is much thinner than a wetsuit, and streamlines the body, causing the skin and muscles to wobble less in the water, and helping the body to flow smoothly forward. Notice that goggles he is wearing. They are called Swedish goggles. Most amateur swimmers still wear plastic eyecups with rubberised ends. These soon start leaking. Swedish goggles can be fitted perfectly to the face, and although they have no soft surface (the plastic eyepieces fit snuggly in the eyepockets) they are still comfortable. I use them and they really are the way to go. They are durable too. At my last race, in a place called Cheorwon, I did a half Ironman, and a truck rode through the transition area (who ever heard of that) and rode over my goggles. I mean the full wheel rolled over them. I was gobsmacked when I picked them up and there was a small hair line crack in one of the eyepieces. I was still able to swim in them, and they leaked a little, but I had probably one of the top 5 best swims. 

Unusual Suspects

This is a pontoon start. Gaag won this race. I was lucky enough to win my age group here too, some prize money and some oysters. This was a short 2 hour race, starting with a 1.5km swim. In these events the elite guys, pictured here, almost never get to swim with wetsuits. Wetsuits, as far as swimming is concerned, are unique to triathlon.  

Launch

This is completely different to the triathlon start, which is often a running start into the sea, a wet start (swimmers paddling behind an imaginary line waiting for the starting gun) or a pontoon start. 

Turningpoint

The tumbleturn. It's my favourite part. I have strong legs, good joints, especially my ankles and toes, so I feel I get an extra boost compared to other swimmers. Often in the pools here in Korea swimmers wait underwater at the walls and study my turns. It's not something you learn by watching. You have to feel your way through it.  

Light, Metal and Heavy, Mettle

Flow. This is the steely world of swimming. Cool and hard, but elegant. Total Immersion is one of the techniques to get the body to flow through the water, and when it does, it's a magical feeling. 

Lost in Transition

This is Amanda Beard. She is an excellent breastroke swimmer and as far as I know, Ryk Neethling's girlfriend. I swam with Ryk, or more accurately, we swam with the same squad, and under the same swim coach, some years ago. I emailed him before the men's relay and he emailed me back, telling me when the race was. It was pretty amazing because they got a world record, and beat the Americans (including Phelps). The email was amazing too because Ryk got something like 1500 emails around the time of the Olympics.
When I first saw this picture, and I think I found it on the New York Times website, I felt claustrophia. It was weird to feel this terrible sense of breathlessness just from looking at a picture. It's because you can't tell where she needs to swim to get air. I stared at this picture late at night and I couldn't breathe. I'd like to know whether anyone else gets a similar impulse. It's also kind've mournful, and Big Blue-ish, which I think makes it quietly beautiful.

This is on my desktop at the moment... 

Mark Allen

"Unless you test yourself, you stagnate. Unless you try to go way beyond what you've been able to do before, you won't develop and grow. When you go for it 100 percent, when you don't have that fear of 'what if I fail,' that's when you learn. That's when you're really living." -- Mark Allen
 

Mystical

I wanted to find a picture of Mark Allen so I can show you who I am talking about. Instead I got googled to Amazon and in one of the branches I found this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0809245892/ref=sib_dp_pt/104-5712807-4615115#reader-page

In his book he immediately seems to make two succinct points. One is about identity, it's the title of his chapter, and the next is a quote. The quote describes what I alluded to earlier. That this sport becomes unique because we have to begin to focus on single moments.

I think, cough cough, this is a book I would like for my birthday!
Do I need to say that again?

Pomodorro

I think it means tomato in Italian. Just had dinner there with my best friend in Korea, Corneli. She got a business card today from her school, minus her personal cell number. The only number to call on the card is her school's. This is so that she doesn't teach students privately. This is an illegal undertaking here, but a lot of teachers do it and earn a lot of money.
Myself unfortunately not included at the moment.

I have been a law abiding teacher for almost half of this year, which has got to be some kind of record.

After dinner I feel too tired to go out. It is Club Day today - where, for a nominal fee you can visit about 10 different clubs. It is also Halloween, or almost, so here is a PRO: a lot of beautiful girls will dress like schoolgirls. The CON: Prepare to go home alone.

I am going to a bar called Don't Go later to see a short film made by someone we know. Don't know if I have the energy to get into the heart of Seoul after that. I think this lack of nocturnal energy can be blamed on the commom cold.

Phi Phi Fish

Now compare this picture to the one of Phelps and you get the idea. He is WAY AHEAD of the fish, and they're eating me alive. This picture was taken in Thailand earlier this year. I was feeding a piece of pizza or pineapple just off Ko Phi Phi Don, near to where the movie The Beach was filmed. 

Fly

I wish this was me, but this is Michael Phelps - probably the world's best swimmer. I got an email from Mark Allen today. That is actually an amazing thing - to be in communication with probably the world's greatest Ironman athlete. That is one of the great gifts of the internet - it brings you closer to greatness, if that's what you want. 

Refriger-warmth

Coming home is amazing in winter. My apartment is so small that the heat off the refrigerator is enough to give off a toasty warmth, even when outside it is chilly. That is, providing I weld shut the windows.

Swimming and Hazy

I think it was 3rd time lucky at the pool today. Because the previous two times the pool was closed. They just changed the times or were closed unexpectedly. Maybe they posted it on the noticeboard, but if it's in another language then it doesn't help me.
Not only was the pool open, but at 14:00 it was almost deserted. There was one old lady in my lane and at the sight of me she fled, causing a small tidal wave, and huddled in an adjacent lane with two other swimmers. So I had my lane to myself.

Swim like a fish.
I felt heavy.

But it was nice to be in the water.
It's like coming home, and I am not just saying that. I swam every day, for years, when I was a kid, and a teenager, and I have never gotten swimming out of my system.

I did a few hundreds, that's 4 lengths of the 25 metre pool. I was trying not to get too intense, because at this point speed is not that important. I did them around 1 minute 28 or 30 seconds.

I did some kicking and my arms felt so smooth afterwards. It usually takes me about 800 meters to get comfortable in the water.
It felt warm today.

I swam for 45 minutes and then saw that I am weighing 79.2kg. That's fine. It will be nice to see that number drop over the next few weeks, hopefully by as much as 10kg (a 13% drop) over 20 weeks. My weight went down to 71kg about a week before this years race. Weight really is an important indicator of fitness and strength, because it also means a lighter body is easier to move, especially over greater and greater distances. So I will be watching that.

Bernard is training in Thailand now with Andrew, towards Ironman New Zealand. He got stung by a jellyfish on his face. He says it is probably the most painful thing he has ever experienced.
I guess I was lucky today. No jellyfish in my lane, although the old lady, towards the end, was looking suspiciously like one.

I need to remember to incorporate hill sessions into my endurance program.
But now I have to prepare something for a birthday girl.

I am a dark angel with an orange view of the world... 

I am addicted to good things 

I am reflecting a lot. The past sometimes, often times, haunts me. But now matters, and what you believe behind each moment matters even more. It is easy to find enough evidence, real or not, to back up your position. So it makes sense to have a good position. A strong identity. Why not have a decent view of things, even if some of it is sometimes spin. Sometimes you just say to yourself GO GO GO. This photo was taken a few minutes before running a half marathon on a beautiful spring day.