Just wanted to publicly acknowledge Mr Jansen's participation (and 2nd place finish) at this years' 8 mile Boston Light Swim. Great job! How did you find this swim compared to others you've done?
Former Member
Having done "the Light" many times I could have warned you about the boat situation. I think it has taken years off my HUSBAND'S life (watching me scramble 12 hours pre-race, or in the case of my most recent adventure one hour pre-start- yes, we have a boat, oops we actually don't have a boat - get so and so out of bed...we saw him-the boat driver- at the bar last night...and so forth.) It's part of the drama of the race! In fact, the organizer called me the day before this year's and invited me to the dinner and casually mentioned that he had some extra boats, if I was interested - my husband said we've heard THAT before (I always will have a sentimental attachment to that swim so probably will do it again soon, but had just done a 14 mi lake workout Friday, but otherwise we'd have met in person Leonard.) It does seem like the end will NEVER come, doesn't it- that marina just SITS there! Are you dreaming about the Prudential building still? That's one of the best reference points ever. I don't know that there is a more interesting course out there - of course I have limited range of experience with these things! Sorry for the rambling - I just get excited when it comes to open water...
I was sad I didn't get to help out. Last year, I was the guide boat for Will Riddell, who won last year's Boston Light Swim. Will didn't do the swim this year (he moved to New Jersey, and hasn't been able to train as much). I moved within the Boston area several days before the race, so I was basically out of touch, and in a pile of boxes, etc., etc. I got an email from Fred Knight, one of the organizers, looking for extra boats, but I didn't get it in time to put two-and-two together and make it happen.
Perhaps next year.
As we discovered last year, a good guide boat makes a huge amount of difference in this race. When I guided Will last year, we plotted a good course with the boat. Will's closest competitor last year (Doug Bosley -- they trained together) had a different guide boat. Doug's boat didn't hold the course as straight as we did, so Doug ended up swimming zig-zag a little more, which I think cost him the race.
For those interested -- last year I setup a real-time webcast of the race, giving 60-second updates to Will's location, along with a webcam off the back of the boat:
www.swimindex.com/meets/2003/bostonlight/
Maybe next year we can get back into the swing. (And we'll have less smelly 4-strokes on the back of the boat, too!)
-Rick
Originally posted by jdut
Just wanted to publicly acknowledge Mr Jansen's participation (and 2nd place finish) at this years' 8 mile Boston Light Swim. Great job! How did you find this swim compared to others you've done?
Thanks. It was a great swim and I enjoyed it very much. The real challenge of this race is the water temperature - it was between 60 and 65 degrees (no wetsuits), varying by location. Supposedly, this is slightly "warm" for this race. The start was colder than the finish. Interestingly, at the pre-race dinner, the "locals" seemed more worried about the chop/roughness than the temperature. For the out-of-towners, it was the opposite. The other issue for this race is trying to get a support boat - good luck. I had a boat (it took weeks to find one), but the engine blew up several days before the race and it wasn't going to be fixed in time. This caused a mad scramble to find a replacement. My brother lives in the area and he is a real wheeler-dealer and he managed to get a replacement, although it probably took 10 years off his life.
The race course is beautiful. I know that sounds strange, but for the first 6 miles it weaves in and out of islands that are part of a park system in the Boston Harbor. The first 4 miles were pretty smooth sailing and then it got ROUGH - so rough that I watched the bow of the boat go under several times. We then had 2-ish miles of chop and cross current and I got hammered there - just couldn't find a decent line and got pushed all over the bay, or at least it seemed that way. The last 2 miles was the usual "OH Dear God, I can see the finish and it's not getting any closer" type of experience, although the cross current had disappeared and I picked it up somewhat. Nice awards.
Bottom line: If you can hack the temperature and are willing to find/pay for a boat, this is definitely one that should go on your schedule. About 5 minutes after I finished, I was thinking of doing it again next year, it was that much fun.
BTW, Bill Ireland, who also posts here, won the race. He did a spectacular 2nd half and just left me in his wake.
-LBJ
Originally posted by aquageek
Leonard - I'd be interested in how you trained for this.
There are a lot of people who could wipe the floor with me, and do so regularly, so I wouldn't take this as anything more than what works for me, given my strengths/weaknesses/time limitations...
1) Technique is critically important, so I try to be sure that I am always aware of it. This is normal in racewalking, so it's second nature. I think this is doubly true in my case since I didn't learn to swim until I was 39. I happen to believe in the Total Immersion School of thought and do a modified version of TI. I also have an annoying back injury, so that dictates how I do things (i.e. no flip turns allowed.)
2) I do some, but not much, non-freestyle. I also don't do much kicking work as my ankle flexibility is that of a racewalker, which makes a runner's ankles look positively limber.
3) I usually start training for open water season at the beginning of November, but given the time demands of the season, things can be sporadic until the beginning of January.
4) I do a decent number of sit-up type exercises, usually while rotting my brain watching TV. I also do "cat sit-ups" where I pickup our one cat, Leith, and hold her to my chest for a few reps - do not try this at home, I am a professional cat wrangler from way back.
5) I do a series of shoulder strengthening exercises to prevent rotator cuff issues. I adapted them from "The Seven Minute Rotator Cuff Solution" book.
6) I stretch regularly, even at work.
7) I get massages regularly. I married my massage therapist, boat crew chief and moral compass - I have been blessed in a way far exceeding anything I deserve.
8) No kids, so no time constraints there.
9) I've only done 3 pool races. That's enough.
10 ) I keep a training log. If you don't know what you did, you can't correct it.
11) Actual yearly training schedule:
Nov- Dec: General fitness, technique work, distance, try to survive the holidays and not get too fat.
Jan - March: Slower distance, do intervals, but not push them too hard.
April - May: Faster/longer across the board.
June - Sept: Compete. Training as hard as I think I can without injury. Usually taper for 1 week before a race like Boston Light and then go easy for a few days after.
Late Sept - October: Recovery. Swim 3 days a week for 1/2 hour, stretch, do all the things that I promised Deb I'd do and never got to during the season.
12) Here is a "typical" week in late May:
Monday - Noon: Swim easy for 1/2 hour at lunch (YMCA is just down the street from work.) Muck horse stalls in PM. Also some situps.
Tuesday - Noon: 1/2 hr at lunch done as 10 minutes warmup, something like 10X100 on 1:30 or so, 5 minutes or so warmdown. I emphasize technique/relaxation on these.
PM: 1/2 hour technique work (often with Fistgloves) or including some light intervals. Then workout with YMCA masters: This is usually 3500-4000 yards and I don't try to "influence" the choice of workout. i.e. If they want to do stroke work or kicking, I do it without whining too much.
Wednesday - Noon: 30-45 minutes of non-stop pace work (42-45 sec/lap for 50 yards). PM: Muck stalls, situps.
Thursday - Similar to Tuesday.
Friday - Similar to Monday inc. Muck stalls.
Saturday - 2 Hours "straight." Usually go about 43-44 sec/50 yard lap. I stop every 30 minutes for 30 seconds to get a drink of Accelerade. Variations on this include: a) swim the first hour normally and then put on a t-shirt and use that as resistance for the second hour. b) Swim the first 22+ minutes of each of the 4 segments straight and then do 5X{50 sprint, 50 pace} for the last 7-8 minutes. c) Swim 30 minutes, then 2000 meters of intervals (typical 100, 100, 200, 200, 400, 400, 200, 200, 100, 100) and then finish with whatever time is left to make up 2 hours.
Sunday: Intervals. Usually 5000 yds/meters of swimming that includes 4000 yards/meters of actual intervals. A favorite: 2 x 1650 broken (11 lengths, 10 lengths..., 1 length, 1 length,...10 lengths, 11 lengths) with 15 seconds between each of the 22 segments, then a bunch of 100's to get to 4000 yards/meters.)
The pattern is fairly similar earlier in the year, with all sorts of variations.
13) Except for the YMCA masters workouts, I usually train alone.
Well, my apologies if that bored anyone. Certainly, I am sure that there are things that I could improve, but I do enjoy it (except in January, when open water season seems impossibly far away.)
Fire away.
-LBJ
