3-Day weekend: Par 3

Today was my first ocean swim of any kind since last summer. I actually had some pre-race butterflies about it this morning. Headed down to Big Corona with Blake and threw on my Zoot wet suit. It is so ridiculously warm and buoyant, it required no effort to keep afloat, and I barely noticed the 59 degree water temperature. I swam three laps down and back along the buoy line in the harbor. My guess is that's about 250 yards each way, so between swimming out and in from the shore probably a 2000 yard swim in about 33 minutes. It was not as tiring as I expected. Most of the time I was just trying to get in a comfortable rhythm and wasn't over exerting myself. After each trip down the buoy line--about 4:15--I would take a 15 second breather before restarting. The last lap I just kept a continuous swim going down and back into shore (about 12 minutes).
First, the good. I could have gone much faster, but spent more time just trying to maintain line of sight, and get a gauge of my ocean fitness. Second, my sighting was great and I maintained a mostly straight line during the swim. Third, my equipment was phenomenal. The wetsuit more than made up for the choppy surf, and my new goggles did not fog or let water seep in. Now the bad. It was a very choppy day, probably much like San Francisco Harbor in a month, and I was completely disoriented when I got out of the water. Also, as a result of my disorientation in and out of the water, I had a difficult time getting out of my wetsuit. At least I have time to work on this. Still, 5000 yards in the pool and ocean this week, looking to bump next week up to 6-7000.

After the swim I changed and drove up to Newport Ridge to go for a short run in El Morro. For casual runs it's easier to drop in from the top because the inclines and descents are not as dramatic. My joints were sore so I was just looking for an easy run on soft surfaces. I headed out along Bommer Ridge Road to Morrow Ridge, then retraced my steps back to Fence Line and did some freestyle walking along the single person trail. Run was about 41 minutes for 6+ miles. Total mileage for the week is 48. I'll try and keep it below 50 until May.