Great Salt Lake in the High Country News

Last year, Gordon, Goody and I introduced Kate Greene to swimming in the Great Salt Lake.  Kate is a very talented writer and wrote a piece about her experience titled "Of Sense and Salinity: A Swim in the Great Salt Lake" that was recently published in the High Country News.

Check it out!

http://www.hcn.org/issues/45.8/of-sense-and-salinity-a-swim-in-the-great-salt-lake

Choppy Swim at the GSL

There was a good group at the marina yesterday afternoon.  The weather was really nice and Gordon, Goody, Chad, Sue, Kate and myself all took advantage by going for a swim.

I've been getting a little nervous about the LV10K next week because the water temp is 63 degrees and I haven't done any long swims at that temperature for a while.  The water temp at www.gslmarina.com reported 62 degrees at the marina, so I though it would be a good opportunity to see what I would be up against next week.

I was relieved when we started wading into the water that it didn't feel too bad (the fact that it was warm and sunny outside didn't hurt).  Once we swam out of the marina, it warmed up noticeably and by the end of the swim, those with thermometers were getting readings of 67 to 68 degrees.

As soon as we turned the corner out of the marina, we were faced with pretty good sized swells that were coming right at us.  It took me a while to adjust and I ended up swimming more of a "catch-up" stroke into the waves.

Gords, Chad, Sue and I met up at the first red buoy and we decided to keep going straight out to the next red buoy.  Once we got to the second buoy, Sue and I decided to head back and Gords and Chad kept going out to the third buoy.  It was a lot of fun swimming with the waves back towards the marina.  You could really feel them pushing you forward.

Back at the first buoy, I was feeling great and was going to swim east to the white buoy.  Instead, we saw Kate (in for her second swim) and Goody just outside of the marina and I decided to hang out with them and chat.  After a while, we all headed back in to the boat ramp.

I didn't wear my GPS, but I'm guessing the total swim was around 0.75 mile.  It was a lot of fun to be out in the lake, swimming with a big group of friends.

10K Pool Swim

I am excited to be swimming the LV10K in a couple weeks. As preparation for that swim, I met Sue and Kaitlin at the Salt Lake Sports Complex yesterday morning to get in a long swim before the event.

The LV10K course is a four loop course. Swimmers do not have their own kayak support, which is good and bad. A feed table will be set up so that swimmers can get their fuel when the are marked after each lap.

I wanted yesterday's swim to be as close as possible to how the LV10K is set up, so the plan was to swim 4 x 3,000 with feeds in between. Boring, I know, but it had to be done.

I set my watch to a 1:25 per 100 pace for the first 3,000. I felt good and it went by pretty fast. We stopped for a feed and were off again.

I kept my watch set to the same pace and I struggled to hold it towards the end. By the end of the second 3,000 I was feeling a little tired and regretted the 1:25 pace. I took a quick potty break, had a gel and more Perpetuem, and we were off again.

On the third 3,000 I slowed my pace down to 1:30 per 100 which was a little too slow.  Slowing down felt good though and I got into a good, relaxed rhythm.  Sue and I swam side-by-side for about 1,000 yards or so. Part way through, we all ended up moving over to the mini lane at the end of the pool because a Masters workout and water aerobics were taking up the rest of the pool.

At the end of the third 3,000, the end was in sight and I wanted to pick up the pace again on the last one. I set my watch for 1:25 again (which ended up being WAY too fast for the last one). I swam hard and sprinted the last 100.

I felt tired, but good, when we were done. Sue and I ended up closer to 6.8 miles and Kaitlin finished at 5 miles. This was both Kaitlin and Sue's longest ever swim. Nice!

I was grateful for Sue and Kaitlin coming to swim. It would have been VERY boring without them.

A Taste of Things to Come

Chad swimming back to the boat ramp.

Yesterday was a beautiful, warm day (finally).  I met Gordon, Chad and Jim at the Great Salt Lake Marina for a swim and to see the new safety plan Gordon has been working on.

This is just awesome!  Well done Gords!

The safety plan consists of a swimmer flag that can be posted at the end of the dock in the marina to alert other lake users that there are swimmers in the water.  You can also post your swimmer "tag" with your name and emergency contact info on the flag pole to let people know who is out there and who to contact should something happen.  I'm really impressed with the system and look forward to using it!

We got various water temperature readings, but settled on about 62 degrees.  It felt much warmer than when I was out there last time and it was still in the 50's.  Gordon took off to swim down to Black Rock and back while Jim, Chad and I took our time talking and making our way out to the first buoy.  We stayed out there for a while, drifting with the current, and enjoying the water and scenery.  This is what I have been missing all winter!  It gave me a taste of the many swims with friends that we be coming this year as the water continues to warm up.

Todd and Goody surprised us by showing up as we were getting out of the water.  I haven't seen Goody in a while and he is looking much better!  It was good to get caught up with him and I hope he will be back to swimming with us soon!

New Safety Plan for Swimmers at the Great Salt Lake

New swimmer safety flag at the Great Salt Lake Marina.

Gordon has been working hard on a plan to make swimming at the Great Salt Lake a little safer.  Yesterday afternoon he unveiled his plan and we tested it out.

Gordon got permission from the Harbormaster to to install a swimmer flag at the end of the dock that can be posted when there are swimmers in the water.  The hope is that it will alert other lake users to keep an eye out for swimmers.

Swimmer "tags" with emergency contact info that are posted on the swimmer flag while swimming.

The really cool part is that you can post your "tag" on the flag with your name and emergency contact info when you get in the water.  When you finish your swim, just take off your tag and, if you are the last swimmer in, put the flag away.

I'm really excited about this new system and think that it will help us be a little safer out on the lake.

The full details of the plan and other safety tips can be found in the following document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JJAduq09C2XX9J4p8Llvq_TA0i5LIEp2Mq5NknVq0ZI/edit

Gear Review: Discovery Trekking Ultra Fast-Dry Towel

A couple weeks ago, Discovery Trekking Outfitters sent me one of their Ultra Fast-Dry Towels to test out.  I had heard about the towels online and was excited to try one out.

The Ultra Fast-Dry Towels are much different than standard towels.  The most noticeable difference is that they are super thin and light weight.  The material that the towels are made from looks just like the material that "tech" shirts are made from (which explains the moisture wicking and fast drying time).

The material looks a lot like a "tech" shirt, which explains the light weight and quick drying time.

The thinness of the material has it's pro's and con's.  On the pro side, it does dry incredibly fast.  I didn't do a side-by-side drying test, but it easily dries twice as fast as a regular towel.  It is extremely lightweight and folds up to about 1/3 the size of a regular towel.

My two towels side-by-side.

The Discovery Trekking towel and my regular towel folded up.

The downside of having such thin material is that it's not as satisfying to towel off as a big, fluffy towel.  The material is also somewhat sheer and I felt like maybe I was showing off more than I wanted to in the locker room.

I took the towel on vacation to California last week because it claims that sand doesn't stick to it and that it provides protection from the sun.  I can't vouch for the sun protection (I was trying to get a tan :) ), but it worked amazingly well on the beach and for wiping sand off of my feet.

The towel also touts antimicrobial properties due to Silver Sand technology.  It sounds gross, but I have been using the towel for two weeks without washing it, and it doesn't smell at all.

I love that the towel takes up so little space in my swim bag, and allows me to pack in more stuff.

My regular towel, hogging all the space in my swim bag.

The Discovery Trekking towel in my swim bag, leaving me lots of room for more gear.

Overall, I like the towel but I don't know that I will be switching over to the Discovery Trekking towel for daily use.  I do see this towel becoming a key part of my open water gear bag and getting a lot of use this summer.

The towels are available in different sizes and range in price from $14.95 to $29.95 on the Discovery Trekking Outfitters website.

Swim at GSL and On Hill Events Clinic

Things got a little chaotic at work yesterday and I'm just getting around to posting about Tuesday...

Goody let everyone know that he was going out to GSL for a swim and that there would be a reporter there to do a story on him.  Sue, Gords and I went out to support him.

Goody, Gordon and I at the end of the marina. Photo by Sue.

The water temp measured about 52 degrees.  I haven't been to GSL since the New Year's Swim and it felt cold getting in.  Goody stayed on shore getting his picture taken while the rest of us swam out.  Since I hadn't been in for a while, I was just taking it easy and not going for distance.  I swam head up breaststroke out to the end of the marina and back.  As I was getting close to the ramp, Goody was just starting his swim.  I swam out to the end of the marina and back with him.  It was a total of 800 yards and about 20-25 minutes.  I felt great in the water but, as usual, got the shakes a few minutes after getting out.

It sounds like the University of Utah is going to do a nice story on Goody and he may possibly end up on a billboard!  They found the right guy to write a story on.  He has been an inspiration to a lot of us.

After taking a quick shower at the marina, I left for Bountiful.  Gordon had been asked by Joe Coles at On Hill Events to talk about open water swimming at a triathlon clinic.  Gordon asked me to help with part of the presentation and I was more than happy to tag along.

There was a group of about 20-25 people at the Top Gear Bike Shop on Main Street.  There were presenters on running and cycling and then Gordon and I got up to talk about open water.  I think it went pretty well.  Gordon talked about training, swimming with Masters, and places to swim and I talked about equipment, sighting and turns.  I love doing clinics and helping new open water swimmers and triathletes!