OWS Series 2008 - Mullaloo Beach

Event Date 14th December 2008

Water Corporation Open Water Swim Series #3 (Includes Carolyn Burke Memorial Fundraiser) Distances of 1.25km, 2.5km & 5km.

The sun was out and not a cloud in the blue sky. Such a beautiful perfect day for open water swimming with the air temperature expected to rise to 38Degrees.
Sea temperature 22Degrees.

Mullaloo Beach

The ocean is smooth and huge orange buoys mapping out the 1.25km lap course can easily be seen. Tall flags were displayed at the finishing line.

Start and finishing line

After listening to the course briefing and applying sun block and Vaseline (just in case of stingers), approximately 250 swimmers consisting of all age groups from under 15yrs to over 50yrs of age headed out for a mass water start between two orange buoys.

The siren rang at 9am and swimmers trying to find water space between kicking feet and twirling arms headed off north in the direction of the first buoy. The orange buoys were easily seen for guidance and by the time I approached the first buoy the crowd had spread out. I was more or less left alone in the 3rd and 4th lap and could only see the odd cap or arms splashing somewhere off in the distance. I swam rather strongly into the beach, walked through the finishing flags with a timed result of 1hour 29mins. Hmm...maybe the course was a little longer than 5km !?! or I need to do more intense training...ohh!

It was a wonderful swim with very clear water, I could see small colourful fish, a few stingrays and some rugged reef scattered in some areas over the ocean bed. Usually Mullaloo beach is renowned for 'stingers' and I am thankful for only being 'kissed' once on the face over the 5km swim.

The weekly pool training must be paying off as I felt strong and confident during the four laps.

We finished a great day off by heading down to Scarborough Beach for 'Carol's by the Clock' and the brilliant fireworks display which lasted 15-20 minutes.

Some Barracudas Masters 5km successful swimmers (from left) Sue Oldham, Rory Toner , myself, Tony Parbery & Kathryn Phillips

Just keep swimming - a breathtaking experience

Is it 4:30am Already?

Oh. no! That horrible sound - the alarm has gone off - wake up, rise and shine ..... it can't be 4:30am yet.

I'm in the middle of a wonderful dream...I am riding on the back of a dolphin, ahead of all the rest of the competitors and about to become the winner of "The Great Dolphin Sea Race".....across the English Channel - naturally....and now.... I will never know if I was heading to be the outright winner !?? or if my Dolphin and I even make it to French soil !! Now I say....be positive.

Oh. well, back to reality. The alarm goes off at the same time Monday to Friday. Its always a welcoming feeling on Saturday mornings, as I get to sleep in to 5:30am.

There is not a lot of traffic on the road this time of the morning so it's about 20 minutes drive from home to the pool situated in Churchlands. I love this time of day, the air is fresh, there is always lots of birds chirping and my swimming mates chatting, getting ready for their morning session. It's still dark when arriving at the pool and later on most mornings, there is a spectacular sunrise of red, pink and orange tones filtering through the trees that surround the pool....how lucky is that?

Some members of Barracudda's Swimming Club: From left - Myself, Sue Oldham, Kathy Phillips & Tony Parbery - 5:30am and ready to commence the training session - look at those smiles !

My health is starting to improve and am now feeling so much better after the terrible chest and throat virus. Fitness and endurance levels are down compared to this time last year... so ...keep attacking and keep going forward.

For years I trained in a 50m pool so it took me quite a few sessions to get used to all the tumble turns required to train in this school's 25m outdoor pool. The sessions vary from day to day, covering all aspects of speed and strength work, skills, endurance swims and included in the program sometimes are push-ups on the side of pool - ouch!

Most sessions are over two and a half hours, swimming 4 to 5 kilometres. After these sessions I try to add an extra 2k of various swim strokes, practicing technique skills and kicking. If time permits, a short gym workout consisting of light weights, core exercise and more frequently, stretching for flexibility. Of course....making time for chat, fun and laughter is a must...all at the same time !?

I should add that I am enjoying retirement and therefore usually have the time for rest and recovery.

With all goals, there is the build-up plan. I like to keep a log book daily to give me a weekly total. At the moment I have built up to 20-30k pw and then the kilometres will increase each month. Having a log book keeps me in touch with my build-up progress. This seems to work very well for me...both mentally and physically.

Just keep swimming - A breathtaking experience