I Go Swimming - Summing up 2010

2010 has been a great year for me from a fitness viewpoint. During the course of the year, I managed to get in 193 swim workouts (including competitive events) for a total of 250 miles. This means I spent more than half of the year in the water at some point!

The high points of my year in swimming were:

• Competing in an indoor Triathlon at Life Time Fitness (and not coming in last)
• Swimming 3 of the 5 DCB Adventures Arizona Swim Series (and not coming in last)
• Attending the USMS SwimFest '10 event
• Swimming La Jolla Cove for the first time in my life!
• Competing in the Catfish Crawl 2-mile swim in Morgan Hill (I lived there for 8 years, and yes, I was not last)
• Making swim friends in the pool and on the USMS forum
• Joining Sun Devil Masters

Peter Gabriel's song, I Go Swimming, kind of sums up the joy I get from being in the water, and how much I need it in my life. Here's a video I found on YouTube.

My Wednesday Evening Swim Workout

The turnout at my Masters swim club was very low Wednesday evening, most likely due to the pending holiday and the fact that it was cold and raining. But, for those of us who chose to brave the holiday shopping traffic and the elements, we were treated to a really fun workout alternative.

Our coach decided we would do the "Tour de Mona", so named for the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center where we swim. The "tour" involved swimming up and down the width of the 50 meter pool (17 or 18 25-yard lanes), followed by swimming up and down each 25-yard length of the warm-up pool, and finally, moving over to the diving well and diving or jumping off of each diving board, including the 5, 7.5, and 10 meter platforms! Yikes!

I finished the swim "tour" and dove off of one of the diving boards, but could only muster the nerve to jump from the 5 meter platform. I forgot just how high 16.404 feet can be. The last time I jumped or dove from a 5 meter platform was in high school, 1972 to be exact. But, I did it, and it felt good. Here's a photo showing the view from a 5 meter diving platform. It doesn't appear to be this high when looking up from deck level, but once you're up there, you realize just how high it is. Very intimidating to say the least.

Our coach did the tour with us and was the first person to jump from the 10 meter platform. I have a newfound respect for him after witnessing his jump. :)

After everyone had an opportunity to jump from one of the three platforms, we concluded our workout by playing 4 rounds of "Sharks & Minnows", with our coach being the lead Shark. What fun!! I felt like a kid again.

Here's a link to a photo of our "tour" course.

The Desert Botanical Garden's "E-rat-i-ca-tor"

I made a friend when I visited the Botanical Garden yesterday. She followed me all around the main entrance area, and when I came back from a 30-minute hike, she was waiting and followed me to the Garden Store. What a cutie. Your typical aloof female cat. >^..^<

Desert Botanical Garden

Today, I visited the Botanical Garden for the first time with some friends. It was all decorated for Christmas with hundreds of poinsettias and a huge number of luminarias. I would love to see it at night. And, how I wish I had brought my good camera. There were so many great things to see. Here are a few of the highlights.

 It always amazes me how there is always something blooming in the desert during the Winter. I managed to get my camera strap in the picture (LOL).

 The chartruese colored Yucca are actually glass scluptures that the garden is hoping to purchase. They need to raise $1 million dollars and are 80% there. I couldn't help wondering what would happen to these pieces of art should a bad hail storm occur.

 This is one of 10 masks that an artist created using natural materials. I believe this one was named "Terragon" and reminded me of a horned lizard. Most of the piece consists of beads and braided fibers, but it also contains snakeskin, bone, claws, stone, and fossils.

 I was struck by the spiral growth patten of this particular cactus.

 I wonder who lives here?

We came across this huge Mesquite tree that was like an umbrella. The branches reached all the way to the ground around the entire perimeter of the tree. I loved climbing trees when I was a kid. :)

Stars & Stripes Forever!!

I can still remember the 1972 Olympics, with Mark Spitz kicking @$$ in the pool, winning 7 gold medals. The other thing I remember is the Stars & Stripes swimsuits that were selected that year. I was perusing the Internet looking for something and came across a "never worn", vintage 1972 Stars & Stripes female racing suit made by White Stag-Speedo. I couldn't believe it! I also can't believe that I bought the darn thing. I got it in the mail today, and they weren't kidding. The suit is as new as the day it was hanging on the rack in the store that originally sold it. I also have the original box it came in and the product tag. What a cool piece of memorabilia! Here are the pictures that were posted at Lulu's Vintage where I purchased it, followed by a picture of Mark Spitz wearing his Stars & Stripes suit. :-)

What Tech Writers Do While Waiting for Engineers to Review Their Docs

One Year's Worth...

...of swim caps. :) I celebrated my first anniversary since rediscovering swimming and decided to commemorate the event with a picture of the caps I've collected during the past year. A description of each one by number follows the photo.



 1) My first cap came from Sports Authority and is called "Crazy Daizy" - November 2009
 2) Another silicone cap from Sports Authority - January 2010
 3) One Hour Postal "Happy Hour" cap hosted by Tamalpais Masters "TAM" - February 2010
 4) Indoor Tri cap from Life Time Fitness - February 2010
 5) My first open water swim - DCB Adventures Swim #1 - May 2010
 6) Another silicone cap from Sports Authority - May 2010
 7) DCB Adventures Swim #2 - May 2010
 8) Go The Distance 50 mile cap - April 2010
 9) USMS cap (given to me by Rob Butcher at SwimFest '10) - June 2010
10) Yonkers Masters cap (given to me by Evelyn Foley) - June 2010
11) Catfish Crawl 2-mile swm - July 2010
12) DCB Adventures Swim #4 - September 2010
13) Mesa Aquatic Masters (swam with them for a week) - September 2010
14) 200 mile mark with Go The Distance - October 2010
15) Sun Devil Masters (my current club) - November 2010

Aurora over Norway

An item from my bucket list -- one of these days, I have got to see this in person. So, beautiful!

Aurora Borealis timelapse HD - Tromsø 2010 from Tor Even Mathisen on Vimeo.

My Perfect Day Just Got Better

I had to leave the swim event I competed in on Saturday earlier than I would have liked (I crammed way too much stuff into one day), so I didn't learn the race results until just now. I ended up swimming the 2K in 48:58 (slow by most standards), BUT -- almost 10 minutes faster than my first ever open water swim back in May of this year, so I AM STOKED!

I can't wait to do this again next year.

Perfect Day

A year ago today, I made the decision to get back into swimming. Best decision of my life! At the same time, DCB Adventures was holding their Arizona Swim Series finale at Tempe Town Lake. I had heard about it and wanted to see what open water swimming was all about, so my daughter and I went out for a look see. It didn't take much for me to decide right then and there that I wanted to do this same swim the next year, and yesterday I did. :) What a feeling of accomplishment.
The song "Perfect Day" that was featured in Legally Blonde kept playing through my head all that day. It truly was a perfect day for an open water swim. About 82 degrees air temp, 71 degree water temp, the lake had recently been refilled due to a dam break over the summer, and the water was clear and clean. I couldn't have asked for better conditions.
Here are some pictures from my race (2K) and a video of some competitors in the 4K race. Finally, I'm embedding the "Perfect Day" video so you can play it and get a sense of just how perfect my day was.

Just after the start -- I'm in the white cap toward the back of the pack.

The little girl in the bright green cap latched onto me at about 250 meters into the swim and stayed with me stroke for stroke until the last 400 meters of the race. Whenever I switched from freestyle to breaststroke, so did she. When I stopped to adjust my cap, she stopped and waited for me to begin swimming again. I don't quite understand what her tactic was, but she really impeded my progress, as she kept swimming into me -- but I figured, hey, maybe she just needs someone close to her to feel safer in the water, so I kind of watched over her. I thought it was odd that such a young child (I'm guessing she was about 10) was swimming alone without a parent or guardian.

All smiles at the finish.

A group of 4K racers - the song playing in the background was recorded live from the race promoter's loud speakers. Yes, it was loud! I could hear the music each time I swam by.

And now, to keep that Perfect Day theme going, listen and enjoy.

Having a "Devil" of a time

I'm having a devilish good time swimming with Sun Devil Masters out at ASU. I finally made up my mind after deliberating for over 6 months. I had two great teams to choose from, the other being Mesa Aquatic Masters, but decided on Sun Devil Masters. I just feel more at home with the Sun Devils.
The main reason why it took me so long to make up my mind, is it meant making a radical change to my daily routine. Instead of getting up at 5:15 AM to head to the gym for my pool workouts during the week, I now swim at 6:00 PM, so I just head over to ASU after work.
 
I was reluctant to change because I thought I would be too tired to swim after work, but so far I've found just the opposite to be true. I've read a few articles that suggest it is better to work out later in the day (between 2 and 4) than earlier. This is due to the fact that we're fully awake, well-fueled, our bodies are warmed up, and our brains are functioning at their peak.
 
I'm just starting my second year after returning to swimming and I'm so glad I made it back. I've accomplished so much this past year. I completed four open water swim competitions (3 here and 1 in California) and attended 3 swim classes and 1 clinic. My biggest accomplishment by far this past summer was finally learning how to swim butterfly. Woot!! My next goal is to become more proficient at competitive swimming and start entering swim meets. Joining Sun Devil Masters should go a long way to reaching that goal.

Fort Valley Stellar's Jay

I visit several webcams each day, and one of my favorite treats is when a Stellar's Jay poses for the Fort Valley, AZ webcam. Here's a 3-shot sequence from this afternoon:

Stellar's Jays are only found in the high country of Arizona, but I got to see them frequently when I lived in the Bay area of northern California. I love hearing their raucous calls as they fly through the trees on a summer day. They're also notorious campground thieves that love to steal anything edible left out after a meal.

Catfish Crawl 2010 - Race Photos

Finally! Proof that I actually do swim open water events. This was my third event this year and I finally have a decent photo showing my exit from the water. Seeing this photo really brought it home how hard I've worked to lose weight and get back into shape. It's all been worth it!
Here are some photos of the start of the race. I'm in these pictures somewhere. :)

Uvas Canyon, Morgan Hill, CA

To me, the most special place in all of Morgan Hill is Uvas Canyon County Park. This place is a "hidden jewel," which is just a short drive from where I used to live. The park offers hiking and camping, and was often the place I took my girls to cool off during the summer. One of the hiking trails leads you along Swanson Creek, where there are many deep cool pools and lots of waterfalls. Rushing water can be heard no matter where you are, and I love nothing more than to sit next to the creek or one of the waterfalls and totally relax to the sound of the rushing water.

One of the many waterfalls you'll encounter along the Waterfall Loop trail at Uvas Canyon County Park.

Turkeys, in Morgan Hill! Absurd!! No, really, Morgan Hill is home to a large population of wild turkeys. While on my way to Uvas Canyon, I encountered a small flock of them on Croy Road.

While I was taking this next picture, I envisioned the old "There's a hole in the bottom of the sea" song that includes the frog on the bump on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea, etc, etc. Well, anyway, here was this little alder tree, growing out of a rock that was sitting in the creek, and what did I find, but a little Ladybug crawling around on one of its leaves. I couldn't tell whether she had any warts, complete with hairs and fleas, but I was amused by the sight nonetheless. ;)

I managed to get one decent photo of myself while hiking. I need to take lessons from my girls. They're great at taking what I call "Facebook Photos" of themselves. I absolutely suck at it. It took me three or four tries to get this one, but at least I have something to show I was there.

I also took some really nice videos, but I'll have to post them after I get back home. The Internet upload connection at my hotel is kinda sucky, so stay tuned for the second installment in a couple of days.

Catfish Crawl 2010 - UVAS Reservoir, Morgan Hill, CA

Awesome Open Water event held at UVAS reservoir just outside my old home town of Morgan Hill in northern California. The fun part about being here, is that Morgan Hill is where my two daughters were raised. When they were little, we used to go to UVAS to catch baby toads and splash around in the water.
When I arrived at the event, there was a heavy marine overcast cloud layer. The conditions were really perfect, even though it was a bit cold for an Arizona transplant. The air temperature was 55 degrees, with a water temp of 72, which caused mist to rise off of the water. We don't get conditions very often like these in AZ. :) The mist made sighting a bit more of a challenge, but I quickly adjusted to it.
This was a really large, well-run event -- lots of California triathletes and Masters swimmers. I saw folks from the Olympic Club, Santa Clara Swim Club, and many more. This time I got a nice "Finisher's Medal" to commerate the event. Here's a photo of my "race goodies". :)

Here's a couple of pictures I snapped when I arrived. They had a professional photographer taking photos as we finished, so when that one if available I'll post it.

If you click the image to see it at full-size, you'll see the mist rising off of the water.

Here's an aerial showing the 2-mile course. This is an old Google shot, and the water level is much lower in this picture than it was during the swim. We started much closer to the parking lot area, but I think you get a good feeling for just how far it is to swim 2 miles. This may sound strange, but I would much rather swim 2 miles than run the same distance. :)

SwimFest Critique Video

One of the videos taken of me that I received critique on while at SwimFest '10.

#11 Debbie Duane from Swim Fest '10 on Vimeo.

If this can could talk...

...what a story it could tell. While visiting some friends at the Kit Carson RV Park in Flagstaff over the 4th of July weekend, I stumbled across an ancient oil can in a field behind the park. This particular RV park, which is located on Route 66, was first opened in the 20's, and I'm guessing this can has been hanging around since the 50's.

I was amazed to find that this particular can was marketed by a company in Long Beach, CA -- my home town. I know the can is old, as the zip code is listed as simply "7", instead of the newer code of 90807. The change to the new 5-digit code occurred in 1963, so at the very least, this can is at least 50 to 60 years old and has seen 50 to 60 snowy winters and countless people and critters walking around, and here it sat undisturbed until I came along. I don't know why I am so intrigued by something like an old, rusty, flattened, motor oil can, but I had to take it home and add it to my blog.

I Googled and Googled, but could not find any images or web content on Trailway 100% Pure Paraffin Base Motor Oil. It's hard to read the company name, but from can I make out, it was the Humes Refining Company. Here are pictures of the front and back of the can.

Here's what I was able to glean from the back of the can:

Trailway 100% Pure Paraffin Base Motor Oil

Superior lubrication for ?? motors. This oil contains approved additives.
Detergent for engine cleanliness, oxidation inhibitor for long life and freedom from bearing corrosion.
Marketed by
Humes Refining Company
Long Beach 7, CALIF.

USMS SwimFest '10 Video

Nifty video of the overall SwimFest experience, courtesy of USMS. It's like being there all over again. :)
Look for me at 3:19-3:23, getting stroke critique from Ron Marcikic.

SwimFest '10 - It Rocked!!

I had a great time at SwimFest at UCSD in La Jolla! Great people, great coaches, Finis freebies, good food, and lots of swimming!! I was in absolute aqua heaven! Here's a slideshow of some photos I took while at the event. If you want to see them at full-size on my Flickr page, click the USMS SwimFest '10 link.

I gotz (another) new camera!

Now that I'm back in the water (and planning on staying there for a long, long, time), I decided it was time to purchase a new "point-and-shoot" camera that I can use in and around the pool. I did a bit of research and narrowed it down to a couple, but before making a purchase, I decided to check Costco to see if they had any offerings. To my delight, I found the FujiFilm FinePix XP10 for around $180 bucks, which came with a  4 GB card. It's nice and small (no bigger than my cell phone) and really easy to use.

Since Costco has such a great return policy, I figured it wouldn't do any harm for me to go ahead and buy it untested. I have 90 days to return it, but if it is half as good as my other two FujiFilm digital cameras, I don't think I'll be needing to return it.

This new camera has some really great features: Waterproof, Freezeproof, Shockproof, and Dustproof! Perfect for living in Arizona and for taking on camping trips, into the pool, the beach, whatever! One feature I can't wait to try it out is HD video. It's capable of shooting in 720p, which is nice! Here's a link to a review.

I'll be heading to a swim clinic soon and hope to be able to give it a full test run while I'm there, so stay tuned for pictures in a couple of weeks.
Here's a little video I shot in the indoor pool at my gym:

I Did it! My BMI is back in the normal range!

By no means is my journey back to a healthy weight and lifestyle over, but this morning I met my goal of getting back into the healthy "Normal" BMI weight range (18.5 to 24.9). At my highest point, I weighed 220 with a BMI of 34.5, which is considered Obese.
I started making positive changes to regain my fitness, lose weight, and eat better back in March of 2009. Well, it's 1 year and 2 months later and I've lost 62 pounds, and have regained my fitness and definitely am eating better. As of today, I weigh 158 with a BMI of 24.7 (I'm 5' 7").
I ran into a bit of a roadblock after the first 30 pounds as I was trying to be physically active in all of the ways I was used to when I was younger. I got back into hiking, but found my aerobic capacity to be limited, and my knees were screaming at me (mostly when going downhill), which wasn't any fun. I tried mountain biking again, but had a wreck due to an equipment malfunction and came close to breaking my wrist.
At this point, I decided I had better try something else that wasn't so demanding on my body. But, what? I pondered this for a month or so and thanks to an STC acquaintance and a colleague at my workplace, I was reminded of swimming and the proverbial light bulb went on.
I swam competitively in high school and have been a recreational swimmer all of my life, and swimming is something I absolutely love, but for some odd reason, I hadn't even considered getting back into it seriously. Well, that has definitely changed. I joined Life Time Fitness within a week or so of my revelation, joined a Masters swimming group and haven't looked back. I lost another 32 pounds and I don't think I'm done. My body feels so great -- so great in fact that I feel like I'm 35 again! Parts of me look much younger, but it's going to take some time for my skin to catch up in a few places. :) Here's a before and after:

Mt. Graham, AZ in September of 2009 after losing 30 pounds and today, another 32 pounds lighter and much, much fitter!

Reading is Sexy!

I was at IKEA this past week and noticed this bumper sticker on a car in the parking lot. I must say, I agree 100%.

Waldo Has Made the Journey Across the Rainbow Bridge

At 3:30 this afternoon, Waldo was allowed to cross the Rainbow Bridge. Now she is at peace and free of pain.

What a special cat she was. Seventeen years ago, my oldest daughter, Cheryl, found her under a bush along a creek in Morgan Hill, CA. At first, I thought she was a rat, but after Cheryl's urging, I went back to investigate and found a teeny, tiny, scrawny kitten, barely 4 weeks old who was close to death.

We took her to the vet who cleaned up her infected eyes and gave her a couple of shots and we took her home. She's been with us through thick and thin and several moves over these past 17 years. She always had a hint of wild in her and was never sick a day in her life. She just got old, and it was time for her to have release from her age-related problems. She will be missed.

Here's a picture of her resting peacefully in Cheryl's arms just before taking her final steps across the bridge.

Waldo Juracich

May 1993 - May 2010

Now THAT'S a Strawberry!

My youngest daughter stopped at Wal*Mart the other day to do some grocery shopping and came across some incredibly huge strawberries. Check this out!

My daughter is tall with long slender hands, so the strawberry she's holding is easily 4.5" in height! What a monster. She sent me this photo from her cell phone with the caption "only from Salinas!"

We used to live in northern California, and really miss being able to go and pick strawberries in Watsonville and the surrounding area. Salinas was further south from us, but they grow their fair share of strawberries. In this case, they outdid themselves this season!

When I first saw the photo, I immediately thought of the crazy sacrifice scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, where the insane priest is holding the still-beating heart in his hand that he just reached in and yanked out of the chest of the guy being sacrified! Yikes! This strawberry could be used as a stunt double for a scene such as that one!

Happy Times at ASU

I'm taking a 4-session class out at ASU this month, which focuses on working on freestyle technique, starts and turns. Even though I've been swimming for 6 months with my Masters group at Life Time Fitness, I really felt the need to get some coaching from another source -- kind of like getting a second opinion as it were.

The first session was awesome. Our instructor/coach, who swam in Britain and for ASU (and yes, she's young enough to be my daughter) had us doing drills that were new to me, but they immediately showed me where I needed to make changes in my stroke, kick, and breathing.

My oldest daughter came along to observe and snapped a few photos with my cell phone. I wore my "Happy Hour" cap that I got from participating in the One Hour Postal swim, which was hosted by the Tamalpais Aquatic Masters (TAM). In the last picture it looks like it is glowing. :)

Listening to Amy

Other than having my fingers up my nose, this shot isn't half bad. :)

Finishing a drill

Swim To Be Fit!

Since coming back to swimming 6 months ago, I've been toying with the idea of changing my personalized plate to a reflection of where I'm at today. I've had several personalized plates over the years, with my most recent being DEBARU that I used on two different cars over a period of 4 years. But, given where I am in life right now, the time has come to make a change. My new plate is:

I really got lucky on this photo. The sun had just ducked behind the clouds and the reflection in my rear window was absolutely perfect.

My First Open Water Swim Competition

Waiting for my turn to swim

What can I say! It was totally awesome. I grew up swimming in open water, but this is the first time I actually focused on swimming 2000 meters continuously (no stopping, standing, hanging onto the side of the pool, or flip turns). It's so much different from swimming workouts in a pool! The event I swam in is the first in a series of five put on by DCB Adventures. They did a great job with the event. I can't wait for the second one, which takes place at the end of May. I'm hooked!
I came in 1st in my age group and 7th overall in my division (non-wetsuit), and beat my time goal by 3 minutes! It's always fun to swim an event the first time, 'cause your time is always a personal best!

My Masters swimming buddy, Ken, decided to swim the event with me and I finished just a couple of minutes ahead of him. We were both so stoked to have done it. There's always a bit of trepidation when attempting to do something new for the first time. But, as Jake said in Avatar -- "I was born to do this". I can't wait for the next swim in the series.

I ran into a professional photographer, who was taking pictures of her finance who was competing in the 1K swim and she agreed to take pictures of me and will get in touch with me once she has them available. So stay tuned for an update.

Here's a nice aerial view of the 1K course. I swam two laps in my race.

Here are a couple of pictures I took using my cell phone during the start of the 1K race. Click the images for a larger view.

Last minutes instructions from Dave Benjes of DCB Adventures

Go!