"The sun'll come out....tomorrow!"

Persistent heavy rains and generally dreary weather threw a wet blanket over this week's planned open-water swims, sending some of us back to bed and others back to the YMCA pool...a venue that Nancy Lipira and I had not visited since the start of the open-water swimming season on Memorial Day weekend!
It was great to reconnect with our long-lost "Chlorine" buddies, most notably Coach Bob Miller and HUMS blogographer Mike Engel, along with a dozen or so of the "usual suspects," and Nancy and I quickly fell into the routine of repeated sets of 100's on increasing intervals -- but for us "Saltines" the contrast between the pool and the open water was dramatic....Accustomed to swimming in water that is by now in the low- to mid-70's, I found the 84-degree temperature of the pool to be something of a challenge. Even more challenging was the "turn at the wall" after every 17 strokes or so, as compared to the “turn at the sailboat” after three-quarters of a mile....! And with about a dozen Masters swimmers churning up the fast lane, forming a nearly continuous nose-to-toes loop, I found myself yearning for the spaciousness of open-water swimming, where I am comforted in my solitude by the occasional glimpse of another brightly colored cap over the crest of a distant swell....!

The weather report for tomorrow and the upcoming weekend is for clear, sunny skies, so I plan to return to the open water tomorrow for my "morning constitutional" and resume my almost-daily swims at West Neck Beach. (I'm particularly looking forward to this coming Sunday's "one-way swim" -- see the August 19th post.) Still, I feel a chill in the morning air these days, and the water temperature seems to be dropping rapidly, and I sense that the end of the 2010 open-water swimming season is approaching...As I contemplate the inevitable return to the pool, or "closed-water" swimming, I am reminded that it was in that pool, during those long winters, doing those endless interval sets, chasing swimmers who were faster and stronger than me, that I acquired the skills and technique and endurance that make my open-water swims feel so effortless and blissful. So while I'm hoping to continue swimming outdoors well into November(!), the first snowfall won't really break my heart. Besides, there's always cross-country skiing!!

See you in the Salt!