Training Log Archive: cortelmcm

Steady morning run.

Good steady ride

Weight getting a little better.

A couple a sail boats cruising out in Richardson Bay seemed pretty tame compared with playing chicken with a Cargo ship while swimming with a surf ski. Headed out towards Golden Gate, windy and some small swells as you got closer to the bridge, was able to briefly ride some swells on the return. Need a lot of work to get competent.

Nice steady ride

Had to take niece to airport and change workout plan this week. Quick steady trainer session.

Nice steady run. Felt pretty good.

Frustrating, tried to squeak this one in between conference calls, but second call was moved up and had to cut it in half. Fortunately, got in 4 x 3min intervals prior to end. Was hoping head out again, but no go.

Early morning paddle with KP in the double. I distinctly recall thinking wow it is perfect glassy water for a paddle. We eased into a nice steady pace. Normally, we recall seeing certain animals or a fake snake siting to cause a little fun. This time we encounter a Container Ship being turned by 2 Tug boats while we paddled past in its turn zone. Not too close, but close enough to keep us focused to get past. Then the real chaos started, a ferry boat came flying by and gave off strong wakes which we cleared. The next boat was a fast moving Pilot boat which pushed off big wakes. We cleared the first one, and I barely got my paddle over the wake, we went through the lip of the second one and came out, but got onto our edge and there is some debate regarding whether I ejected prematurely ( I did) (Swim #1). Fortunately, we were back in quickly as we had two more cargo ships coming in and along with another fast ferry. Back on our way, we turned towards home and a second ferry came barreling past with no mercy and another large wake put us in again (Swim #2). We were back in quickly as the Pilot boat was now coming back for more of us. We started battling again in rougher water, the Pilot Boat eased off a little thankfully, but its second wake was enough to cause me to eject a 3rd time and take a disappointed KP with me. (Swim #3) This time we had a Cargo ship coming straight at us but with enough time to allow us to reenter with some urgency and get moving with a strong desire to clear this next obstacle. We reentered and started paddling in some rough water as the the wakes were bouncing off the docks and back at us. We cleared the Cargo Ship and its two tug boats with no incident. We still had one last ferry and another Cargo ship docking to deal with before hitting flat water again. Fortunately, we cleared those with some slick bracing from KP (His skills saved at least 2 to 3 other unplanned swims). We regrouped after some laughter and got into a good pace for the remainder of the paddle. You could feel his fitness when we dug in for a few sprints and touched 9 mph. No doubt it was a good time out. It was the most boat traffic I have ever seen on the Oakland Estuary. Not sure if I should have recorded this as a swim or Kayak.