Crystal Cove State Park: Pelican Point

After the failure of my first swim race at Huntington Beach, I decided to add more practices with wave conditions more active than my usual practice location.  I decided to try swimming at Crystal Cove State Park Beach since that's where the Pacific Coast Triathlon is held, so I went out on a sunny afternoon to check out the site.

First thing I should say is the this beach is VERY VERY long with more than one entrance to separate area parking lots (each with separate lots) that lead to at least two very very different swimming conditions.  I went to the wrong one for open water fitness swimming.

Before leaving for the beach, I checked out the map at the Crystal Cove State Park website and saw that most of the beach area was marked good for swimming and body boarding, including Treasure Cove and Pelican Point (the north end of the beach, accessible from the Newport Coast Drive at PCH entrance).  Of course the area of Moro Beach looked like it had more icons for swimming on the map, but I could not find the parking entrance for that part of the beach.  I originally tried the second entrance off Pacific Coast Highway, but that turned out to be just a drop-off location with no parking unless you were staying there overnight.  So I drove back to the first entrance and asked the park ranger who took my parking money ($15) which part of the beach I should go to for swimming, and he said "any part" but recommended I take parking area 2 since there's a board walk to get to the beach.

I park my car at parking area 2 and walk all the way down the boardwalk and trail (10 minutes?) and get to the beach.  I put my goggles and the rest of my wetsuit on and a nice lifeguard came and asked me where I planned on swimming I told him I was going out maybe 150 yards, swimming down right past the lifeguard tower (and giant rock formation) and then back in.  He told me about the water current and then went back to his tower.  I have to mention, I've swam at several southern California beaches and this was the first time any lifeguard has asked me about my swimming plan.  Makes both our jobs easier.  Kudos to the lifeguards, but I hoped I would not need them for the swim.

The waves were indeed moderate, kind of a low split between no waves and Huntington Beach waves, so I waded out and checked out the terrain underwater and found a good, sandy part of the beach where it was safe to duck dive (always check underwater before diving!  No good for anyone to crack their head on underwater stuff!)

I head out for a swim out around the giant rock, but when I tried to come back in I encountered what seemed like an endless array of underwater rocks covered in plants.  I had expected the way back to be similar to the way out, so the rocks were a surprise.  I didn't want to swim in face down and get smacked by a wave face first into a rock, so I tried to step my way in, but found the rocks very very slippery (also I'm not sure the plants/creatures crushed by my foot would appreciate more of this.) and I DID NOT want to get my foot stuck between two rocks, so I eventually went back out further in the ocean and  swam a bit north along the beach more to finally find a sandy part that's ideal for coming in.

A second lifeguard saw I was struggling to get in so he stood by watching at the beach, orange flotation device at the ready,  in line of my position in the water.  I was not actually drowning and I'm assuming I did not look bad enough to be considered in trouble, but still struggling a bit so he wanted to keep a closer eye on me instead of waiting at the tower (Again, KUDOS for lifeguards) We talked about what happened and he said I looked like I was struggling a bit, I told him I had no idea there would be so many rocks under the water surface and he warned me that every time I see one big rock out of the water, many smaller ones could be under.  He then explained I should try swimming at the SOUTH part of the beach, at El Moro (where the Pacific Coast Triathlon swim happens), which is in an entirely different parking lot on the other side of PCH relative to the water, or hike up to the middle of Treasure cove (I didn't see any more lifeguard towers that way).  I decided to just go straight out and straight in for the day, and finished the day off with some runs down the beach to test out my healing foot (Foot's answer: "Too early to run!")

I drove my car to parking lot 4 and saw that I was still nowhere near the beach that's good for swimming, so I headed home for a shower and decided to leave the rest of the beach's exploration for another day (and another 15 dollars in parking!)  Also it turns out, I cut my foot in several places (shallow cuts, but it could have been bad) trying to get back in. ;_;  They're healing up nicely now, but still kind of annoying I made this stupid error in recon XD

Next time, I will swim at the El Moro part of the beach!

Since then I've swam a couple more times at Corona Del Mar, and I finally had my first decent swim 1.15 miles since the disaster at Huntington Beach Pier Swim.  It was ego deflating to need rescuing, but the worst part was the doubt that I could actually swim.  It's stupid, but out 200 yards from the beach is nowhere to start having even the tiniest bit of doubt if you're going to need rescuing again.  It took a surprising amount of time to recover from the doubts and I still kind of think about it sometimes. 

I finally got a road bike so that will cut into the swim time in the afternoon a bit as I practice long distance cycling... of course, this means I will have to start swimming in the mornings, in a pool. -_- I am not looking forward to this. 

First Swim Race! (Fail)

My first swim race shirt :3

I toed the line for the 62nd Huntington Beach Pier Swim this morning at 8:45.  I was pretty nervous looking at the much more sizable (okay, really just, "in existence") waves at the north and south side of Huntington Beach Pier. 

Also of concern, the temperature.  It was 62 degrees that morning, but thankfully the water temps was actually higher than the air temp and not an issue at all.

The biggest problem for me, though, was navigating through the waves.  The half mile distance is not so bad since I was swimming upwards to 1 mile in practice, but for the last two months, this has mainly been in very very cooperative waters of Corona Del Mar State Beach and a very not surfy Santa Cruz Main Beach.  I stood there for about half an hour staring at the waves, trying to find an "in" to navigation, but was mostly numbed by the terror of the surfs themselves.

Uh oh... wtf are those? (What, WAVES?!)

The start was basically the extent of the race for me.  I got in the water, waded for a bit, dove under probably eight or nine medium sized (looked like 15 feet to me, but probably mostly 3-4 footers and one or two 5 foot waves) when I finally told the lifeguard (who lucky for me decided to hang out with me) that I was calling it quits.  I made barely any forward progress whilst swimming and could not face the certainty that I would have to navigate at least one more breaker going out and a whole bunch of crashing surf on the way back.  I got maybe 1/5 of the way through the race. ;_;

The rescue itself was kind of amusing now that I'm thinking back to it.  The lifeguard handed me the orange rescue flotation device, and I got knocked off of it through a crash (but I hung onto the rope for life!) and he scolded me for letting go, then apparently I was holding onto it the wrong way... all while I was trying not to get strangled by the rope connecting him to the flotation device, and finally two more life guards on a jet ski came around and I got on board for the short and ungracious ride back to the beach before they went back to to do their job.

Crossing the fantasy of getting rescued by hot lifeguards off my list.  One because I did not actually notice if any of them were hot since I was busy being saved, and two, the romance is out when you get dropped off with no good night kiss (just kidding!)  Lucky for me they were there, and I was thankful I did not have to flail/swim back instead.

Discouraging, indeed.  Two people consoled me back on the beach but I still felt quite deflated.

I will have to change my training strategy if I am to succeed at the Tiki Swim (also has a beach rough water start).  One is to swim faster, and two, to actually swim at Huntington Beach to navigate the waves.  I was not actually SINKING before I asked for the rescue, but it was evident to everyone that I was not actually moving forwards and the waves (as small as they were) terrified me.  I would have to get a lot more comfortable rough waters....

Going Channel Legal!

Until fairly recently, I was not familiar with all the details swimming the English Channel entailed, besides that it's a really long and probably cold swim.  It is a swim rich in tradition, including what a challenger could wear while trying to complete the swim.  One of the rules is that you cannot wear a wetsuit.  You cannot wear anything that helps with buoyancy or reduces drag by anything but negligible amounts (textile materials, not over shoulder or below the knees.) 

I have the Huntington Beach Pier Swim coming up this Saturday, and it is not wetsuit legal.  Up until last Thursday I did not have experience swimming in the ocean with no wetsuit on.  Frolic around the waves, sure, but legit swim, no.  Since last Thursday the weather was so nice (76 degrees Fahrenheit, yeah!)  and I know it was going to be a group swim, I decided to try it out.

Right away I noticed it was a little bit harder staying afloat, either while waiting at a buoy or trying to fix your goggles with both hands.  I also seem to be going a lot slower, and every cold patch of water was harder on the body, but not unbearable.  When I checked the data on my watch, sure enough, I was swimming pretty poorly compared by my previous training sessions.  I chalked this to being out of shape from lack of swim practice for about a week.  Today I tried again to swim "channel legal", and I was having difficulties with my goggles (I found out later that the strap was slightly ripped and I positioned it poorly) and I had to abandon the second half of my swim since I was going very slow due to the goggles and it was nearly impossible for me to tread water hard enough with just my legs to properly fix them.  This was enormously discouraging.  I got out of the water and just shivered all the way until I got to the sporting goods store. 

I don't seem to be getting any better as of late in the swim, and I really can't seem to figure out what I'm doing wrong.  Maybe my technique is all wrong, I'm just not going hard enough, or I'm still out of shape?  I thought I would at least see some weekly progress considering how slow I'm going right now O_O It was a lot easier to see what was the matter when I run.  I can check myself in the mirror, it's obvious to me when I'm going a good pace for my distance, and I know if I'm under trained.  With swimming, it's all still a mystery.

Having recently spent all of my sporting budget on a new roadbike for the triathlon, I'm all out of money to hire a trainer for swimming.  I'll stick it out for at least another month and then see if I need to hire a professional coach to analyze what is the matter with my swim.

Hoping I will do okay at the Huntington Beach Pier Swim this weekend!  Surely I'll be the last one to finish my race, but it should be fun anyway!  It's been awhile since I've taken on my foe, the Huntington Beach Pier! X3

Santa Cruz Beach Swim!

I'm visiting my parents in Northern California this week, and unfortunately they're not really close to any natural body of water good for swimming.  I brought all my swim gear up before I really figured out a place to swim at in hopes the conditions would be good.  I tried out swimming at the 24 Hour Fitness near their house but it was crowded, had some bizarre rule about only one person swimming per lane (it's two in a pool of the same size/divisions at my home 24 Hour Fitness...), and my ears hurt after swimming in the chlorine (leaky earplugs...)  So I was determined to make the ocean swim happen while I was up here.  I did more internet searches, and the most feasible place (distance, water quality, predicted surf conditions), it seemed, was Santa Cruz Main Beach.

Front of Boardwalk

The only way to Santa Cruz from my parents' house was the harrowing Route 17, which is part freeway, part really really scary two-lane mountain road with some pretty tight turns and a narrow space between your lane and a concrete divider and/or into trees.

I made it in one piece about 45 minutes later and parked at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk main parking (6 dollars since it was "off season" and they had limited operation of the rides/attractions.)  From the parking, it was only a short walk to the Beach.

Nice, glassy, non wavy water! <3 (But danged cold!)

I had previously checked the Surfline reports about the wave conditions so I knew it would be somewhat calm conditions, and that was what I found when I arrived.   The swim area was marked off with buoys that looked like a reasonable distance from the beach.  I stood and watched the surf for awhile (since I had never swam here before) and finally decided it was safe to swim.  I decided to go out four buoys and back.

HOLY COW it was COLD.  Surfline said it was about 51 degrees, which is about 10 degrees colder than I'm used to, but my wetsuit was 5/4/5 so it was okay for this temperature.  I had to jump up and down in the water for a couple of minutes before heading out for the swim.

Surface chop was minimal, but there was a notable current going against me and the cold was a bit demoralizing.  I was somewhat afraid of hypothermia (hey, I never swam in this temperature before!) so I decided to do the multiplication table in my head while I stroked.  That actually staved off the boredom and the compulsive sighting and really helped me finish the swim.  It was only .91 miles, but I couldn't wait to get out of the water and get something to eat.  I was hungry XD

Overall and excellent place to swim, as long as water temperatures allow in the off-season.  In the summer season, be prepared to pay full price for the parking!

Practice Practice!

I've been regularly swimming at Corona del Mar State Beach and I've been slowly improving.  Last Saturday I did a 1.06 mile swim (new distance PR!) which is two laps of the outer buoys at the beach.  I was BEAT the next day.  The difference in swimming and running is that usually I feel tired after a long run but after a long swim I feel fine for a couple of hours but then I gotta take a nap!  I think I need to look into my post workout fueling plan to see if there's a deficiency there.

Yesterday was a rest day for me, so I contented myself researching how to swim out from under large waves. Unfortunately I managed to freak myself out a bit watching the video of Mark Foo's last surf O_o  This master surfer died from an 18 foot wave.  I'm not about to go try to swim under some 18 foot waves, but I still remember the early days swimming in Huntington Beach getting rolled and spun every which way and goggles flying!  I need to start practicing controlled dives or something so I don't panic when swimming out from under waves...

Of course I couldn't go to bed on the note of watching some water tragedy, so I looked around youtube for some instructions on strokes so I can feel less like trashing around in the water and more like swimming.  I found a bunch of lessons from Terry Laughlin's Total Immersion Swimming and it seemed to me that I could not possibly swim faster when using a slower stroke and limp wrist held not at water level, but since I wasn't going that fast by myself anyway (and tiring myself out very often trying to stroke faster and harder), I thought I would give it a shot .  So I spent about an hour studying the videos and various lectures he gave and gave it a shot!

At first I thought I was going slower than usual, and definitely had to redo how I do my breathing since the strokes were less frequent.  However, I did notice I was moving towards targets faster, and require less breaks overall.  Also, I made less mistakes veering off course than usual.  When I got back on the beach and checked my watch, I improved my time from my best time (last Sunday) by nearly four minutes a mile!  I swam over 100 more yards with with nearly 100 less strokes for the entire way (stroke efficiency improvement!)  Overall still quite slow, but I'm happy that with a bit of studying I was able to improve so much in the span of two days!  One downside is that I managed to strain my left wrist a bit (only noticed it when I was taking off my wetsuit)  but it's feeling a lot better already so I hope it's just minor pain.

I bit the bullet and registered for the Huntington Beach Pier Swim on June 9th!  I'm intimidated because it is a no wetsuit swim!  O__O  I'm sure I can do the half mile swim, but I'm not sure how I'll fare with just a swimsuit.  I'm hoping that the water temps will be at least 65 so I don't die XD  Oh man!  I've been spoiled by a wetsuit!  

I'm also going to visit my parents in Northern California (San Jose area) next week for a week and change and there are NO good places to swim outside within a 30 mile radius!  I have to trek to Pleasanton or Santa Cruz or Live Oak to get some swimming in (yes, I know there exists Half Moon Bay, but there's NO WAY I'm swimming there.  Apparently it's cold and the waves are insane!)  So I think I'll just have to rely on some pool workouts to tide me over until I come back. 

New Swim Location: Corona Del Mar State Park Beach

 Saturday I joined up with The OC Triathlete Training Meetup Group in Corona Del Mar State Park for their Saturday morning swim. 

First off: Parking is easy on Ocean Blvd at 8:30 in the morning, a total plus in my book.  There is the matter of a quite steep bit of stairs (about, three stories worth of stairs) leading from Ocean Blvd down to the beach, but if you were planning on swimming for an hour, this should not be an issue.  If you really don't want to hike up and down those stairs, there is beach level parking at the state park for $15.00.  Incidentally, this is also an excellent place to run as it is part of the OC Marathon course and there are some easy hills for hill practice.

The weather was beautiful, and the under half-mile long beach was populated by mostly other swimmers in wetsuits and a couple of people staking out prime spots for later in the day.  

There are two rows of buoys lining the waters, the first set closest to the beach marks off the swim area, and the second row is to mark of the "no wake" area, so boats can (and do) come into the area between the two buoys to fish (and sometimes there are rowing boat team practice!) so you need to be aware of this if you want to swim around the second row of buoys.

There is a jetty and major rock formations around some parts of the beach, most of them are along the edge of the beach but there is the one that is right in the water directly outwards from the second lifeguard tower.  You should obviously stay away from swimming anywhere near the rocks and jetty since the waves can get pretty aggressive depending on water conditions. 

9am rolled around and the other swimmers of the meetup swam out to the first buoy and I joined them.  Honestly I was kind of concerned about even swimming as far out as the first buoy.  The group organizer asked everyone which route they wanted to take: The inside buoys or the outside buoys.  I muttered something about just swimming in and out from the beach to the buoy but one of the "inside buoys" swimmers encouraged me to try to swim to the next inside buoy and that we'll take a break there, so I joined three other swimmers in the inside course. 

Everyone on the inside course waited for the rest of the group to arrive before continuing to the next buoy.  They were really nice about asking how I was doing and probably eyeballing me to see if I was starting to struggle.  (I actually did not notice if there were lifeguards on the beach at that hour, though.)  I had my reservations, but everything went better than expected and I was quite comfortable swimming through all the inside buoys and back to the beach.  The 9am water conditions was quite calm.  I did get knocked down by one wave standing around at the beginning, but once out closer to the buoys the water was quite calm.  Water temps still required a wetsuit for me, but I was quite comfortable and knowing there were other people around (not necessary to rescue me, but to talk me through a trouble spot if needed) also helped me get over my mental hurdle of swimming through the waters.  Overall, that was the longest continuous time I've been in the water without grabbing the wall or touching the bottom. 

I was done in a half an hour, but the rest of the swimmers returned (after two laps of the outer buoys!) in just under an hour and quickly prepared for a bike ride (it is the OC Triathlete Training Meetup Group.  Apparently there was a run before the swim, too!) 

I would definitely recommend swimming with the OC Triathlete Training Meetup Group again!  As for the Corona Del Mar State Park Beach, I would also recommend it for the easy parking (at least in the morning, parking gets a little more scarce after the morning hours and probably be even tougher in the Summer) and mostly moderate waves.  Open waters can be calm to slightly rough (definitely rougher today when I went at 11:30am) but that's good practice, too.  The beach is patrolled by lifeguards in tower 2 (center of beach) during certain hours, so you can check with them to get definite hours.  Overall, this has moved to my number one swim spot for this season :3

New Open Swim Area: Belmont Shore, Long Beach

I was in the Long Beach area last week and drove by this cool open-water swimming spot where you can get a pretty good workout without getting bashed by ocean waves (which still happens to me, goggles and wetsuits still doesn't change the whimsy of open-water waves.)  :D I was very excited by the prospect of somewhat calm waters without the skin irritating chlorine.  Plus this looked a lot more like the conditions of the Ironman Oceanside race!

I went home and checked out some reviews of the spot, and it seems that the area is pretty tame, like a salt water pool. There is a bit of a current, but it looked like a pretty good location to practice swimming to gain endurance.  This past Sunday I went again (since I was in the neighborhood) to scout in out in person, and I saw a lone swimmer practicing in the waters in a wetsuit.  I snapped some shots of the water conditions.

The waters looked pretty decent, and the swim area is clearly marked by buoys, which would be great to keep track of progress and also make it easier to sight.  I don't know how deep the water is at the buoys (and I didn't want to interrupt the swimmer on site), but it doesn't look that far from the walkable parts and the water is so calm I can probably just float back.

When I showed my friends the pictures, they said that they used to play there when they were little.  Okay, plus one on the easier to swim in conditions, HOWEVER, there are no life guards, and there's not always someone swimming there at any given time, so that's kind of a downside.

On the other hand, there's such a long straight away that's uninterrupted by waves that looks awesome to swim in :D  the sand is not muddy by the shore, and did I mention no waves?

The biggest downside is that the place is half an hour from my apartment, so I'd have to stew in my swimsuit for that long, in traffic on the 405 before I can get to a shower.  I guess I could try taking a shower at the 24hourfitness before heading home... :/

But look at the water!  So little waves!  I can't wait for the weekend when I get to try to swim in this.  I hope the rain holds off so the water quality allows for the swim :3