Luis Samacumbi for SwimMikeSwim

One of the people who is working on the school project in Angola is here visiting in the U.S. this month. His name is Luis Samacumbi, and he is the director of social programs for the Congregational Church in Angola. Here is a short video of Luis talking about the project. The visual quality is not great. But the sound is good. Luis is a wonderful guy and a great leader for the church in Angola. Enjoy.

San Francisco Six Hour

I'm back home after my week in San Francisco. It was a great week of training in open ocean water, right about 60 degrees all week. I successfully completed my six hour official qualifying swim without any problems, covering about 12 1/2 miles. The 60 degree water seemed fine. I remember jumping in my pool three months ago at 64 degrees, literally just in and out, and thought it was torture. Now, six hours at 60 degrees was no problem - it's amazing what acclimation can do for you.

That six hour swim was in "the Cove" (above) at the north end of the San Francisco peninsula, just west of Fisherman's Wharf. The Cove is only partially enclosed, and you are still exposed to tide currents and choppy water, which means that it was excellent training for the Channel. While there, I also did a two hour swim in San Francisco Bay proper, with a kayak escort, big swells and serious chop. I nearly swam under the Golden Gate Bridge (below), so that was pretty cool.

I was a little on edge in the water at first. You really can't see more than three feet in front of you, and every once in a while a jellyfish suddenly appears in front you - yikes. They are pretty creepy - brown and about 10-12 inches around with 2-3 foot tentacles. I didn't actually touch one or get stung, but had to rear up and dodge several of them. Then it was hard to relax for a long time, so they are a pain. The thing that made me most uncomfortable in the water was seeing shadowy things below me without knowing what they were. It took me about three hours in the water to realize that the shadowy thing below me was...my shadow. I was being creeped out by my own shadow: classic. After I figured that out, I felt a lot more comfortable, until I dodged the next jellyfish. Anyway...there are jellyfish in the English Channel too, so it was good experience! Here's an article about the jellies in the San Francisco Bay.

I was a guest all week with the Dolphin Swim Club and South End Rowing Club, two clubs right on the Cove. Basically they are open water swimming clubs and these people swim all year round - no wetsuits. The water gets down to 48-49 in February, so they are amazing. Sixty degrees for them in balmy. Thanks to Suzie Dods and Mike Tschantz-Hahn for their great hospitality!

Okay, now some more pictures. Peace, Mike

Me, taking in some calories during the swim (above).

The Dolphin Club (above)

Swimming in the Cove (above)

See, it really was San Francisco! (above)

Big Week Ahead

Very early on Monday morning I am leaving for a week in San Francisco. The main purpose of the trip is to get experience in real, cold ocean (i.e. salt) water. Each day I will do at least one swim, and hopefully two swims on a few of the days. I will also do my official six hour qualifying swim in "the Cove" (i.e. San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park - a reserved breakwater area that is wonderful for swimming). The Q swim, as the qualifying swim is known, has to be in water of 60 degrees or less (the water temp there is 58 today), and under Channel rules: no wetsuit or other insulation, no assistance other than food given to you, etc. The six hours shouldn't be too much of a stretch now, but if the conditions are rough that could make it interesting. I am also going to hire a kayaker one day to go outside the Cove into San Francisco Bay proper, to experience "real waves." That should be interesting. Anyway, the week will be fabulous training and I am looking forward to seeing how I do in salt water.

Final Swimming for Schools Update

The swimmers from the Washington swim team, and all the other kids from the school, together raised $1548 to help build a school in Angola! Terrific job swimmers, and everybody else too. Special thanks to Kathi Ferrero and Jill Faber for making it possible.

58 and cloudy

It was cloudy and the water temp was 58 in Lake Michigan yesterday, but I had a nice three hour swim. I hadn't been in cold water for a couple of weeks (at 67 my pool doesn't qualify any more), so I was a little cold for the first hour or so, but the last couple of hours were good. And the Gino's East pizza afterward was fabulous!

The Year's First Channel Attempt

Some of you might find this interesting. Today was the first day this summer for someone to make an English Channel swim. It was a six person relay. The Channel was 56 degrees and a little bumpy today. Below are two photos to show you what I mean. Open full size to get the full effect. The team ended up abandoning after about 15 hours, five miles from France (the hardest part of the swim due to the currents).

Swimming for Schools update

More is still coming in from the Swim-a-Thon. Up to just under $1500!

Swim-a-Thon Wrap Up

It looks like the total of our Swimming for Schools Swim-a-Thon will be just over $1100. Way cool. Congratulations! and Thanks! to the swimmers and students of Washington Gifted Academy. The children of Waku Kungo will be blessed by your/their concern and generosity.

I am so glad we had a chance to involve the kids of Washington, and especially the swimmers, in this project. It is good for habits of community service to start early and thus be taken for granted - "Of course I'm involved in community service - duh!" - that's just the right attitude.

I have to say special thanks to Kathi Ferrero and Jill Faber for helping to make it possible!

Swimming for Schools Swim-a-Thon

Wow, that was a blast! Today we had our Swimming for Schools Swim-a-Thon, and the "kids" of the Washington Academy Swim Team (City Champions!) were great, swimming a combined 46 1/2 miles, having fun, and raising $668 (so far) for building the school in Waku Kungo! Way to go, swimmers! More Swimming for Schools funds will be coming in from Washington Academy next week, so here's hoping we get to $1000.

We even got two good reports on local news - thanks WREX AND WIFR!

You can contribute to the Swimming for Schools Swim-a-Thon right now - just click on this link to www.SwimMikeSwim.com and click on "donate." Thanks!

Back at it

Okay, after a brief rest due to my cold I'm back to training. I got in a swim in Lake Michigan on Monday, about an hour in 56 degree water. That was no problem and I would have liked to go longer, but just didn't have the time.

On Tuesday, I did a long swim at the YMCA. I figured a warm pool swim was probably wise, so as not to stress my immune system yet. So I did six hours six minutes = 21,000 yards = 840 lengths = 11.93 miles. If I had realized I was so close to 12 miles I would have just finished it. Oh well. Next time.

I feel good about where I am at distance wise, and probably more importantly, with my acclimation to cold water. Two months ago, I was very worried about that, but have done pretty well in the cold water. All my extra pounds are good for something!

Just keep swimming!

No training

Well, I guess my immune system didn't like 5 hours in 61 degree water. I'm sick today (and yesterday). Just a bad cold, I guess. Hopefully back in the water tomorrow.

Lake Michigan at last

Today was my first swim this year in Lake Michigan. The temp varied between 56-58. It didn't feel bad at all, but then, I only stayed in for 50 minutes (due to time restraints, not the cold). I swam with a guy named Mike who lives in Chicago, very close to Foster Street beach. He is swimming the Channel in July, so is getting in as much cold water work as possible.

Swimming in open water was interesting. It was choppy and wavy of course, which made it very hard to get in any kind of rhythm. Staying in a straight line by sighting was hard, but I guess I would get used to it. But then, I don't have to do that in the Channel, as I just keep the boat 25 feet to my left or right.

This other Mike said that salt water seems 4-5 degrees warmer than fresh water - I hope that's true!

I'm fairly sore from the 5 hours yesterday, but just good soreness, not injury soreness. I'll rest for a day or two and should be okay.

Ta-ta.

Training News

Five hours in 61 degree water today (tethered in the backyard pool). Longest yet in cold water. The first three hours were a breeze, but the last two got a little tough. I wasn't cold and mentally I was okay, but the shoulders and arms were aching more than ever. I wonder if I was pushing a little harder than usual in the beginning because I felt so good? Oh well, muscles recover, and it was great training.

Tomorrow I am going in for my first swim in Lake Michigan, near Foster Ave. beach. The water will probably be about 52, so that should be fun. I doubt I'll be able to do more than 1/2 an hour, but we'll see. An open water swimmer in Chicago is letting me tag along.

Some awesome kids

Yesterday and today I gave a presentations to several groups of kids from Washington Gifted Academy here in Rockford. I saw the whole school (other than 5th graders, which will be next week) over four presentations. The kids were great, and seemed very interested in the English Channel swim and school building project in Angola. I really got the middle schoolers attention with a photo I took in Angola of a skull hanging on a tree (marking territory during the civil war). I think they got the message that kids everywhere value education, and that they can really make a difference by helping the folks in Angola help themselves through education.

I look forward to seeing whether 6th, 7th or 8th grade raises the most money!

And I look forward to seeing how much the 1st-5th graders can come up with.

Thanks kids!

You can donate now by going to www.SwimMikeSwim.com and clicking on the "donate" link!

Swimming for Schools

The big news currently is that we are soon to have a big event called "Swimming for Schools." This is a fundraiser and educational project involving Washington Gifted Academy, where I have been the swim team coach the last couple of years (All City Champions 2009!). Members of the swim team will participate in a "Swim-a-thon" on Saturday, May 30, collecting pledges and donations for their swimming. Plus, kids from the whole school are being encouraged to bring in money for Swimming for Schools. The lower grades have been matched with certain swimmers to raise money for them, and the 6th, 7th and 8th grades are squared off against each other to see who can raise the most money. Who will it be???

To contribute to the Swimming for Schools project (and, yes, all the money goes to build the school in Angola!) just go to www.SwimMikeSwim.com and click on the "donate" link. Thanks!

Update

I have realized that it would be helpful to have a "bloggish" link on the SwimMikeSwim website which leads to regular updates on my training, and other stuff. So that is officially the renewed purpose of this blog.

So where are we?

Swimming - Last Monday (May 13) was 4 1/2 hours in 61 degree water, backyard pool, tethered. I had a rough beginning to that swim but the last three hours wasn't too bad. Overall, I'm very satisfied with my training so far, and looking forward to my six hour qualifying swim in San Francisco in the middle of July. On this blog I'll only mention the long swims, but I also do regular speed work at the Y.


Fundraising - We are at just over $4000, which is nice, but I'm hoping things really pick up soon. We have a Swim-a-thon fundraiser through Washington Academy (where I was the swim coach) on May 30, and hopefully that will bring in a nice sum (even if it doesn't, I'll be happy just to get the kids involved in a service project and have them learn a little bit about Angola). We are also planning a community wide "Faith Night" at Magic Waters (local, big time water park). If that takes off, we could make several thousand off that. Here's hoping!

That's all for now. Regular updates to follow.

New Website

Well, today was the big roll-out of the publicity effort in support of the fundraising for my Channel swim. SwimMikeSwim.com is now a separate website, with lots of information borrowed from the blog here, along with some new stuff, and it makes donating very easy!

I'm not sure what will happen with this full blog, given the prevalence of Facebook and Twitter (see SwimMikeSwim at both!), and the centrality of SwimMikeSwim.com. So, we'll have to see if there is still a role for this. Probably. It's good to have a longer format sometimes.

The good news is that the local paper, the Rockford Register Star, picked up the story right away and there is an article in the on-line version tonight, and hopefully will be in the print version tomorrow!

Fundraising!

Wow. You put a bunch of talented, thoughtful, compassionate people who are generous with time in a room and great things can happen. Today I gathered a few wonderful people together to help get the fundraising part of this moving along, and we made great progress in just a couple of hours. These folks were very confident we would be able to get significant publicity, in Rockford, Chicago, and maybe beyond! We have some jobs assigned, and will soon be making calls to some key people and businesses, trying to get seed money to enable more serious fundraising. Anybody like to donate $2000 to help make the $50,000 possible??? If so, click here! (And then click the green button on the left hand side of that page.)

This blog will hopefully soon expand into a fundraising juggernaut, with more information and a broader audience in mind. But I'll still keep the personal touch, as this whole effort to raise money for the school in Waku Kungu is deeply personal to me!

Peace!

A Sign Post

On January 1st, I met a mid-term goal I had set for myself and swam 16,000 yards (9.09 miles). The Channel is just about 38,000 yards (21.65 miles, or so). To maximize the fun (ha!) I swam in the YMCA 25 yard pool, as I usually do. That's 640 lengths. It took four hours and thirty six minutes, including a couple stops to chat and unhurried feeding with E-gel.

It feels good to meet a goal, a sign-post along the way. Just 12 miles more! But the distance isn't the only consideration, perhaps not even the most important one. That's 12 miles more through 60-degree-salt-water-with-waves-and-wind-and-currents-and-darkness. So although it is good to be 42% of the way there distance-wise, I'm probably only 20% of the way there difficulty-wise. Good thing I don't swim for another 9 months - plenty of time!

The fund-raising is progressing. In the next week or so, I'll come up with some sort of visual to track the donations. This month I will be meeting with a committee of people to plan the fund-raising in earnest and begin to get the word out more broadly. You can be an early supporter! Donate here (click on the green button on the left side of that page).

A blessed new year to all!

Just Keep Training (and encouraging donations!)

First of all, Merry Christmas! May the Prince of Peace bless, guide and strengthen you.

Second, how about a Christmas gift for the kids in Waku Kungo, Angola? Of course, I am doing this swim to raise money to build a school in Waku Kungo, and your gift would be a great help! Donate here (click the green button on the left side of that page). Of course the economy is bad, and we might think finances are tight right now, but for a little motivation do two things: go visit GlobalRichList.com. That helps put things in perspective. Then consider that the average "real purchasing power" of people in Angola is about $3,000 a year. Imagine trying to survive, and house, and feed, and educate yourself and a large family (the average woman in Angola has six kids) on $3,000 a year. Puts our "recession" in an interesting light, no? But you can make a real, long term difference by supporting education in Angola!

So, swimming the Channel: the last few weeks have been mostly about getting in as much training as possible. Swimming 10,000 yards in a 25 yard pool isn't exactly entertaining, but it must be done. I've been trying to mix up long sessions at "forever pace" and faster training. Especially in the early phase of training, the long, relatively slow sessions should be about 30% of total yardage, and swimming faster than Channel pace with a little bit of rest should be about 60% of training. The other 10% is really fast with lots of rest. I probably don't do enough of that, and should fix that. A normal training session at this point lasts from one and half to three hours. I am building up to do a four hour continuous swim on New Year's Day.

The President of the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation (Mike Oram) runs a Google Group for Channel swimmers (successful, experienced people, and newbies like me). It is a great source of information, and the successful Channel swimmers are wonderfully willing to share their experience and advice. They all just want to get the next person across. I've been reading past notes and getting good information through emails. Some of my most important recent learnings:

** I really, really need to get salt water experience as soon as possible. Salt water is hard on you - both skin and digestive system. You naturally swallow some water when you swim and your stomach generally doesn't like it. You have to get used to it. My experience in salt water amounts to playing at the beach in Florida, so I have a lot to learn here.

** There are more open water swimmers in the midwest than I would have thought. I have made contact with some successful Channel swimmers from Chicago who swim in Lake Michigan as soon as it gets warm enough (sounds like they consider 55 warm enough!). That should make for some excellent open, cold water training.

** The best place to train in conditions that are similar the English Channel is San Francisco Bay. There is a great open water swimming group there (the Dolphin Club), some of whom swim year round. I am hoping to get out to SF in June for a "Channel Swimming Camp" they have. Sounds like it would be invaluable experience.

** Here are two interesting photos that Mike Oram sent me, to make the point of how unpredictable the Channel is, thus how thoroughly prepared you have to be. The first picture is of the Dover Harbor on a, shall we say, "challenging" day (yes, the Harbor! And note the sky is even blue in the background.). The second is in the middle of the Channel on a perfect day. (No one would actually attempt a swim on a day like the first picture, but it does make the point.)



Also, at the top of this post is a picture of the Anastasia, the boat that will escort me across.

I also learned recently that my pilot, Eddie Spelling, had 19 Channel crossing scheduled for 2008. Fifteen of those were successful, three were unsuccessful (got tired, then cold), and one was not able to make attempt due to extended bad weather.

Not much is new on the Waku Kungo school front. Donna Dudley, my main contact person in Angola, was here the States recently and I gave her a digital camera to give to someone in Waku Kungo. So hopefully in a month or so, they will be able to send me pictures from Wake Kungo. That would be great!

Remember, donate now to help the kids of Waku Kungo, Angola, get a decent education and grow up to contribute to well-being of others in Angola.

Peace and a Merry Christmas to all!