Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Ultraman prep 10 days and counting

All smiles at Hapuna beach
So with 10 days to go before the Triton Trumpet heralds the start of Ultraman I went to Hapuna Beach with Cory and Laurie, it was just a beautiful day to swim there.
Yup we are wearing wet suits but the water was toasty warm compared to California!
Here I am with Ben Fisher who did Ultraman in 1985!
So after the swim I had the pleasure of meeting Ben who did the Ultraman in 1985, he still is incredibly fit too and during his Ultraman experience had to take a fire fighter test!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZyAKs3Ucnw&list=UURAsEeeATiBc0_Po2XDGm3w&index=1&feature=plcp

Had a great morning at Hapuna Beach, and with great friends too.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Swimming with dolphins and planning for the unexpected.

Yeah the Ocean awaits!
It has been 11 days since I had a dental bone graft stitches removed I am itching to get into the Hawaiian Ocean so I venture forth on Veterans morning to the Pier, with my snorkel and mask.
I was SO happy I swam 1.2 miles and met some amazing Kona Peeps who invited me to swim the next day to the Ironman buoy think 2.4 mile swim!

Now they say do nothing new on race day and make all your mistakes in training... mm as I am running late to the pier I grab my brand new never been worn new swim suit I start to put it on and realize it s kinda tight! I look at the size a 32 I am usually a 34 but truwest a 32, I squeeze myself into this suit I look lean and mean no time to change!!
I head to the pier and meet my new Kona friends for an Ironman swim.
New friends at the pier
 My second challenge of the morning was my wet suit, for some un known reason no one could fasten my zip, I groaned at the prospect of doing the swim on no wet suit and luckily Amber came to the rescue after 10 minutes and was able to secure the zip!
Amber was so fast this is the only time I saw her!
SO to the swim....
Swam out to the 1.2mile red ball, was a gorgeous day to be swimming and I was grateful I had my wetsuit on! At the turnaround we waited for our paddler, and suddenly the Ocean came alive as a slither of silver and grey leaped out of the water, wow a baby dolphin how cute then there was dolphins every where I was so excited, I forgot about my swim and we all just swam with the dolphins! There was two pods and a few baby ones in the mix they just stayed around us and I just tried to absorb their positive energy!

Special, magical, wonderful feeling, I just loved the fact they knew we were harmless as they played around us for a long time. I truly love Hawaii and the wonderful Ocean.

Feeling blessed we all headed back to the pier, I thought I had gills growing I had been in the water that long!
all smiles
After 2.5 hours in the Ocean recovered with a new protein Hammer bar.

 Ultra-man Hawaii will be over Thanksgiving weekend and hoping for a safe journey, I now know I need to wear a different swim suit and fix the zip on my wet suit!