The team food drive for the Y was a success, as was the 50-50 draw (50% of the money collected going to the team and the remaining 50% going to the team splash fund which is used for such things as supporting team members and coaches at away meets like Provincials).  We collected a total of $460 over the evening and the winner, drawn by our host, Christine, was Jen Levett.

Happy holidays to everyone and wishing you all a successful new year both in and out of the water.

 Alan has a blog about his swim: http://goodtogosolo.com/wordpress/ and was kind enough to answer a few questions about his planned swim for us:

Q. What inspired you to sign up to swim the English Channel?

AC. It took me a long time to answer this one.  I saved it for last.  In the end I guess it is just a desire to do something audacious. To say that I was inspired by one person or one event wouldn’t be true, but I can say that other people and other events have inspired me to keep going.  I wasn’t really looking do do anything in particular but a swimming event makes sense for me.  I had a friend that started training for it right after he graduated college.  I was still in college and he invited me and another friend to train with him.  After graduation I was offered a job out of the country that I couldn’t refuse, which took my attention.  I had always thought about it since but life overtook me. Then one day I realized that “someday” means “never” if you don’t put it on the calendar.  So I made the decision to do it. I have a few quotes on the walls of my office: 

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did.  So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

and

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. 

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!’” – A.H. Murray

The older I get, the more power those quotes have over me.

Q. I hear you were given some challenges to see if you were really up for the task, what were they?

AC. They were a series of open water swims.  In order to qualify to do the channel you have to do a six hour swim in 60f water.  In order to qualify to do that, you have to do a 3 hour open water swim (any temperature).  I completed the 3 hour in early June, then in July I did a six hour swim with witnesses (has to be witnessed) in Kinsale, Ireland.  The water was around 53 degrees.  

Q. Having trained with you, you have obviously swum before, what is your swimming background?

AC. I swam in college at Emory University in Atlanta.  I was a breaststroker and always pitied the distance folks. NCAA Div III All American in 200m breaststroke.

Q. We see you at the pool training with us, but lap swimming is not the same beast as open water swimming, what other types of training are you doing?

AC. In the winter I do a LOT of swimming indoors.  During the summer I am swimming in Lac Archambeau and I went to a “Distance Week” in Ireland (where I did my 6 hour).  We swam twice a day every day for nine days.  Our distance varied per person.  I swam around 120,000m during that time.  

The biggest issue however is the cold.  The water will be around 60 degrees when swimming the channel.  So I take cold showers three or four times per week and will swim in the lake until it freezes.  The coldest I have ever swum in was 34F for three minutes.  I managed 20 minutes in 40F.  These swims are probably the second toughest part about the training.  The first hardest part is getting motivated to swim so much.  Doing it with others helps so much.  I can safely say I would not have been able to train as hard without the people in my lane!

Q. To do this type of swim, you obviously need a support crew, how did you go about finding a crew and what do they do to make sure that you are staying on task and healthy?

AC. Yes, first you need a certified Pilot (certified to escort swimmers across the channel).  There are two bodies that certify pilots and swimmers:  the Channel Swimming Association (CSA) and the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation (CS&PF).  My pilot is Reg Brickell, a legend in Channel swimming.  He is a CSA pilot, and I am lucky to have him.  Then you need an official observer from the CSA, which is assigned to you.  I will not know who it is until we both show up at the boat!  After that it is really up to you.  I have asked a rather well-known Irish channel swimmer to be my crew chief and he has accepted.  His name is Donal Buckley (www.loneswimmer.com).  I found him over the internet and met him in July when he coached me through distance week.  Also joining me on the boat will be Andy Froncioni, who swam for some time with some Westmount Y Masters swimmers.  I have known Andy for some time. 

There will be “feedings” every half an hour or so where the crew lowers a bottle of carb or protein drinks.  The observer will closely monitor the feedings to make sure that I am lucid and healthy in their estimation.  The boat captain, the observer, the crew chief, and the swimmer can all end the swim and there is no argument.  

The swimmer basically has one task:  swim.  The boat captain navigates and coordinates with the ~400 vessels per day that use the channel, the crew feeds the swimmer and communicates regarding pace, etc, and most importantly maintains contact with the swimmer.  There must be “eyes on” the swimmer at all time because the most biggest threat is getting separated, especially because part of the swim will be in the dark.  

So as we head into shorter days and colder temperatures, think of Alan, still swimming in the lake…

The Westmount Y Maîtres-Nageurs Annual General Meeting will be held on Tuesday August 30^th at the Westmount Y, commencing at 6:30pm. Everyone is invited to attend.

The agenda for this year; minutes and financial statement from last year are available for download at the following links:

Agenda2011

Registration for the 2011-12 season will commence on this evening. There are forms at the Westmount Y and you can download the registration form ahead of time here. Please note that anyone carrying a negative swimmer account balance will be asked to settle their account prior to registering for this season.  Cheques should be made out to “Westmount YMCA Masters Swim Team”, we will not accept cash.

There are two “members at large” positions on the board opening up in the coming season. The primary role of these positions involves attending board meetings and being a contact person for the other swimmers in your time slot as well as sometimes helping out with other team activities. If you would like to get a little more involved with the team, please let me know directly.

The past season has been one of great success. The year ahead is going to be a great one, but also a lot of fun. I am really looking forward to swimming with you all in the 2011-12 season.

The YM-YWHA (Snowdon Y) is expanding their Masters swim program this year to include additional early morning and evening practices and they are inviting all team members to join them if they wish.  Troy, fresh back from the arctic and still awaiting the birth of his first baby (as of writing), will be coaching all of their practices (don’t worry, we will still be seeing him at Westmount).  

The YM-YWHA is charging Westmount Y Maîtres-Nageurs a special fee of 125$ per session (the first session runs September 13th-December 22nd) and you don’t have to be a member of their gym.  Here is a summary of the information…

YMYWHA (Snowdon Y) Masters swim program:

*Coach: Troy Rhoades

*125$ per session (Fall: September 13th-December 22nd)

*Practices times do not coincide with Westmount Y practice times:

Mornings:

Tuesday and Thursday AM: 6:45am-7:55am and 8:30am-9:30am

Friday AM : 9:30am-10:30am

Evenings:

Monday and Wednesday PM 8:30pm-9:30pm

*Swimmers will affiliate with Westmount Y Masters if they choose to compete

With the exception of the Friday 8:30am practice at Snowdon, none of the practices coincide with the Westmount times.  This is great news for our club because it will allow our swimmers to train up to 6 days a week with consistent coaching and will offer more flexibility in practice times and location.

July 22, 2011, team mate Oliver Cordoba finished his first ironman triathlon at Lake Placid in an amazing time of 11:17:56.  Most people are happy to finish in under 12 hours – congratulations Oliver!

His splits were:

Also competing was Ann Walling in her second Ironman triathlon and came 13th in her division:

One side note is that an ex-team mate, Arlene Ayoub finished 3rd in her division in 12:42:24 and qualified for the ironman in Kona!

Congratulations to everyone who competed and particularly to our team mates who came out of the water ranking highly in the field of 2880 competitors.