Thursday, November 08, 2007

The Pool of Fog

some very cute penguins swimming in a very not foggy pool :) Photo is obviously not mine, but a gentleman's by the name of Michale Leibow

Well, the pool wasn't filled with fog, but it was certainly covered with it when I got in Tuesday night at 6pm after class. We've been hit hard by fall fog this week, adding an eriee presence to the redwoods covering out campus. The fog has been twarting city efforts to air spray this county (and many others) to stop the reproduction of Brown Apple Moths. Though the city promises there will be no adverse health risks to the spray, the idea of chemicals misting down over everything at least once a week for 2 1/2 years seems like a recipe for some kind of health reactions. But, with no visibility, sprayings can't happen. Once they do, people are saying not to be outside in the evenings and mornings. Fabulous.

So, with no chemicals yet in the air, and a crisp lower 50s temperature in the fog filled night, I got into the pool for my second attempt at lap swimming. What I hadn't calculated was the change in perception night swimming would offer. Now, on a clear bright day, I can't always swim in a straight line. When one is sharing a lane, this becomes a bit of an issue. Usually I try to error on the side of caution and end up hitting or entangling myself in the lane separator, much to my embarrassment, and I'm sure the amusement of others. Swimming in the artificially lit (and well heated!) pool, I got varying senses of claustrophobia, that I was sinking, and that I was a good 2 feet over from where I actually was. I did manage to never hit my lane sharing buddy (a super speedy New Zealander-I"m guessing from his accent- who literally sent waves across our lane with his ridiculous swimming abilities) and never did any too permenant damage to the lane divider :D. The pool closes at 7 on Tuesdays, so I was limited in my time and was only able to do 40 minutes. Still in that time I was able to swim 50 laps!

Unfortunately, and potentially as a result of leaving the pool with wet hair and walking to my car in the cold night air, the cold that has been threatening for weeks finally decended, leaving me sounding like a frog (or mouse, potentially, as my voice does have a sqeaky aspect to it) and not working out tonight. I'd really like to, but the cold has totally settled in my lungs making breathing a bit more difficult, and me feeling just super low energy. So, time to get some good rest, yet again :)

Hopefully I'll be able to go swimming again soon!


On a separate and unrelated note, I broke 10,000 visitors to my site today :D Granted, I think it counts me when I come to upload stuff, so that number is a little inflated, but its still pretty cool. I've been really enjoying this whole blogging thing and all the people I have 'met' (or actually met) through it. Hopefully I'll be back to more substantial and picture filled postings soon!

12 comments:

Backofpack said...

Holy-moly! Spraying every week for 2.5 years? Yowza, that sounds insane. Best get a gas mask...and don't touch anything...

50 laps is awesome! Too bad about the cold though - hope you get through it soon.

Jamie Anderson said...

Brown apple moths?! How bizarre. I would also be concerned about the sprayings. Great plan with the swimming though.

Dave - Atlanta Trails said...

Congratulations on the 10k. That's a lot of visitors in a short amount of time.

RSD_Terry said...

Hey Addy,
Congrats on finishing Dick Collins. That's a great time, too! Sorry to hear you're having trouble during recovery, but it sounds like you're taking advantage of the time and trying other things. Cool.

So, are you running Woodside or CIM?

I'll be running CIM and trying to stay with Tim Tweitmeyer's pace group. I'm still looking for a Boston Qualifier, so I haven't been running ultras much lately. My speed has still been improving, but there's still a little way to go, yet.

All the best,
--Terry

Soapin' Cindy said...

I'm so glad you're swimming. Love it! Keep at it--send a wave over to that New Zealander.

Sarah said...

You sure are popular! Good job with the swimming. I love your motivation!

Abbie said...

i don't know about that whole spraying thing... maybe you should come back to SoCal ;)

i was planning on walking some this week, but i was thwarted with an illness, too, so i know how you feel!!! feel better soon :)

Bob - BlogMYruns.com said...

Good Job ADDY on the swimming and ya night is a whole different ball game...

I really been enjoying my pool running..I have a swimming belt and go to the deep end and it holds me up enough so that I can run slightly leaning forward and move forward slowly but a good running motion...it gives me a good cardio boost without the impact...

I will do anything to not swim per say--LOL I do swim but not a big fan of it :-(

Rick Gaston said...

50 laps, sheesh that's a lot, way to go. Sorry to hear about your cold and I hope you get well soon. Think about a flu shot too when you're all better, flu season is coming and what with you being in school and all.

And no, I don't think it's weird that you're reading stories from my archives. That's cool actually, nice that those old stories is still entertaining someone.

Jean said...

Having a cold sucks! Take care of yourself, Addy. I know I am kind of enjoying my reduced training right now. It feels good to slack a little. Here is hoping some rest does you good!

And congrats on the 10,000 hits!

Josh said...

I can relate to your difficulties of swimming in a straight line! Luckily our pool is seldom ever busy enough that I have to share a lane. But when I do have to share, it gets ugly, lol.

Journey to a Centum said...

Our area was sprayed about 10 years ago for Gypsy Moths. Other than our two headed labrador and five legged cat nothing really catastophic happend.

Sounds like your swimming is going well. I'm one of those people who can swim for a long time but it's pure torture for the first few seconds when you jump in. I could probably swim much further in the same amount of time if I worked with someone on my form. I swim in a 45 ft diameter circle in open water. I discovered that lakes don't have lines painted on the bottom of them.

Keep on keeping on!

Eric