I Love Aquatic Park

Today was another training day out in the East Bay, this time out at Shadow Cliffs park in Pleasanton. This was the first official open water workout of the season and consisted of a 10 minute warm up followed by a 40 minute swim. Going out there I thought it would be pretty pleasant to swim in the lake since it was fresh water and definitely warmer than the open water I am used to swimming in out at Aquatic Park in San Francisco. But after getting in the water and swimming around, I realized I will not take Aquatic Park for granted again, even with the green slime (not to mention smell) it leaves on you when you get out of the water. You see, the Park District plants rainbow trout and channel catfish in the lake and the water is just clear enough that you can see them swimming around you in the water. Some people probably enjoy that (in fact I heard a few people say, "Wow, did you see the pretty fish?"), but I prefer not to see anything when I am swimming.... I like the water to be either so murky that you can't see the creatures around you (like Aquatic Park) or so clear that you can see everything (like Lake Tahoe). On top of that there was a warning about larvae in the water (you could actually see them being stirred up from the mud as you were stepping in the water), something about how they can burrow into your skin during certain seasons. Luckily, this is not their "burrowing season", so we all came out unharmed by the larvae.

After the swim, we did a 45 minute run using the "Galloway Method." This methodology was created by Olympian Jeff Galloway and promotes a walk/run strategy while training/racing long distances. We did 4 minute runs, followed by a 1 minute walk for 45 minutes and I have to say I am a big fan of this method for two reasons: first, I know there is no way I will be running all 26.2 miles during the race, so this makes me realize it is ok to walk, as long as you have a schedule; second, it works for me mentally because I am able to push myself harder during the running time, knowing that I have a "treat" of a 1 minute walk coming up. It's clearly not for everyone, but it seems to be working for me. I look forward to trying it out during longer runs as we increase the running time while keeping the walking time to 1 minute.