Angie Swims

The start of 2024 marks the start of training, and planning, for Catalina Channel- both of which are epic feats in themselves and happen before I hit the water in Doctor's Cove. In talking to folks over the years people are always wowed by the swimming part, but really it's the planning and the crew that are most impressive. So, on my journey to Doctor's Cove, I'm going to bring the whole Internet along for the ride, well maybe not the WHOLE INTERNET just the handful of folks that read my blog. To start things out, this is my spreadsheet: Catalina Training  Yeah, it's a training plan/tracker and you can follow along with what I actually do to get ready for the swim. I'm working on a Spotify playlist too, if you have recommendations for pump-up songs- put them in the comments! This past November I attended Swim Camp Catalina for my birthday and got to know the water there a little bit. I swam with bioluminescence for the first time, a truly mesmerizing experien...

Mid channel to Alcatraz  Round Trip Angel Island (RTAI) A month ago now I was walking out of the water (at about the time I'm starting this post) after swimming 7 hours 50 minutes and 9 seconds in the San Francisco Bay. The course was the famous  Round Trip Angel Island , one of the  Toughest Thirteen  according to MSF. Leading up to this swim I was a nervous wreck. This past summer was especially tough. After a successful, but painful,  Portland Bridge Swim  I had to cancel my planned  Three Islands Waldo Lake  route to focus on stroke work with  Intrepid Water  (more later in this post on my work with Shannon at Intrepid Water) and shoulder recovery. I felt undertrained and like I was still mending when my feet hit the water in Aquatic Park at 3AM on September 23. For all those feelings of trepidation, I made it through- in large part to my crew: Sue Phillips, Wendy "Pepper", Vicky Miller, and Sumner Williams; piloted by Tom "Reptile" ...

Fall swimming is in the air in Portland, but not in the Gorge!  The past two weekends I've made the short trek out to Hood River to swim 5 miles from Mosher to the Best Western in Hood River. It is such a gorgeous swim and the water remains a balmy 68 Fahrenheit while the rivers in Portland continue to cool down to the mid to low 60s.  On both weekends there was a moderate current assist, but the locals insisted "there's not any current right now."  Well, I know my 500 m splits and sub-7 minutes is not  my usual pace in open water. Regardless, the water and scenery are lovely and the company wasn't bad either 😉. The first weekend was a bit rough for me, I hadn't been sleeping well and was feeling burned out from studying. The swim was fine  the scenery was beautiful, but I was tired before I got in and so it was less enjoyable than a swim in the Gorge usually is. BUT! Week 2, wow. It was GREAT. I was better rested, Sue from Corvallis joined us, Brianna came, ...

It's my last day in Salem for my first level 2 fieldwork. It's also my last morning swim at Turner Lake. Appropriately, it is pitch black raining and windy. Both of my thermometers aren't working right now so my best guess is the water is somewhere right around 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Maybe a little warmer than 50 maybe a little cooler than 50 not really sure. Lovely swim to end on. 20minutes and some shivers in the parking lot.  It has been a true pleasure getting to swim with new friends and a new place for the last 3 months. Thank you Susan, Sue, and Marlis for coming out and swimming with me in the dark and the rain as it got colder and colder. Much love and gratitude to the Turner Lake Swimmers.

Theres a lake out there, I promise. It's 5:45 in the morning and I'm waiting for swim friends to join me in the pouring rain and dark. It's Tuesday of the 4th week of my first level 2 field work rotation as an occupational therapy student in Salem Oregon. I've made swimming here my morning ritual for the last month and missing a swim always makes my day at the hospital a little off. I checked my messages at 5:51 no one is coming.  I guess at this point I spend more time swimming alone in conditions I wouldn't recommend other people swim alone in. It's not that I think I'm a better or safer swimmer than others, it's that my soul feels claustrophobic the rest of the day when I don't get my gills wet in the morning. I'm  away from my tribe and rather than feeling lonely on my swims it feels right. Like the solitude of swimming even in a group of people is something that's hard to explain. You're never truly with anyone else in th...

Howdy! It's been a minute...and about 193,463m (but who's counting??) since I last updated the blog. I guess you could say I've been busy. Since June, I've completed my last semester of didactic coursework for my OTD, swam another personal Portland Bridge Swim, and made 4-mile morning swims a fixture in my week. I've also kinda sorta started training for and then talked myself into a 24.3-mile swim. Oops. It'll be on August 21st and aims to raise some $$ for Human Access Project and Black Swimming Initiative. More about that here: https://sites.google.com/view/angieswims-swim-a-thon2021 I've had the please of swimming with new friends and old over the last two months and logged more miles of smiles than I can count (Okay, that's a lie, I totally count every single one!) I'll fill in the highlights starting with the most recent. Tracy returned to the North West! I drove up to Seattle last Sunday and spent two days with her swimming at Alki. The wa...

  It's taken me a while to sit down and process the awesomeness that was our family trip to Waldo Lake this year. Since the first time I swam in Waldo, oh four years ago, it has fascinated me and terrified me.  My first swim in Waldo was a combination of over-enthusiasm and under preparation. My partner and I were on a camping and mountain biking trip to Oakridge with another couple, and I was going through a triathlon phase. (Thankfully, one not repeated since. Running kills me.) I had a hand-me-down tri wetsuit that I thought would be enough to keep me warm and lend me some confidence. Instead, the squeezing of the wetsuit, the mesmerizing blue of the lake, and my disregard for the altitude change were a terrible combination, and I had my first real freak out in open water. It doesn't help that I was swimming alone, also a first for me. I distinctly remember the swim's awe coupled with panic, but something captivated me, and I went back the next da...

View of the Golden Gate Bridge from the beach at Aquatic Park Thursday evening before the relay. *Note: I started writing this in early February, its early May and we are ankle-deep in a global pandemic, hopefully, some photos of a better time will stave off the constant feelings of isolation and occupational deprivation. Much love to my swim community around the country. More swim related posts and pictures soon!* Favorite view in San Francisco.  The 24-hour relay is by far the highlight of my swim adventures for the past two years. (It's also the only event I can afford.) SERC and the Dolphin Club are such unique historic clubs and graciously host the madness every year. The clubs are situated in Aquatic Park right on the water and at the bottom of the trolly tracks and a 15-minute walk to my favorite Chinese bakery. Last year, my first 24 hr relay, I remember walking into SERC with the distinct feeling of walking back in time. Glossy polished wood was everywhere, the ...

I'm calling the open water swims I did in North Carolina over the week of Christmas sandwich swims since I got to swim on Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas. The Christmas Eve swim was at Jordan Lake (supposedly too cold for swimming...hahaha not true.) It was a bit on the windy side but 6 to 12-inch chop isn't so bad. The bonus side of this location was it was only half an hour from my mom's house. I see a great deal more open water swimming here in the future, especially since the pool hours suck and it's about the same cost in gas to drive to the lake as it is to pay for entry into the stupidly nice indoor 50-meter pool near her house. Here's the photo dump from that swim: Yesterday I got to swim in the Atlantic ocean for the first time since I was a teenager. That's almost 20 years. And it made me feel really old. However, I was not cold. The air was around 72 and the water was definitely 60 or a little bit above, I ...

Longest swim at 42, 14 minutes 38 seconds- 674yards. This swim felt really good, strong and in control. Annnd I was able too tell when my bikini top came untied AND my fingers worked well enough to retie it! 👙😳🤣 But... It took longer than it should have and I lost valuable heat and distance. I was hoping to get in 800-850yards. Oh well. Lessons learned. Double knot bikini in the future. The Yeis were hosted today by the Hood River Tri Club- added bonus: post-swim hot tub and homemade cookies! Not a bad way to start the long trip across the country to spend the holidays with my family. (I briefly considered telling them my flight was "canceled" but then I realized I didn't purchase trip insurance.) My partner is staying in Portland with his family, our family, I will miss spending the holidays with them this year. It will be good to see my mom, sister, and the kids- at least that's what I'm telling myself.  Swim dump: I swams this week!  12/...