Barrie Examiner news artical

Here is today Barrie Examiner news report on my swim yesterday.

http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/2013/07/28/swim-attempt-will-take-place-again-next-year


I also got a nice message from RVH foundation CEO....

• Hey, Josef - sorry to hear you had to end your swim early yesterday. I was in Gravenhurst for their re-dedication of a Terry Fox Auditorium and was thinking of you as I passed by Carthew Bay on the way home late yesterday. Wind was still strong even then. Thanks for making the attempt and encouraging support and awareness for cancer survivors. Eric - CEO, RVH Foundation.

:)

Winds foil my attempt at 12 hour swim.

Well I tried, I failed, only doing 6k in 2.5 hours against the current, wind and 3-4 foot waves, but I will conquer next time! ...Thank you Ted, Nathan and Joanne for your support, it was greatly appreciated!

We know I can do better as I swam my 16km trial swim, so you must know the water had to be pretty ruff! and it was! wind coming from the SW blowing over the lake building up high waves even before we set off from the boat launch making my zodiac crash and bumping into the dock.

But lets back up first with last night, I went to bed at 8pm so I would be fresh getting up at 4am, Well as you know before most events you get some anxiety and most people have a hard time getting to sleep. Well I do to sometimes. lol  To make matters worse it was a cool humid night, so under the covers I get to hot, over the covers I'm to cool, so I tossed and turned for a while before finally getting to sleep.

Then a storm blew in with heavy rain lightning and heavier rain, which work me up out of my light sleep. All I could here is shhhhhhhhhhh of the heavy rain which kept coming and coming. I fell back to sleep and before I knew it, it's 4am and my alarm go off.

I jumped out of bed and quickly look outside the window to check the weather. The rain stopped and the skies are clear. next I'm thinking and hoping to myself I hope the winds stay calm.   I checked the weather report and it said the winds will be SW at 10-20 mph!! Oh Oh, this is not going to be good?! that means I will be swimming into the wind and current. DAMN!

So now I'm getting all my gear and food coolers together with Joanne helping into the boat and car while waiting on Ted and Nathan to arrive at 5am.

On cue Ted and Nathan arrive as I'm getting the last bit packed up and we are on our way.

We get to Carthew Bay by 5:45 or so and I back the boat up on to the boat launch to drop her in.  As I was on the launch I push the zodiac off the trailer and it starts to float away so I jump in the water to retrieve it and as I do I step on a rock hard! I limp around passing off the zodiac to Nathan and go park my car and limp back to the dock. Ted asked did I hurt my foot? I said ya, I think I broke it, lets go!

I show Nathan how to run the motor while Ted gets set up in his kayak all the while I'm saying whats with these waves! as the zodiac keep banging and bumping off the side of the dock. I give Nathan a push off and  I jump gingerly jump off the dock with my sore foot.

Here we go! I set off into the wind current and waves, bouncing around like I've never bounced before. I say to myself this is not going to be good!  So I set into my pace stroke after stroke weaving and bobbing waves crashing over my head and loosing total site of Ted in the kayak every bob!

I get through the first km in 20min  before taking on my first feed and drink, my plan is to drink some and eat some every 20min, I find this is best to keep my energy level up.

Then next 20 min I'm getting used to the heaving and waves crashing over me by this time they are 2-3 feet but I'm feeling the strain of keeping my pace so I relaxed my stroke more and kept going after my drink.

3 km in the waves and wind is getting stronger I feel like I'm on a roller coaster now with the 4ft swells crashing over me and dropping me down, having fun! but not really! lol

Every so often I have to hold my breath an extra few strokes because the waves kept throwing my stroke off and rather then grab a mouth full of water I hold my breath to or three extra stokes to catch the wave right to get my breath! I'm not having fun now!

I kept plugging away and knowing in my head I can't keep this up, this is to intense!  3-4 footers and white caps all the way, as far as I could see I think it's time to call it and wait for a better day.

Joanne asks am I ok, I said yes I'm fine, it's these waves that are not ok!  as I look at my garmin and see Im at 5.2k, She say's well try for a bit more and see how you feel. So I set off and keep going until I checked my garmin and told Nathan and Joanne that I'm only going as far as 6k

I hit 6 km and stopped and said Ok, that's it, time! ...2:30 to swim 6km in this the heaviest water I ever swam in, with a 2:30/100m average, so I was moving but what a workout!

I jumped into the zodiac while Ted got tethered to the boat and we went back to Carthew bay pulling Ted in his kayak in toe!

When we go back to the dock I step on my foot and say Oh Oh! and check it out, it's all bruised and swollen from stepping on the rock. I hobble to my car only to find a ticket on my car for not having a permit to park there? Crap, great!  We get the Zodiac on the trailer, barely as the boat launch was really uneven and not deep enough for the trailer to submerge properly. I pull it out and off to the curb were we unloaded the supplies motor and tank off so we could lift the zodiac onto the trailer properly and secure it, then putting everything back on including the kayak.

Then We ate, having those great subs Joanne made and drinks. Then we headed home.

When we got home I thanked Ted and Nathan and unloaded with Joanne as I hobbling all the way.

All I can say is you can't fight mother nature! no matter how strong you are! next time hopefully the winds will be in my favor.

BTW on top of all that I brought the camera but forgot it in the car after hurting my foot. Grrrrr! lol

These are the only pictures I got after the swim. But Joanne took some shots with her phone, I just have to figure out how to post them here, but I will.

Ted and Nathan after we pulled the Zodiac out of the lake..........

 Joanne was hiding in the other picture so I got a different angle to get her in

 bruised goose egg in the middle of the bottom of my foot from stepping on rock

:)

Preparing for Lake Simcoe 12 hour swim

Well I'm keeping a watch on the first swimmer Kim Lumsdon to achieve her goal of swimming across Lake Ontario as I get ready for my not lake Ontario swim as planned but Lake Simcoe instead! ....Next year!!

Anyhow, Kim 56 years old and has swum the lake twice before once in 1976 and a second time in 2006 this time she is attempting to be the oldest woman to make the crossing and set off last night about 9pm and is 16 hours into her swim and looks strong according to the spot tracker.

Go Kim Go!

Meanwhile I'm getting all the last minute details for my swim ready like, food for me on my swim and food for crew.  A nice picnic lunch for them of sub sandwiches drinks and snacks, and energy drink stroopwafels banana's, gummies and other snacks for me. I'm getting my gear prepped and Zodiac ready, plus getting my Crew support in order as I had some of my original crew bale on me for personal reasons. But I have lots of friends and I am lucky so I have my crew set!

My crew will be Nathan Brooks, Ted Read and Joanne in the Zodiac and we will have Teds kayak tethered to the zodiac  so they can take turns on it if they like to lead me along the way.

I have been told that some of my friends will kayak out from Centennial beach in Barrie to lead us back the last 4-6k or 2-3 hours to my projected finish that will be cool!

Our plan is to meet at my house for 5am, I'll have all the gear and food ready on board of the Zodiac and we will tie the kayak on top and I'll drive all of us to Carthew Bay to launch the Zodiac and get ready for a 6am start!

It's looking like there may be showers to start out, but the weather calls for clearing mid morning and a nice day later so as long as it's not to windy all looks good!

If all goes to plan I should make it to Centennial beach (approx 28-30kms)   hopefully under 12 hours.

Wish me luck!


:)

Hey I made the news....Again!

Check out the Barrie Examiner news link which will be in tomorrows paper!

  http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/2013/07/25/barrie-man-to-swim-from-carthew-bay-to-centennial-beach-on-sunday


Please support my cause...and wish me luck! RVH Donation link is on the right side of the blog.

It's not my Lake Ontario swim, but getting ready for my not so big swim in lake Simcoe, but still big enough!

Weather permitting;
I am doing a 12 hour swim July 28th on Kempenfelt bay from Carthew Bay to Centennial beach this Sunday July 28th and am raising money for RVH Cancer center as my charity in place of my 52 km Lake Ontario Swim ...for life crossing I was supposed to do this July 28th, which I have postponed to next year because criteria of boat support was not met to satisfy SOLO Swim of Ont, (the governing body of open Lake swim) to sanction my lake Ontario swim and hopefully will be resolved for next year.
Since I have continued on with my training and with my disappointment of not being able to swim across Lake Ontario this year, I plan on swimming this unsanctioned swim from Carthew Bay at 6am http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/244854117 with my support boat, kayaks and pacers and will continue to swim for 12hours to 6pm or until I reach Centennial beach whichever comes first. I am doing this in loo of my planned Swim for life lake Ontario swim for my own satisfaction of my training and to raise money for RVH. Donations for my charity RVH cancer center can be made here http://josefpolcz.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=1061650 which was originally set up for my Swim for life lake Ontario swim and will continued fund raising for next year’s 2014 Lake Ontario crossing
This swim will be a solo swim where I have my boat supporting me with a support crew to feed me and be on alert with lifeguarding duties so I don't go under and a pacer at times.

This swim is also without the aid of a wetsuit as per rules of open water swimming, only bathing suit cap and goggles where I cannot have any contact with any person, boat or floatation device with the exception of passing food or drinks to me.

27.44km Carthew Bay to Centennial beach

www.mapmyfitness.com

Marathon swim

Bike day

My usual Saturday group ride was being held about 40min north of Barrie riding up in the Muskoka's, and seeing as Joanne was working a night shift at her temp job at the Honda plant and wasn't going, I didn't feel like loading up my bike and driving all that way up today, so I took the opportunity to ride out on my usual Wasaga beach ride solo. 

I have to say as fun as it is to ride with the group (and sometimes riding five hours with them), it is at a slower pace with stretches of sprints, but it is nice to be able to stretch out my legs and ride at my speed out and back (approx. 85-90km) which I did in under 3 hours, which last weeks ride with the group to Wasaga (same route took 4 1/2 hrs

Needless to say my legs are a bit more sore, lol but a good sore!

Tomorrow I'm back in the lake for more swimming.


:)

Still Swimming Strong

Continuing my swim training and going strong. I am looking forward to my 12 hour swim July 28th at Lake Simcoe's Kempenfelt bay in place of my Lake Ontario crossing....Only 9 days away! http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/244854117

When things go bad....

They just keep going!

Now my home computer crashed! So I had a service guy come and try to fix it. The guy was a total newbie who was totally disorganized, to start he came over last night, I call in the morning for a service guy and he was suppose to be over within an hour! Well 4 hours later he came over, then he tells me he doesn't have his recovery software with him and he will come back in the morning, so we set up a time for 7am to come over....

Well 7am came and went, he finally called at 8:30 that he will be right here......9am he arrives and starts on the computer using free downloaded software to fix my computer? not working!  then he tells me he has to go for his G licence drivers test and will be back right after that???

1 1/2hrs later he returns and tries to recover my downed system but keeps failing?? then he pull my computer apart and thinks it's my hard drive that is corrupted? I say Duh, ya! use your software to uncorrupted it and retrieve my missing files! again he tries his free downloaded software to make the fix? no go!

I finally say what if you use your free download software to reformat my hard drive and put windows seven back on?

Well he agrees but didn't back up my outlook beforehand? So this time it works! in other words my hard drive was fine and his retrieving free software sucks and now I lost all mine and Joanne's files we kept in outlook because it was reformatted and on top of that he couldn't get Joanne's outlook account to work!

So I tell him we have backup in my external drive, so he starts retrieving them and putting Joanne's files in my outlook account? I told him we need to get her and my files from the C drive which weren't backed up which are more important!!

So after he got all the outlook files from my external drive out and placed on my account, he still couldn't fix Joanne's account which I will have to do tomorrow with my service provider, but in the mean time he set up again a free downloaded recovery tool up and started a recovery of our files on the C drive that was re-formatted and said that is all he could do for me for now and I have to copy them over to my external drive when it done then move them into our outlook accounts after that and he has to go so he settles on a bill for me after spending around 6 hours fiddle farting with my computer not knowing what to do and losing our files and says how about I only charge you for 2 hours?  I say how about you only charge me for a service call and one hour? So after all that it cost me $90.00 and my computer runs but we only have one outlook account and lost e-mail files and all our contacts which I have to retrieve!?!!

What a day!!

I finally went out to the beach for a quick swim of 666m ( appropriate for the day) and now having a quick dinner and some tv before going to bed and starting over tomorrow!

:/

Decision made by board

As I continue my training I regret to say based on the boards decision that I am postponing my Lake Ontario swim until next year 2014.

The board decided I could in fact redo my 16km swim in Lake Simcoe rather then Lake Ontario which are very similar waters with wind waves and cold, and knowing I could swim the 16km in under their rule of 6hrs which would only be a difference of what I already swam with an average of 2.4kph to 2.6kph to qualify, but I have decided not to redo my trial swim at this time as I still have a problem with the other rule that the board has decided on which is, I can NOT do the swim with only three boats, I have to have a 4th boat of no less then 30 feet to sanction my swim.

At this time with only 2 weeks away for my Lake swim I can not guarantee I can find a 30ft boat for my swim to have me sanctioned by the board and have decided I was better of deferring my swim to next year giving me another year of training and time to secure my boats!

Yes I said boats!

As it turns out after my trial swim with my swim master with his father's ( Tony) boat and based on the time I swam on my trial swim and that I knowingly figured would take me 22-26hrs or more to swim across lake Ontario, Tony told me he regrets he can't support me on my journey to swim across the lake because of how fatiguing it would be for him as old as he is, in his 70's.

So there you have it, this lake Ontario swim was not meant to be this year with no crew boats.

But this is not the end!!....

My plan now is I will have a swim on my Original lake Ontario swim day of July 28th but it won't be in lake Ontario!  I am taking this opportunity to continue my training and on July 28th I will swim 12 hours in lake Simcoe from Orillia ( Carthew Bay) along the north shore of Kempenfelt Bay down to Barrie's Centennial beach  Orillia to Barrie swim route   On July 28th  which ever comes first! which means if I reach Centennial beach before 12hour I'm done, if I don't reach Centennial beach in 12 hours then I get out of the water at that point and record my distance...

The Distance as calculated by my Map your run web site is approx 27.44km but I will be using my garmin for an accurate account of my distance which might be more or less?

As I planned with my lake Ontario swim, this swim I am planning on and counting on donation to my charity RVH cancer center. RVH Donate home page as I am doing this secondary swim of 12 hours in Lake Simcoe for self satisfaction of my abilities in my training I did and know I could have swam across Lake Ontario this year but will not give up and I will swim Lake Ontario in 2014!

:)

Test of Endurance or Speed??

I thought it was a test of endurance not speed???

I completed my 16k swim but failed! why? because I was not fast enough? it took me 6 hours and 30min, apparently I had to swim the 16k in 6 hours to pass? I did not know? the way I read the rules was swim 16km in the recommended time of 6 hours, it does not say it has to be done in 6 hours?  with undo fatigue?
"A successful Trial Swim is judged by the completion of the prescribed distance without undue fatigue. The recommended time limit for the 16 km Trial Swim for the Niagara-on-the-Lake to Toronto course is 6 hours. Consideration will be given to weather conditions. The interpretation of these requirements is the responsibility of the Swim Master who makes a recommendation to the Board of Directors of SSO on the acceptability of the Trial Swim. Judgement of the acceptability of the Trial Swim is the responsibility of the SSO Board."

You be the judge what "recommended" 6 hours means, and  without fatigue???

Well lets talk about undue fatigue while i'm at it. First of all I had to get up a 5am where I then packed all my stuff in the car with Joanne and Melissa, then I drove down to Toronto where I picked up my swim master and then drove to Niagara for a total of 4 hours where we then met up with the boat owner and prepared the boat and set off onto lake Ontario.  Now 5 hours into the day starting my swim at 10am.

I started off on to my swim keeping up a constant pace into some ruff water for the first hour then the lake calmed down to a sheet of glass while I kept my constant pace ( note my pace is set on endurance not speed and would guess my heart rate and breathing never were labored maintaining my constant pace of ruffly 2:15 to 2:30 per 100meters though out the whole 16 km ) now if you do the math my constant pace puts me over 6 hour for 16 km but I finished strong and not fatigued and could go on!.

Next after I finished my swim we headed back to the pier all the while I chatted up the crew in good spirits. That is when I was told I did not pass because I didn't swim my 16 km in the "recommended" 6 hours.

When we got back to the pier I helped unload the boat showing I wasn't even tired and still lots of endurance left in me. Then I packed the car up, said my good-byes and thanked everyone including the boat owner.

More on fatigue?....Now we set off for the drive home at 5pm after my 16km swim in 6 hours and 30min swim and over 10 hours into my day, where I was driving my swim master back to Toronto which on this day the sky's opened up over Toronto flooding the city during rush hour!  Not to mention that the city lost power to over 70% and all the street lights were out causing gridlock though out the city.

After hours of sitting on the high way which were being closed because of flooding and the fact that my swim master lived on the east side of Toronto and the major hwy to his house DVP was closed because of flooding we had to take off roads which were slow to because all the street lights were off and at each light the cars had to make four way stops at each intersection.

I finally made it to Shaun's home which took four hours, add that to the 16 km swim in 6hrs and 30 min, plus the 4 hour drive before that I am into 14 hours of going strong!

After talking with Shaun for a while about what happens next? then thanking him for his time, we set off for home another 1hr and 30 min on a good day! but today was not a good day with all the gridlock in Toronto.

I managed to get on the hwy north of the flooding on the DVP and headed north and west and north on the 400 hwy home for a total of 6 hours of driving back from Niagara after my 16km swim in 6 hours and 30 min and a four hour drive to the swim before that!  for a total of 20 hours into the day!

When we got home I unloaded the car and unpacked with Joanne still going strong! after we unpacked I took a shower and with till lots of energy I went down to watch my RAW Wrestling on TV which I DVR'd  to unwind but still full of energy having a couple of beers before going to bed.

So how do I feel today after a good nights sleep? Except for a slight stiffness to my left side of my neck I feel totally fine and Un-fatigued!

To that end I am totally disappointed and really thought this Solo event I have taken on for my marathon swim across lake Ontario was a test on my part of my endurance for me!... and not a test of speed of how fast I can cross the lake!.... as this is how I trained! and wait on the decision of the board on my Lake Ontario swim!

Official 6 hour time trial swim tomorrow (Monday July 8 2013)

Going to bed to get some sleep for an early start drive down to Toronto to pick up my Swim master Shaun and drive to Niagara on the lake for my 6 hour swim trial in lake Ontario, hopefully T-storm free and calm waters! wish me luck! ....Kidding, don't need luck! just fuel (aka Go Jo juice! and stroopwafels) to keep me going!



:)

Crew meeting and BBQ

We had a great crew meeting and BBQ!
A special thanks to Swim master Shaun for coming out who reviewed all the rules and answer questions on what to expect...... And to my crew, Joanne, Dr.John, his son Aiden, Genevieve, Greg, Art and their better halves and my mom....and to Joanne for preparing all the great food!

:)

New motor!

The water has been warm the past few day's reaching 21C, I start on a mini vacation over this weekend having Monday and Tue off as I gear up for my 6 hour trial swim on Monday down on Lake Ontario! But first I'll be having my Swim master and volunteer crew over tomorrow for a pre- lake Ontario swim meet up of all involved, briefing and BBQ!

In other news.....

As you recall I took my motor in to get fixed, but in the process of getting fixed it died, well I went back to Larry the mechanic and he got the new part and fixed the motor, but then as it was running perfectly the water pump stopped working!? OI!! So Larry told me he had to order a new part again and asked when I need the motor for? I said I needed it this weekend?  he went on to tell me the part won't be in on time and he could loan me another motor to use until mine is fixed.....So he showed me a new 9.9 Nissan motor in his shed and said I could use it! Nice, I'll try it out this weekend! and hopefully my motor will be fixed by Wednesday if the part come in.



:)



 

Change of schedule....

No not for my swim across lake Ontario, but my work schedule!

Yes I'm working days now, and not liking getting up a 5am.  I leave my house by 5:30 to get to work for 6:30am, put in 8 hours of hard labor, then drive home  which takes me longer. Blah! then I go down to the lake for a swim and by the time I'm back I get to eat, then I'm back in bed by 10pm to start all over again. again Blah!

Yesterday after I got home from work I went down to the lake for an hour swim which I found very tiring after all the heavy lifting I did at work, but I cross it all off to cross training! you'd be suprized at how tiring lifting and moving around 200 20lbs desk all day is.

I got to the beach and took the temp then jumped in for my swim. There was a fairly strong cross current during my swim with the wind blowing in the warm water, but on the bright side the water temp finally broke 70F, making for a nice swim, but that will soon change as the wind changes again. lol

Today's plan is to go and look at the lake after work today....I'm beat! ...this is tough training after work specially when i'm not used to it!  but I'm sure when I get to the lake I will jump in for an hour.

:)

One week until trial swim

Some good training this long weekend, I did a 3hr bike Sat, Then went to pick up my motor that I took in to marine mechanic Larry to do a little tweaking as it was stalling when in low. When I got there Larry said we have a problem? I said what! He said it was running perfectly then it just quit, he checked everything out and it wasn't producing voltage and narrowed it down to the voltage regulator and he ordered a new one from Honda, but it won't be fixed until Wednesday. I said, how much is this going to cost me? Larry said there will be no charge because he guaranteed the motor he sold me and he will take the loss. What a good guy! After that I went for a swim, water temp 18C but windy and wavy so I didn't swim long.

Sunday I went down and planned on a long swim the water temp was 18C but only did 1 hour as it was really windy with 3 ft swells and 2 foot high waves, it made for a tough swim specially swimming diagonally to the waves.

Today the water  was  colder at 16C 61F, still windy and wavy, but not as bad as Sunday but swimming naked for 1 1/2 hrs diagonally to the waves and wind  and in 16C sure make for some good cold water training!

One week today Monday the 8th I will be heading down to Niagara on the lake, Lake Ontario for my 6 hour trial swim with my swim master Shaun on his fathers (Tony)  boat and Joanne and Zack.  I won't have any swim pacers at this time so we are only going with the one boat along the south shore of Lake Ontario by NOTL where Shaun will oversee my swim and watch how I feed and how I look after the 6 hours to OK my swim across lake Ontario on July 28.

Happy Canada day!

:)