07-12-2024 Hike/Swim

Got up early and headed over to the gravel parking lot by the park. From there, I hiked a little more than 3 miles out along the north side of Lake Hodges, with a weighted backpack. This trail is generally flat, so all I got was the distance. Around 2/3 of the way through, my shoulders started hurting, but it got better and not worse after a while. Total hiking time of about 2 hours. When I got home, after eating something, I started getting the laundry room prepped for painting the trim. Masked off the areas, then got into it. It all ended up taking about 2 hours, looked decent after I was done. In the afternoon, I hung the door back on its hinges, arranged my first aid bag for the backpacking trip, and worked (successfully) to push the pistons back on both front and rear brakes on my bike. That seemed to do the trick for resetting the braking tension. Ann went to see a nurse practitioner about pain she is experiencing on the upper sides of her feet when she walks for a longer time. The NP thought it sounded like soft tissue damage and suggested she go to a podiatrist for a more detailed diagnosis and treatment plan. Late in the afternoon, Avi came over, then we drove down to the beach by La Jolla Shores to meet up with the San Diego Tri Club for their summer weekly ocean swim. Avi's friend Birgit and her son Nico came out at well. I didn't know what to expect, and we arrived late, which put me in some stress to get everything ready and the rest of my gear packed into my backpack. The swim through the waves out beyond the breakpoint was challenging, I took in some salt water and struggled to find a rhythm. Once we got out to the starting point buoy, Liz (one of the Tri Club mentors) gave us directions on how to swim to a buoy about 500 yds away. This swim was easier because of fewer waves and chop, and we stopped periodically to make sure we were staying on course and catch our breaths. It took me some time to get used to the swim stroke pattern that worked for me, but I got better as time passed. I was wearing an old tri wetsuit that Avi lent me, and so water temperature was not an issue at all. I had rubbed petroleum jelly around my neck where the suit came in contact, so no chafing there. On the return trip from the outbound buoy, I felt a little more comfortable, still slower than Avi but generally able to keep him in view for staying on course. On the swim back to the shore, I was better at keeping our landmark centered and was also aided by the tide pushing us all in. Overall, it was an exhilarating time, no real fatigue during the swim but definitely a different swimming experience than being in the pool. I ended up swimming about 1500 yds or so (a rough estimate), probably in about 35 minutes swimming time, not counting the breaks. After the swim, we washed the salt off, changed, then walked back to the car for the drive home. He is a really good guy to exercise with, very watchful and helpful without being overbearing.