Topless & Outdoors

For readers of my last blog on "Fashion Week" don't let this title Topless & Outdoors get you too excited. I know where some of my (male) readers minds went. This blog is not about topless swimming outdoors. This blogger does not write about such matters.

This blog in many respects kicks off the 2016 outdoor swimming season. On this auspicious Friday I nabbed two outdoor swimming experiences. 

First was swimming "topless" at the Wayland Community Pool. The night before they took the bubble (top) off the pool for summer. The pool was officially closed for maintenance work but as Coach Jen has keys she opened the pool for an early morning masters swim. It's was a chilly morning and there was steam coming off the pool so there was no dawdling on the deck. My new smoked tinted goggles were much needed as the sun was rising to the east. Blue skies, green trees above, a slight nip in the fresh air and the novelty of swimming outdoors made it an awesome way to start the day. Per usual Coach Jen's workout was interesting, punishing and fun all the same time!

The second "outdoor" swimming experience happened later that afternoon at Lake Cohicuate in Wayland. It was going be to be my first open water swim of the season. Who better to inaugurate the season than taking a dip with New England open water swimmer extraordinaire Elaine H. With Gibraltar fast approaching I have been a bit concerned that I haven't been in any cool open water (my cold showers don't count) effectively since last season. Currenlty, the temp in The Strait is around 65 degrees so anything between 60-65 degrees would do. Lake Cohicuate didn't disappoint. A couple of days of sunshine warmed the lake up (according to Elaine's big toe) to just above 60 degrees. Perfect! 

Wading very slowly into the water and a loud yelp made getting into the water somewhat easier. Elaine was the tour guide stopping a various sighting points and landmarks such as; Rocky, Pebble, Sax Beach (don't go there reader) and Deadfish. It was a nice leisurely swim with cool patches along the way. More importantly good conversation and the silent communication that takes place with swimming friends in open water and in pool water.

Today was a great day to start the weekend and the Topless & Outdoor swimming season!

For those readers that were looking for something a little more with "topless swimming" I will leave you with this.

A mermaid.

Fashion Week

For many, New York's Fashion Week in February, is the celebration of world class designers newest collections in Bryant Park.  For me the first week of May is the celebration of the start of Long Course season and where the Burrow Aquatic Collection is shown at MIT's Z Center Pool.

This years collection was quite vast with nine different designs from four haute aqua couture designers. With only five shows (days of swimming) this week it was difficult to choose from the assortment below. 

The following is a brief commentary of each days swim suit.

Monday's selection was Blue Splice by Speedo is a 50/50 poly blend. The blue thematic with small bursts of white was an ideal choice to shrug off the Monday morning blues. Logged 6,000 yards.

Tuesday's suit selection was very important and an easy decision as it kicked off the long course season. Budgy Smuggler of Australias fashion forward "Fishing for Compliments" suit had just the right amount of joie de vivre to mark the occasion. The fabric is 100% nylon. This suit is also a very strong contender to be worn in the Strait of Gibraltar swim this summer. Logged 4,500 long course meters.

Wednesday and Thursday highlight one of my favorite designers Arena. They are a relatively new sponsor to USA Swimming. Wednesday swim togs featured the Blue Confetti design.  The colorful pop of blue, orange and yellow helped ease my hump day mood.  Thursday brought a bit of change to the blue color palette of the previous days.  The green Polycarbonite pattern was a welcome change in color from my seemingly blue hued swim wardrobe. 4,700 and 4,000 long course meters logged respectively.

The Boston area was basically grey, dreary and rainy all week.  Saturday was no exception so I broke out my Waikiki Rough Water Swim suit to get that sunny "Aloha Spirit" going for the weekend.  It does the trick everytime. This suit was made by Hardcore Swim Wear from California.  One of their lines of swim wear is creating custom suits for charities and high profile swim events. I bought mine in Hawaii when I swam in the Waikiki Rough Water Swim in 2013. Looking forward to many more Rough Water Swims and swim suits to match. 7,000 yards logged.

The raison d'etre for this weeks fashion celebration is pictured below. Its a very long pool and it takes a couple weeks to get use to new send offs, sometimes new lane mates and lack of flip turns. In the end long course is great-you can really stretch out your stroke and work on technique and not have it interrupted every 16 or so strokes by a wall like you do in short course. Its also a good way to prepare for the open water season!

Hope you enjoyed this years Burrow Aquatic Collection and can better envision my morning routine and attire.  I think I need to broaden my color palette beyond blue. Stayed tuned for next year...