Back in Business

Shoulders are nearly better! kinda.... I have been icing them, and heating them, and electonically stimulating them, taking homeopathic medicine, getter pressure point work done...If this doesn't work I dont know what will! Finally got to swim freestyle last practice and it was WAY better than 6000 backstroke or kick, keeping my fingers crossed that in the next few days they will heal all the way up so I can race at Hapuna.

Next long swim is going to be saturday after the race, 4 hours in the water maybe 5 dependent on how I'm feeling. Excited to get back into the ocean, I swam this morning but it was choppy as heck and no dolphins and only 1.2....

Soon enough i'll be back in my element.

By the WONDERFUL Sarah Lee... Check out her blog -->  http://www.vivantvie.com/

"Kona Waters"

Happy Father's Day all! Gonna start this post out super sappy and tell my dad how much I love him and that without him there is no possible way I would be the way I am today. Love ya pops. 

On a good note my 4 hours was a success! With a little race detour. I started my swim and got an hour in when a race was about to start at the pier so I got to do that which is always fun. Who doesn't love a little team rivalry on Sunday mornings? The water was PRISTINE today loved it, unfortunately, no dolphins, hopefully next time. 

Someone snapped a shot of me at the turn, pretty cool huh? 

Aaaaaand finishing shot, not the greatest but hey it was fun. 

Doing this kind of stuff makes me miss Kona even though I have a little over a year left here on this island. The sense of community is so amazing and the people who make this kind of stuff happen are wonderfully giving. I love it. 

Post race, went for the next 3 hours into the big blue, super choppy. Ever heard of the "Kona winds" that every triathlete talks about wether or not they have done Ironman? The mystical winds that suddenly shift for reach and every person to a head wind both directions? Well today I discovered the Kona waters. Current against you both ways. It's wonderful really. 

I mean it wasn't THAT bad and after all the channel is 10 times that difficulty so I better get used to it. 

Today's motivation?: my dad 

I'm feeling a little stronger than I was on Tuesday, shoulders still a little sore, which is to be expected. The training is great, the water is great, the people even better. 

Just gotta keep trucking along. 

Good night y'all. 

Leahi 

Rough Day at the Office.....

        Well, it happens to the best of us, rough days, we all have them. In my attempt to amp up my yardage I attempted a swim from Kona to Keahou and back, however, my shoulders did not have the same idea after about mile 4. With a mini panic attack a few miles in because I "swore I saw a dark shadow not to far from me", I was physically and emotionally drained,  I pushed on to mile 6 and ended my workout in Keahou, I'm thinking a 8 mile, 10 mile, and 12 mile day all within a span of 5 days isn't the greatest idea. I definitely need time to recover, being my 7th loooooooong swim so far and it only being about 2 month since I've decided on this venture I think I may of ramped up a little too fast, my shoulders were feeling it that night and I had ice plastered to them to soothe the pain, self inflicted, live and learn, as cliche as it is, it rings true each and every time.

        I did have a little inspiration though, my friend Rob, who is known, well I know him by his Snickers bar every Wednesday night at his practice, was recently hit by a car and was hospitalized breaking part of his skull, in his long distance venture on his bike around the Big Island. Being so, showing a little community support athletes sported shirts saying "Run Big for Rob, a spin off of Big Island Running Co. shirts, which simply state "Run Big" and I, being that I cant really wear a shirt while swimming figured a little sharpie would do........

DOLPHINS!

       Well today was quite amazing! Probably one of the best swims I have had, this is my 6th long swim I believe  well besides years of Age Group work outs this was the longest in the ocean. Unfortunately my Garmin was acting up so I think my 10 miles was actually 8 but fortunately I was accompanied by some friends! Around the 3 mile mark I seemed to have misplaced my kayakers and found them a little further inshore with a HUGE pod of dolphins. I kept on trucking along and to my surprise they showed up a little bit below me, I could have reached out and rode one for the next 7 miles if I had wanted to. They tagged along for the longest time and it was so incredibly surreal. My kayakers had a great experience too, 4 hours is a journey in itself for two paddlers, and to see dolphins on such a wonderfully clear day just made it all that much better.
   

Dan and Somer, My wonderful support crew

I cannot thank them enough for coming out there with me that day, it isn't all that glamourous, but days like these remind me of how great the ocean really is. They are a few members of my support team and seeing familiar faces in a sea of blue keeps me trucking.

At the '5' mile turn around, dad says I look like an otter,  gotta practice not holding on to anything while im out there, no hanging on to the boat or kayak on the big day!

     

First Post!

Hey! Its me!

       



      Before we hop right into the swimming, how about a little bit about myself; My name is Leahi. I have been so incredibly blessed to have grown up in a place where a water and the ocean is a necessity  I also have been fortunate enough to have been able to devote 11 years of my life to competitive swimming. Truthfully
       I have fallen in love with the ocean, and always tend to say "I can swim forever in the ocean", people joke that if there were to be coral on the bottom of the pool I would swim a little faster, I think they may be right. Without a doubt long distance swimming has always been my cup of tea, always the 13 year old in the 'big kids' events swimming the 400 IM, 1000, 500, and 1650 free, when ocean swimming was introduced to my life I was swept away.

Summer of 2012, racing to the finish
at the Hapuna Roughwater Swim

        However, my very first ocean swim was a bust, the Kukio Blue Water swim in Kona, long story short, this chunky 10 year old had to be pulled out by water patrol. And now I cant ever wait for summer to come, as most teens cant wait for freedom from school, I get excited when ocean swims are announced. What can I say? It's the life of a swimmer.

        And so here I am, staring at a map, thinking about how incredibly far I will challenge my body, so exciting and so scary all at the same time. This is my journey to Ka'iwi Channel.

Whats a swimmer without a team?!