SWIM UNTIL YOU CAN'T SEE LAND

This one goes out to all the English Channel Swimmers out there. My father swam a relay of the channel this past summer and plans to do a solo crossing this summer. He said the most surreal part of the experience was to swim straight out away from the land without ever turning back towards land (as opposed to swimming along the shoreline as you do in most open water swims). Even though he is one of the most experienced and well known open water swimmers in the world he said he was actually a bit freaked out by swimming so far from land (and he NEVER gets freaked out when swimming!)
So...this song made me think of that sentiment.
I just recently heard of this band, Frightened Rabbit, literally just yesterday when checking out Rainn Wilson's blog (who plays Dwight Shrute on the one tv show that I watch and love, The Office). Rainn calls Frightened Rabbit him and John Krasinski's favorite band.

EAT WELL TO SWIM WELL

At Total Immersion Swimming we focus on maximizing our energy flow through efficient mindful movement. We look to go further and faster with less caloric waste. But what about where our energy, our calories are originating? What we eat is the source of our energy and if we are not eating clean, this can also taint our energy flow.
As I grew up in a family that valued healthy organic eating and eating locally grown from food co-ops etc, I already valued eating clean and eating local, but I never truly stopped to think about the somewhat frightening and mysterious questions of what really is in our food? How is it made? How is it processed? Why don't we ever really question what we pull off the shelf in the grocery store? I just recently watched Food Inc and have been influenced by this film to commit to overhauling my food shopping and eating ways.
I believe we get accustomed to operating at less than optimal health and think that if we really committed to eating clean and consciously, that we would be surprised to discover how much our food really is affecting our mood, energy, and health.

LADIES POND

Last June a friend introduced me to 'Ladies Pond' on Hampstead Heath while I was staying in London. In spite of the 62 degree water temp, it was one of the most idyllic, bucolic, and civilized (in that inimitably English way) outdoor swimming experience that I have yet to encounter. Only ladies allowed within the gates of ladies pond! You walk in to see ladies of all ages bathing topless on grassy knolls, and encouraging each other on to brave the cold as they lower themselves down the ladder and swim the head-out breaststroke amongst families of ducklings. They even had table tennis on the grounds! I dove head first into the bracing water, and swam a few lengths of the pond, and then woozy from the head-first-cold, laid in the grass nude to warm in the sun. When we were dry we strolled over the heath for brunch at The Brew House in the rose gardens of Kenwood House. I made a mental note that I would spend a summer near the Heath in the not too distant future so that I could become a regular of Ladies Pond.

LETS GO TO ICELAND!

Cobalt blue warm geothermal waters...clean air...glowing Icelanders of all ages gliding through steaming water. Let's go for a swim in Iceland! And if we're gonna do it, we should do it right... The Blue Lagoon! This is what icelandtoday.com has to say about their swimming way of life:
"These cocktails of liquid heat, combined with the buzz you get from inhaling clean air, draw Icelanders to the pools. It's a way of life. And this swimming culture is learned early on. It's common for parents to take a dip with their paddlin' new-borns, and toddlers are often enrolled in guppy-type classes. Heck, swimming is compulsory amongst school-aged children. But the fun doesn't stop once the classes end. The hippest professionals, and especially the seniors, join in, all ages mingling together in some of the cleanest water in the world." To read on check the full article here.
So that settles it...Sweden in mid July for midsommar, then on to Iceland's liquid blue buzz.

SWIM FREE PLAYLIST

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Creativity, fulfillment and flow

'Flow' the book by Mihaly Csikszenmihalyi has been recommended Total Immersion reading for years. It provides insight into the psychology and technique of achieving a "flow state".

The Hustler: Being in a Flow State

Paul Newman expounds on being in a flow state in The Hustler: