Our Caribbean Adventure - continued: Issue # 101

. January 2016 .

Well, hello!

Here we are, one month down already! We hope it's all going well for you.

We've had a bit of weather here lately. Some cooler temperatures, but I'm not even going to start complaining about that.

It's been a relatively quiet month for us, but we still managed to get out and about and do a few things.

Diving

Dave was invited out on a boat dive with one our friends one Sunday morning. Dave was all over it, and then found out it was a 6am start! Oh well! Up at stupid o'clock on a Sunday and off to meet up at the dock. At least there wasn't any traffic to worry about!

Grand Cayman at about 6:30 am on a Sunday...

At the dive site...must be about 7am...the sun is nearly up! Hope the fish are up!

The dive was nice and easy. On the North Wall - out past the Reef near Stingray City for those familiar with the area.

Angelfish being elusive

Trunk Fish hiding away

Mr Lobster was out for a walk

A Turtle heading home after a big Saturday night

Another good thing was that he was home and having a coffee by about 9:30am! Extra time for getting horizontal!

Click here to see more dive pics

Mercuryman

Michelle kept her training up after the triathlon with a view to doing the Mercuryman again.

Last year she did the Half Ironman which was an impressive feat - especially in this climate.

This year she decided to do the Aqua-Bike, which is the swim and the Bike sections of the race without the grueling half marathon to finish. While she could manage a half marathon on its own, she thought it would be too hard after the swim and bike, and in the hottest part of the day. She was pretty relaxed about it knowing that she didn't have to worry about the run at the end - she had a comfortable swim, despite having to fight a strong current for one part of it, coming back made up for it.

An intense warm-up, watching the Pros!

I think I just swallowed a bug

Swim done!

Off on the bike!

She then took off on the bike, and was relatively happy with it, given quite strong winds at times. Three hours on a bike is along time and she found it a bit boring and lonely at times but amused herself by singing the same song in her head, over, and over, and over...Finally the end was in sight and she went into transition, put her shoes on, and ran 100m around the tennis court to the finish. It was a bit of an anti-climax as no-one else was near her and the people at the finish line had not realised she was about to finish!

She came in 3rd overall, 2nd female. She had a drink and something to eat and then went to watch the idiots that were still going - believe it or not she felt bad for not doing the run and ended up running bits of it as a support runner to keep them company. It was hot but there was no pressure on her so she enjoyed encouraging the others through the toughest part of the race. Will she do the whole thing again next year instead? We shall see...

Just helping out

Yay! All done!

This is what normal people do on a Sunday here...or any day if they had the choice!

Weather

The weather cut up a bit rough the following week. The Nor West wind bringing in some big swells around George Town and up towards the west.

This is where the Cruise Shippers usually come ashore in the middle of town.

Not today!

There were some big waves coming in. Not the biggest seas we've seen here, but plenty of waves and spray all over the place.

Probably not too many snorkelers today...

George Town Waterfront

Yes, it's probably a chilly 25 degrees (Celsius)....brrrr!

Some decent waves and you forget about the cold!

Playing the old "Get smacked in the back of the head by a wave" game ... or is it that they are naked?!

Pelican looking for lunch

Jake brings it in close

Swimming

Photo with visiting Olympic Swim medalist Erik Vendt

The kids had a training session with him, and also we all attended a breakfast at the Marriott where he spoke about his experiences in swimming.

If you are interested in what the kids are doing at the pool, here's a couple of sections from the latest Swim Club Newsletter:

SENIOR/ HIGH PERFORMANCE MONTH IN REVIEW (Sam's Group)
Our senior groups took on some of the toughest training of the year this past month and handled it well. We had three weeks of progressive power training. This means the group was working with resistance for the majority if not all of the fast swimming in practice. We made great use of the stretch cords to extend high intensity swimming beyond 25m and swam lights out fast with fins and paddles.
Last season we had our power phase leading into the Dean Martin memorial meet in Kingston. That was the first time our athletes had any kind of exposure to this type of training and it took a toll on their bodies. For the most part we swam very tired and very poorly at the Dean Martin meet but it was valuable long course racing experience and a great test to see how they respond to racing when broken down. This season the Pete Ribbins memorial meet came at the end of the power phase and though it was ugly for many the group as a whole handled the training and the racing much better than last season. This bodes well for our taper coming up at the end of March!
Though the training was great this month I think the swimmers would say the Nor’Wester and pancake breakfast for Saturday training were the highlights!

This week marked the beginning of the race-specific speed phase for our senior athletes and we should see them get sharper and sharper every day. Hopefully we will be on our way to some solid performances at CIASA nationals.

GOLD MONTH IN REVIEW (Jake's Group)
The Gold Group has had a great start to the year. Gearing up for CIASA Nationals in February the older swimmers have been averaging over 25000 meters per week! All of our transition swimmers are fitting right in with the Gold progression and improving rapidly. They have been accomplishing great things in the pool and are looking extremely good as we close in on the end of the season. Keep up the good work!

Gold athlete of the month: Jake Bailey
To start off the 2016 season Jake has had a great month. Not only has he maintained his perfect practice attendance, but does so with a good attitude and work ethic. He had an incredible meet at the coconut cup and has been riding the momentum ever since. Jake managed some of the best practices of the year in the month of January and some of them even while having a cold. Jake takes the responsibility of getting to practice every day on his own by walking back and forth. The day-to-day grind can get tough and Jake is great at making practices fun for him and his teammates.
His efforts and commitment throughout the month reflect in his times at meets with 6 CARIFTA qualifying times to show for it. One of his qualifying times came in the 200 fly this month at Pete Ribbins. No doubt the 9 x 200 butterfly set two consecutive weeks leading into the meet contributed to his success. Jake is a great example of what it takes to be a competitive swimmer and teammate. Keep up the good work!

Swim Meet

Another swim meet (Pete Ribbins) was held over the weekend just gone. It wasn't going to be one with real fast times as the kids are all in the hard-work phase of their training programme (see above). They will target another meet later on to see how they have really progressed.

The Official was in action

Sam holds Court

Jake keeps warm

Jake managed to pull out a great 200 Fly and make another Carifta Qualifying time.

Random

Cayman Rugby TV Christmas Dinner

(yes, in January)

The crew from the Rugby TV get together every so often for strategic planning session. The strategies tend to revolve around who's getting the next round and what it might be...