Angie Swims

It's taking me a long time to start writing, or even think about writing this post. I didn't post all summer while I was training for Catalina Channel, but hopefully this will make up for it. I'm sitting in my car after a brief swim at Broughton Beach following a mediocre to typical day working as an occupational therapist in home health. As I was swimming into shore just now I realized the things that used to frighten me about open water are now the things that excite me. The weeds at Broughton have grown from a few interspersed plants to a virtual forest of underwater plants. The weeds used to terrify me I joked that they were Ursula's garden because the joking made them less intimidating. I would scream and kick and swim as fast as I could to get away from them or through them. Now, I flip over on my back hold my buoy and lazily kick through them sometimes I even giggle because they tickle a little bit when you go through slowly and they don...

The start of 2024 marks the start of training, and planning, for Catalina Channel- both of which are epic feats in themselves and happen before I hit the water in Doctor's Cove. In talking to folks over the years people are always wowed by the swimming part, but really it's the planning and the crew that are most impressive. So, on my journey to Doctor's Cove, I'm going to bring the whole Internet along for the ride, well maybe not the WHOLE INTERNET just the handful of folks that read my blog. To start things out, this is my spreadsheet: Catalina Training  Yeah, it's a training plan/tracker and you can follow along with what I actually do to get ready for the swim. I'm working on a Spotify playlist too, if you have recommendations for pump-up songs- put them in the comments! This past November I attended Swim Camp Catalina for my birthday and got to know the water there a little bit. I swam with bioluminescence for the first time, a truly mesmerizing experien...