Team Brenchley

First Time Swimming

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 | News | 1 Comment

At last, Brian and were able to get in the water!  Last weekend we got in the pool and tested our new boat and harness together.  Things worked great!  I was able to pull Brian over 1000 meters in about 40 minutes.  We took it really easy, and stopped several times to talk and to try different things with the equipment. 

I was very surprised at how relatively easy it was to pull a boat and person with a combined weight of about 170 lbs while swimming.  It wasn’t much more difficult than pulling a 120 lb person.  It was harder than swimming alone, but once I got started, the momentum was fairly easy to maintain.  It was definately more of a workout than I usually get.  I sure felt it a few days after!  I know this is going to be very physically challenging season, but I think we are going to have A LOT of fun!

Gearing Up

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 | News | No Comments

Well, the snow is starting to melt, the sun is coming out more often, and team Brenchley is gearing up for a great season!  We have spent the last five years running road races together, and now it is time to step it up a notch.  This year, Brian and I are going to take on the world of triathlons.  And boy, are we excited!

We reached an important milestone two days ago when I was able to test our new boat and harness system for the first time.  It was awesome!  I designed a harness to wear when pulling the boat in the swimming portion of our races that wraps around my waist.  My sweet mom built it for us out of a durable vinyl, webbing, and Velcro.  Connected to the harness is a good length of bungee cord that is long enough so my feet are two or three feet from the boat when I am swimming.  I have it connected to the boat on both sides so that my feet don’t get caught as I kick.  I used climbing grade carabiners to connect the rope to the boat, but tying the rope to the handles would work just as well.  However, the carabiners do make it easier to get the rope on and off.

I was very surprised at how relatively easy it was to pull a boat with a 120 lb person inside while swimming.  I felt a good tug when starting out and when turning at each end of the pool, but overall, it was a relatively easy thing to do.  The Sports Academy and Racquet Club in Logan, Utah is letting me use their pool for training.  They leave two lane lines out, which allows me a bigger area in which to swim and to turn around.  My boat is about eight feet long, but I can turn it around easily in a space that is two lanes wide.

This Friday Brian is coming up and we get to see how it is really going to work.  He is a little heavier than my friend who helped me on the maiden voyage.  I don’t anticipate it being much more difficult.  Either way, it’s going to be fun!