G’day To Shark-Free Swimming With My New Paddles In Australia

Hi folks,

Southport Aquatic Center on The Gold Coast of Australia, with shark-free swimming. From: http://goo.gl/iTzYL

Here I am in Australia, enjoying a boiling hot Christmas day. I may be an aging Ironman athlete, but I sure don’t want to swim with sharks. This reminds of an article I read years ago, in an old French magazine, called ‘Swimming with Sharks.’ It contained some great advice for a nascent businessman, such as myself, including, “When bitten, don’t bleed.” As a swimmer I would prefer to not be bitten, so off I went in search of a swimming pool in which to work with my new swim paddles. First thing I did was ask someone fit-looking, a mountain biker and, like almost all of the Australians that I have met so far, he was friendly and helpful, pointing me towards a place about four miles (perfect run) down the road, in Southport.

Thanks mate! Good onya!

How Rick told me to use my swim paddles. Met him at Johnny's Gone Fishing, a great local hangout in Carrboro, NC.

Just before leaving for The Antipodes I was at Johnny’s Gone Fishing, my new business venture in Carrboro, NC, and was chatting to Rick, a real swimmer, who is married to Meg, a great supporter of our business (and a talented photographer). Rick agreed to give me some swim tips, one of which was to do plenty of stroke and strength training with swim paddles. As my old ones had split, I went to the brand new Fleet Feet location and bought the nice shiny new yellow ones you see in the adjacent picture. This image also shows how Rick instructed me to attach the paddles for the greatest stroke benefit. They don’t wobble too much or fly off during the recovery, so my swim mechanics are not too bad in that respect, and they are working my lats nicely. Of course I am going carefully, as I have no desire to strain a rotator cuff muscle due to imperfections in my arm stroke.

Thanks Rick and G’day to you and Meg from Australia.

-k @FitOldDog