Erica Rose swims 12-and-a-half miles a day!

But on slow day it is just 10-miles; but then there are the weights, the cycling, and the stretching that needs to be done. Now, imagine doing all of this while earning a BA in Psychology. Is there a swimmer out there that is more industrious? If you are a masters swimmer, her warm-down is your workout!

Erica wears TYR and has three open water national titles in the 25k, four national titles in the 10k, and four national titles in the 5k. On the international level her open water stats are just as sublime with gold medal swims at the Pan American Games, a gold medal swim at the Pan Pacific Championships and a gold medal swim at the World Championships in 1998.

Other accomplishments:

• The longest distance Erica has ever swum at one time is 88 kilometers (about 55 miles!)

• The longest amount of time Erica has ever swum at once is 10 hours, 5 minutes!

• Erica trains nearly 6 hours per day in order to be able to do these types of races!

Here is a link to her website. [Link]

Bondi Beach swimmer bitten by shark: 'I survived by punching it on the nose'

I hear a thumb to a shark's eye is better, but then again, not swimming at night is probably a much more effective defense.

It's almost summer south of the equator and subsequently Australian swimmers are summarily entering the food chain with every open water swim. To be fair the North America continent has the most shark attacks than any other location on this blue planet but Australia places high on the charts as well! [Link]

With those statistics in mind, Scott Wright, decided to do a night swim at Bondi Beach. Though the odds were on his side; 11.5-million to one and 70-years since a shark attack at Bondi, someone has to win the lotto. Gory pictures; (plural), and details in the London Daily Mail [Link]

Open Water Clinics and Open Water advice

[Here is some open water advice and a clinic offer for open water swimming. After I did my first SCAQ Open Water Clinic, I moved up 40 places in the Alcatraz Sharkfest standings. That Anthony and I in the photo.)

SCAQ OCEAN CLINICS are all summer long. Whether you are a new or seasoned triathlete you should be spending 80% of your time in the pool and 20% in the ocean. A few things that we cover in the clinics and that are very important are: how to get in and get out of the water, how to sight, use a wet suit and get used to chop and waves. A few important race day tips: An essential "must do" for that morning is testing the bottom and checking waves and currents/ The most important thing is to get in that good warm up. Try warming up your core first with a short run, then do at least 500 yards minimum in the water.

Great time saving strategy: stay in a straight line. This is called sighting. Sight the far horizon (mountain, building, tree) not the buoy. Go out in your warm up and see where they line up. You will save tons of time and energy not having to lift your head up as high to spot a buoy. Try to not make too many directional errors.

If you are in a pack of swimmers, you can rely on them for a lot of your sighting. Less time lifting your head saves energy. Keep on eye on any pack, because they generally drift with the leader. If a pack drifts too far out stay with them, but on the inside. And if the pack drifts inside stay on the outside.

Our ocean clinics are almost every Saturday in the summer months. See SWIM.net/SCAQ for details or call us at 310.390.5700 to sign up.