Year: 2006

Good times – really bad summer weather in Switzerland brought me “back home” to Islamorada. Enjoy some sun and outside swimming that’s exactly what I needed to start my winter season. Another good reason for me to come back of course is that I still need to catch the Green flash.

Green flashes are “rare” optical phenomena that occur shortly after sunset or before sunrise, when a green spot is visible for a short period of time above the sun, or a green ray shoots up from the sunset point. It is usually observed from a low altitude where there is an unobstructed view of the horizon, such as on the ocean (so Islamorada in the Florida Keys should be a perfect place to catch it). Its explanation lies in refraction of light in the atmosphere and is enhanced by atmospheric inversions. Whilst we would expect to see a blue light, the blue is dispersed (this is why the sky is blue) and only the green light remains visible. With slight magnification, a green rim on the top limb of the solar disk can be seen on most clear-day sunsets. However, the flash or ray effects require a stronger layering of the atmosphere and a mirage which serves to magnify the green for a fraction of a second to a couple of seconds. And I was told that it is a good thing to see the green flash. Can’t say if it’s true or not, but I really would love to see a Green flash once.

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For this diary entry I got inspired by the message board on The Race Club website. In these last days there had been made some very interesting posts like “The Art of Taper” or “The sprinter mentality”. And some great personal experiences had been shared.

I now start my 12th year in swimming (so still a rookie). And probably, like most of you, I have had moments of doubt where I was close to stop. Times where I worked so hard for success and earned so little and bad. But hey, I already knew that because one of my coaches once told me:

“Listen – Swimming is hard work and most of the time it pays badly (literally). But when it pays back for all the hard work that had been done, it will be a lifetime experience”

And he was right. Every time I reached my goals I forgot about the struggle before and was filled up with happiness. Although this is not the point of the story. I mean, why didn’t I stop in times where struggle and not success had affected my swim. Sometimes I had to wait 2 years to come back. How could I know that I would succeed again? What was it that kept me swimming?

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It’s a long time ago since I last wrote on this diary entry. When I first started to write about what happened with me and my swim on the Short Course National last December I was always getting so badly excited in front of my notebook that I stopped only thinking about it. The only thing a wanted was to forget about it and never talk about this experience anymore

I needed to get some distance before I was able to write something that can be published on The Race Club website. And that’s the reason why it took me so long to share with you what I think all of you have a right to know it. It would be just not fair to write such positive things about The Race Club and their training methods. I was asking myself how I would feel if someone is saying me that he went through the best training program on earth and didn’t beat anyone, anywhere, anytime.

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