Tuesday – January 22, 2013
I’ve been excited about today for a week now. My wife has the day off work, and it’s a Tuesday – run rest day and/or swim day. Finally, a day to swim for more than 30 minutes! Last night, northern parts of the area were showing 2 hour delays and closings with the storm coming in. I was getting angry that the gym might not be open on time and I’d miss my “stars aligning” day to swim. On top of that, I have a cold in full swing. This started to look like a sign.
But, I got a great night’s sleep (thank you NyQuil) and there wasn’t a flake of snow on the ground this morning. I was 5 minutes late getting into the pool at 5:50. The lanes were filling up and I grabbed my pull buoy and got to work. My goal was to see how far I could go today with a nice, easy pace like last time.
Lap after lap I went until I hit 38, my current record. Everything after this ups the bar and becomes my new personal best. I got to 50 and felt fine. In the 60’s my shoulders started to feel a little burn, but not bad enough to slow down or stop. As I approached 70 I knew that a mile in a 25 yard pool is 70.4 laps. Hitting 71 and I just went a mile! Laps 70 and 71 came and went uneventfully. I cruised past 80. My shoulders never got more (or less) sore. I felt fine.
As I swan past 80, I knew that 84.5 laps in this pool was the coveted 1.2 miles – my goal for July’s Muncie, Indiana, Half Ironman. If I can cover this distance now, I thought, I should be okay in July for sure. I’m only going to get better. My first swim was 11/21/12, almost exactly 2 months ago. Granted, I ran a marathon in October so I knew my aerobic fitness wasn’t bad, I just needed to learn the proper swim technique.
As I finished my 86th lap, I was excited but curious. I glanced at the clock, only 7:00am. I had another 15 minutes, if I wanted them. By this time the pool was empty. People had come and gone, in 2 waves, since I started. There seemed to be a 6:00am and 6:30am wave, with most people swimming for about 20-25 of my laps before heading off to start their day. These people are me, normally. Fifteen more minutes… let’s hit 100. Before you start to think that I’m full of myself, keep in mind that my pace is a snail crawl AND I was using a pull buoy between my thighs the entire time. These two things make it MUCH easier.
As I got through the 90’s, I kept thinking how “okay” I felt. I remember the lifeguard looking at me at 96. I imagined him thinking, “Lose the peanut and let’s see how you do.” I hit 98 and still had enough in the tank for 99 and 100 to be a sprint finish. Actually, I felt these last two laps were the fastest laps I’ve had yet. After 80 minutes in the water, I was in a groove, and I felt much faster than normal. I was probably on a high from my new accomplishment. Either way, I swam 100 laps in 80 minutes. Afterward, my eyes had goggle lines real bad. My shoulders feel like I just hit them in the gym for military press, but otherwise I feel totally fine (minus the cold). Over the 100 laps, I took a couple stretch breaks for my shoulders, but I kept at it. No flip turns, but I didn’t stop after each lap like I did 2 months ago. Actually, the hardest part was remembering which lap I was on.
I had some oatmeal, blueberries, and a banana for breakfast. Last night, I made salmon filets and asparagus for lunch today. Pretty tasty.
I felt like this in the pool today... (Michael Phelps)
But I'm sure I looked like a geek, hogging a lane all day.
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