Surprising Myself

Over the last few years, I became used to being exhausted both physically and mentally during my Ironman and marathon training programs. I expected to feel the same way when I took on this challenge. Much to my surprise, I haven't experienced that "this is going to kill me" feeling. Now, don't get me wrong. I am plenty tired and worn out following a long or high-intensity workout but I have noticed that once I have refueled and taken an hour or so to recover, I feel fine......great even. Maybe its because I'm only focusing on one sport rather than three. Maybe its because swimming has little to no impact on my joints. Maybe its because I've been swimming since I was seven. Whatever the reason or combination of reasons, I'm surprised by it and find myself wondering if I'm doing enough or working hard enough. Right now, the yardage is at about 16k per week with 17k coming this week and 20k right on the horizon. Race day is 10 weeks away and my longest swim is only 90 minutes so far. I'll need to get to about 4 hours. When I think about how far I still have to go, I get that nervous pit in my stomach. 

Trust the training, trust the training, trust the training. (sigh)

Over the last few years, my 'threshold' pace was about 1:30/100 yards. This didn't waver by more than a second or 2 each year while training for both of my Ironman events. Focusing on just the swim and having my training personalized just for me, I've had much bigger gains that I thought I'd have. I've managed to reduce my threshold pace to about 1:24/100 yards in a relatively short period of time. At first, the adjusted pace made the training paces in my plan difficult and almost frightening. My thought was "Oh my, did I just test myself into a pace I can't hold?" At first, yes, it was a pace I wasn't comfortable training at. This has gotten easier over the past 6 weeks. Another pleasant surprise as I journey through all of this.

Another surprise.....I had someone ask me a few weeks back "what do you think about when you swim?" My answer.......nothing. Ha! Truly, I don't think about anything except the task at hand. Depending on the workout, I'm counting the laps or concentrating on my pace in relation to the tempo trainer or paying attention to my form and keeping my stroke long and smooth. If I'm in the open water, I'm thinking about my position in relation to the shore or other swimmers, looking for the next buoy and making sure I'm staying on course. It's almost hypnotic. I can't think about work, the kids, what I have to do that day or what I have to pick up at the store. It's so peaceful and relaxing......even when I'm working hard. I have friends that enjoy running or biking the same way. What's funny about the whole thing, I didn't realize how 'at home' I felt in the water until I took on marathon swimming even though I've been swimming most of my life.

Trusting the training, relaxing in the moment, enjoying the journey.

Let's get this party started

I first began swimming with a swim team when I was about 8 years old and swam competitively through high school. About 6 years ago I began doing triathlons after almost 20 years of virtual inactivity. Since then I've completed multiple running races and triathlons including 4 marathons, 5 half-marathons and 2 Ironman races. About a year ago, I read about an 8 mile swim event that is held in the Florida Keys. This event could be done as a relay with up to 4 swimmers sharing the distance or a solo swim. WOW, I hadn't heard of such a thing.  I didn't realize there were events like that. Some friends of mine had transitioned from triathlon to ultra-running which doesn't even sound possible to me but marathon swimming....that is something I can do. If I can train to run 26.2 miles with running, I can train for a swim marathon; which by definition is anything over 10k.

So, I was looking for a race that was relatively close to home and late enough in the year to give me plenty of time to train since the longest competitive swim I'd done to date was 2.4 miles. I was also looking for a fresh water race. I've done anything but play in the ocean and didn't figure my first should be in salt water with waves and tides to deal with. In the midst of my search, someone had suggest a race called 'Swim the Suck' that is held in Chattanooga, TN. I was surprised that I hadn't come across it during my resent google searches but as soon as I got home I looked it up. It was a little longer than I had originally had in mind; it's a 10 mile swim rather than 10k (only about 4 miles farther, right?), close to home being only 3 hours away and it's on October 10th, which happens to be the Saturday before Ironman Louisville this year. The race is in the Tennessee River, down steam, point to point which means you have the current working with you and it's fresh water. The only possible down side is that it follows English Channel Rules which means no wetsuit. Hopefully, this shouldn't be a problem since the average temperature has been around 70 degrees.

Registration opened on February 1st and they only allow for 100 swimmers. Historically, the race had been selling out in only a couple of hours. So, Superbowl Sunday, February 1st at noon, I was sitting at my computer with my debit card waiting to begin my registration. It took completing the registration form twice before I got it to go through. I suppose I wasn't the only one attempting to get my registration in before it sold out.

YEAH, I did it!!!

The next thought was

"OH CRAP, what have I gotten myself into."

Since I had found training plans for my past races, I thought I'd begin the search for a plan. Ha, that proved to be fruitless. Rather than finding specific plans, I was only able to find general guidelines that only gave estimated weekly yardage totals. Knowing that I needed something more concrete and specific if I was going to take this on, I got in touch with a swim coach and he was kind enough to agree to help me. Sigh......thank goodness!

At the time, I was still (kinda) training for the Kentucky Derby Mini-marathon so the plan was to get started the beginning of May. I began following a training program that my coach had put together for a group of swimmers preparing for a 5k on June 13th. The purpose was to get a good base and used the race as a stepping stone to the 'A' race. The race was a success and the furthest open water swim race I had completed finishing in 1:32:59, 2nd in my age group, 10th woman and 25th overall. My pace wasn't exactly what I was expecting and I felt like I had plenty left in the tank at the finish so I probably could have gone out harder. I had no complaints other than a stiff lower back (gotta do that core work) and I was STARVING.

I've had a week of recovery and a couple weeks of speed and tempo work. Now for the fun part. The time has come to begin increasing the weekly yardage up to about 18k over the next 4 or 5 weeks. I'm ready for the challenge even though I'm a little nervous about the whole thing.