Just a little over 2 weeks ago, my farthest swim had only been just short of 4 miles. But, I'm 3 weeks into a 4 week build and I've managed to swim distances I knew were coming but hadn't actually accomplished. About 2 1/2 weeks ago, I met with my coach to discuss what the plans were for the coming weeks. At the time, I was feeling uneasy about the seemingly fast approaching race day and my perceived lack of 'really' long swims. So, that Saturday, I had a 2 1/2 hour swim on the schedule.
After my last open water swim training session at Taylorsville Lake and the low water levels that I had to navigate, I knew that I would have to find a different training venue since we have had very little rain over the last couple of weeks. So, I opted to head for Westport, a small community on the Ohio River not far from where I live. I had never swum there but after looking online and asking a few other swimmers, it seemed to be the best choice. Because swimming 2 1/2 hours (which I suspected would get me right around 5 miles) wasn't hard enough, I had a 5k race to run that morning. So, rather than swimming early, the plan was to hit the water about 1pm. Much to my surprise, the water was cool. Not cold but much cooler than the pools have been the last couple of weeks. After getting the kayak in the water, I started down stream. I was going to swim down stream toward 18 Mile Island where there was a channel between the island and the shore. I hoped there would be calm waters with little boat traffic once in the channel. I was right. The water was calmer and the boats I passed were moving slowly or anchored so I wasn't fighting much chop. It was about 1 mile from the boat launch to the island and another 1.5 miles to the end of the island. When I got to the end of the island and looked at my watch, I was at about 1:10 into the total 2:30 swim. Knowing I was going to have to swim upstream back to boat launch, I turned back. Taking in nutrition approximately every 30 minutes alternating Infinite with trail mix and water, I never felt a slump in the energy. I did have a little trouble with leg cramps at about the 3.5 mile marker. I'm sure this had something to do with the 5k run I'd done that morning. When I got back to the boat launch, I was surprised by how good I felt. My arms were tired but I wasn't starving and felt like I could have swam further. Come Sunday afternoon, my right should was sore but stretching and alternating heat with ice seems to help.........A LOT.
This past weekend offered it's own set of challenges. The plan was to get in total of 12k over 2 days. That's between 7-8 miles. With my work schedule and my sons cross country practice/meet schedule, the plan was to swim 5k Friday morning in the pool then the remaining 7k Saturday morning in the river. Friday morning, I hit the 86 degree pool. I swam continuously for 5100 yards stopping only for some liquid nutrition and water every 30 minutes. Then, later in the day, as I was figuring out the schedule for Saturday so I could finalize my plans, I realized there was no way to drop my son off at the bus for his meet, get in my 7000 swim, get a shower, drop the kayak and then get to the meet for his race in the time I had available. So, plan B. I made plans to swim 7000 yards in the pool. Yep, 4 miles in the pool; 25 yards at a time. I got to the pool at 7am, right when they opened; a different pool than the day before so the water was much cooler. I had the lane almost completely to myself for the first hour. But then, I was informed during a nutrition stop that they were going to close 2 of the 3 lap swim lane for a water aerobics class. This was going to cram about 8 lap swimmers into 1 lane. So, we all talked for a moment to figure out who would go first and how we would handle passing each other if necessary. I was elected to lead off and if someone needed to pass, we would tap the foot of the swimmer in front of us and pass at the next wall. This worked like a charm. As much as I hate to circle swim, it was a nice change of pace since I still had another 3200 to finish. The circle swimming continued for about 30 minutes when the other swimmers started to get out of the water as they finished their swims and I just kept on swimming. Ugh, whose bright idea was this? Well, I hit the 7000 yard mark in 1:48. That's a 1:31/100 yard pace. Faster than I swam the 5k the morning before. I was pleased with the swim and relieved that was over. Hope I don't have to do that again but it was a good mental training day.
I have one more week in this 4 week build that has me swimming somewhere between 7.5 and 8 miles this weekend. I'll definitely find a way to do that in the open water. Next week is a recovery week and I am definitely looking forward to it. Just short of 5 weeks until race day. Ok, I'm off to the pool but first, another cup of coffee. #theSuckorBust
No comments:
Post a Comment