Thursday, June 10, 2010

EYE Opener

The day had arrived for my first open water swim of the year…heck this was my first OW swim in over 2 years. In my mind I knew others would be joining us at Clemson for this Lake swim. There would be kayak’s and tons of swimmers. This would make the swim even safer. In my mind I even pictured there being little rest stops as we headed out to the farthest buoy... well not really. In reality it was six of us girls that arrived together to only join two other men in this swim. LOL! My friend pointed out that if we swam to the farthest buoy it would be 800 meters. Set… this was my goal. Out and back.

Once in the water and swimming I stopped from time to time to correct my direction. The water was slightly choppy but nothing too bad. I also noticed that the turnaround seemed to be moving further away from me. 800 meters out is a long freaking way people! I swam for what seemed like forever and finally reaching my target. I was thrilled!! Then I turned around and realized that the longer I paused there the more energy I was wasting so I got right back to work. The second half went much better than the first. I seemed more in rhythm. Nothing great but just better. As I reached the shore I was thrilled beyond belief!! 1600 meters…. Unreal!!!! Finished in 50 minutes and some change.

A semi quick transition and we all started our run.

Mile 1 – 8:39

Mile 2 – 8:38

Mile .35 – 8:59 (super steep hill)

What a great way to spend an evening! Although I have a ton of work to do on my swim I do feel more confident that my OW Tri at the end of the month will go much better now.

Shop ride with the hubby and a ton of friends tonight. Saturday I have a team 8k run and then we are rolling out on our bikes right after for 2 hours. Sunday we will top off the week with a 4-5 hour ride. Then some needed down-time!!

Rinse and repeat next week. This is living!!

Robin

7 comments:

Dave said...

Wow...that is impressive...1600M open water swim...and I am thinking after listening to you and Missy...yep...It is a living. You don't even know how good of shape you are in.

Wes said...

and I thought you were a cycling lady ;-)

ShirleyPerly said...

Yep, triangular or rectangular swim courses are much nicer as they break up long distances more.

Great job on your OWS!!!

Marlene said...

CONGRATS on the swim! That is an enormous distance for your first OWS in 2 years!

teacherwoman said...

Way to follow-up a strong swim with a speedy run! Awesome!

Grey Beard said...

I admire anyone who can love swimming.

Swim team in HS was 8,500 yrds a day, then upped to 12,500 with morning and evening swim practice. Green hair, gills, ate everything in sight, and never enough time to sleep. Of course, growing 4" in those 4 months was a big part of the problem.

Perhaps I will acquire a taste for it again. There's probably gonna be a woman in the mix when and if that day comes :-O ... just sayin

Judi said...

sounds great! i am living vicriously thru you and your triathlons. im gonna miss them this year. but i will be signing up for imky 2011 soon. can't wait.