Turned a Corner

Yesterday (Friday) I went to the pool to do my first "long" swim. I've been doing Master's swim on Mondays and Wednesdays and would either swim at the lake on Friday or not swim at all (due to lack of a sitter or something else). And before Master's started, I was swimming at the lake on Mondays. But I couldn't get to the lake yesterday so had to go to the pool to get some distance in.

And I should say one more thing. Jade, one of our local triathletes who has done several IM races, told me that he would do Master's on Mon and Weds and then swim nonstop for an hour on Fridays - that was how he got ready for the Florida IM. So that has been my plan all along.

But I was dreading it. Going to the pool when no one is there is vastly different than Master's swim. There's no one there to crack the whip or commiserate with and it's very quiet....really, its silent in the pool, save for the sound of splashing water IF anyone else is there (Fridays are always quiet after 8:00 PM).

And the thought of just swimming back and forth, back and forth, back and forth for one hour by myself was not appealing at all.

But, when I got there, there were 2 men swimming, one of which I knew (Steve). I got in the lane next to him so we could chat for a bit before starting. Steve likes to talk a lot and I didn't have much time so I needed to cut the conversation short but it was nice to see someone I knew.

I started off...one lap, two laps, three laps...look at my watch (its only been 5 mins)....4 laps, 5 laps, 6 laps....look at my watch. Its gonna be a loooonnnnnngggg hour, for sure. Then, all of a sudden, I found myself getting into a rhythm. My arms felt good and the water felt great. My mind started to wander and before I knew it, 30 mins had past - woo hoo!!!!!

Long story short, I ended up having a fantastic swim! I feel like I turned a major corner in my swimming. I went on to swim for a total of 55 mins but felt like I could've easily gone longer. My arms were tired but a "good" tired. They were not toast, like they've been many times before. I must be getting stronger. AND I found myself looking FORWARD to my next long swim!

I really, really needed this to happen and it came so unexpectedly! One thing I've learned about training for an IM is that its constantly up and down...you never know how you will feel and how things will go. But overall, things just keep getting better and I like that!

Today I am running long with my running buddies and then tomorrow its a 5 hr ride with some of the same folks. The weather is supposed to be great and I can't wait!