28Apr14 - Tinman on 2 cylinders

Today was definitely a mental toughness day.
I was hoping to do 6000 LCM and enjoy the lane setup before they go back to SCY this afternoon.
I started my warmup and I actually felt like the Tinman without oil.  Everything was STIFF and slow moving.  I could swear I heard creaking as I did each pull.
By the time I "warmed up", my energy was shot.  For some reason, I just had no energy.  I pictured myself as a Yugo car at the Indy 500.  It was that bad.  I wanted to quit.  I kept at my workout but knew there was no way I was going to make 6k.

500 WU
500 snorkel
10 (200 swim then 100 back)
6 (50 kick then 100 swim)
50 fast - hit :41
50 easy

5000 LCM
I plan on going to the GSL this afternoon for another swim.  Hopefully the open water will cheer me up.  Glad I stuck with it but my energy is still at 0!

After work today I met Chad at the GSL.  It was windy and cold.  Water temp read 56.

Red flag and standing straight out....Yeah baby!!!  Amateur hour is over

Chad and I got adjusted and headed out.  The marina was cool but very calm.  The second we left the marina, the water was choppy, 2 foot swells on average, and had an extremely strong current heading south.  We started at the first buoy and headed north.  We just wanted to follow the buoy route.  It seemed like FOREVER to get to the first buoy.  We joked about how slow our progress was.  We could feel the current fighting directly against us the whole swim.  We decided to head to the 2nd buoy.  I counted strokes.  Once I was at the buoy, I had hit 530 strokes.  It honestly made me laugh.  According to Chad's GPS, it took us 10 minutes exactly to go .2 miles!  That is a 50 minute mile against the current.  GOOD TIMES.  We decided to head back to stay closer to the marina.  I counted the strokes back, it was 167!!!  It took me almost no time to get back.  I stopped on the buoy and was holding on waiting for Chad.  He had drifted some and flew by me with lightning speed.  He popped up to see where he was and realized he was already passed me by a long shot.  I went to the buoy in front of the marina.  I was actually laughing most of the way back. It was a GREAT time.  Chad wanted to do more so we headed directly west outside the marina.  We did a few hundred strokes then turned around.  The lake is SHALLOW!  We were both able to stand...kinda.  We could put our feet down and the water was to our ribs but standing was an extreme challenge.  We headed back in and we had to swim north in order to move east.  The whole swim was 2/3 swimming and 1/3 fighting...It was GREAT.
We ended up with 1.41 miles.  Stroke count it was much more than that.  It was a challenging swim and not one for the weak of heart.  It was one of those swims where you had to be able to prove your metal to even survive much less enjoy it.

1.41 miles OW