I did not swim yesterday. When my alarm went off, I did not feel right and even after walking around a bit to wake up, I still felt "off" and decided to go back to bed. Good decision. I did not wake up until several hours later. I guess my body needed a break.
Today my body was not so lucky! Alarm at 0400 and met with Lisa at 0500 at JN. We are doing 5 today. For some reason, I was a bit nervous about the swim today. It will be the longest swim I've done continuously this year and a real mental mark that my training is picking up so I better get my butt in gear.
We headed south to the dam then east. There was a decent wind from E to W and I swallowed a few mouthfuls of lake today. I also got knocked around a bit here and there. Nothing bad but I really needed to keep my focus. When we were about to head east, Lisa commented that our last 1/4 leg will be a breeze since we will have the wind with us. For now it was against us for awhile. Pulling my swimmer buddy behind me with my feeds became noticeable and I could feel it pulling against me. It's like swimming with an parachute on at times.
We made it to the halfway point and I was feeling good. I tried a new energy food and it was pretty good. I could feel a difference after about 10 minutes.
We swam a bit more then headed north to the buoy line. We hit the end line then decided to stick to the buoy line instead of going to the water play area as first planned.
One major problem was that by the time we got to the point of swimming with the wind and current, it was GONE. Booooo Hisssss. No love for us from the weather gods today. We got to the start and needed to do about a mile more. Lisa brought some square gel feeds with her. She saved one for me and I tried it out. She does not take water feeds while swimming, just these little cubes of energy once and awhile. I ate it and it was tough to chew. Once I got it broken down, it glued my teeth together at times like I was eating a sugar daddy. Once I got it down, I could then feel it in my stomach for the next 20 minutes. They work great for Lisa but not so much for me. Always good to try new feeds though.
We went east again until we hit 8000 yards, we then turned around and headed back to the start. We finished with exactly 8800 yards. 5 miles on the nose!
I felt exuberant. I was full of energy and found myself regretting not bringing more feeds because I wanted to do more. It is kinda the same routine for me each swim now:
Mile 0-2 = I'm sore and complaining in my head a lot. I can not get a good rhythm down and questioning why I'm even doing this.
Mile 3-4 = Starting to feel good. Aches are gone and I am extending my stroke and getting stronger pulls. My pace picks up and I can feel power in my arm rotation.
Mile 4+ = I feel like I just got in the lake and am full of energy. Some swims I am tired at this point but that is not the norm. I want to do more and keep swimming all day. I am mentally sharp and my stroke is strong. Putting myself up near my red line and holding it there seems to last forever.
Instead of being nervous about next Friday, which is 7 miles, I am looking forward to it. I will bring more feeds than needed in case I decide to do more.
Again, I am grateful to Lisa for joining me and helping me train. She is always in good spirits and it is always nice to swim with someone else. No matter what my plan is, she just says, "OK" and we go! Love it.
5 miles OW
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