7Aug17

Left my house for JN and the sky was clear and the moon was big and beautiful.  This was going to be a great swim in the dark.  Met Lisa at 0500 but at JN, there was massive cloud coverage and nothing could be seen.  We were both a bit disappointed.  When we got in, we both noticed that not only the air was cooler, but the water was too.
The plan was for 6.  Lisa said she wanted to go to the dam and back twice then some buoys to make up the rest to get to 6.  Sounds good to me.
I started out slow and achy as usual but getting to the dam did not seem to take too long.  I started to feel decent at this point.  Quick drink and back we went.  Lisa took off and about 20 minutes into going back, my body started to shut down.  I felt myself slowing down and I became tired.  I lost motivation to be out there and I had to really focus on what I was doing.
I made it back but told Lisa that considering coming back was a struggle, it was probably not safe to be that far from shore again.  She agreed and said it was probably best to do the 1 mile route we know.  I took a feed and tried a new flavor of buzz bite.  If these don't kick in then I'm done after 4.
About halfway between mile 3 and 4 the food and buzz bite kicked in.  I felt great and the caffeine put me on HIGH alert.  When I was finishing the 4th mile, Lisa was already out and dressed.  I asked her to get dressed and do one more with me.  It was a pipe dream request.  She looked a bit chilly and I could tell she was done.  The cold today was noticeable and having to wait for me probably froze her out.
I took another liquid feed and took off for another mile as Lisa went home.  I paced myself and felt pretty good.  I finished mile 5 and at this point, it was lightly raining and the wind was picking up.  I called it after 5.
Considering I lost the will to swim before 3 and was seriously considering stopping at 4, I am glad I did 5.  It is less than what I intended but more than I expected after how I felt after mile 2.  I just need to keep that in mind.  If I feel that bad again, just let the food and caffeine do their thing and be patient.  It was still smart that I stayed close to shore for safety reasons.  Going back out to the dam would have made sure I finished at 6 but that would have been foolish.

5 miles OW