T98 - Hope in a Sea of Chlorine - Swim

Gainesville

There was a girl I used to date who was always asking me, like most women do, what I was thinking. But this one had a particular interest in what I thought about during long training sessions with no music.

"Well, on swims," I told her, "I think about girls I've slept with, in order, to keep track of laps. Like lap one is my college girlfriend who was my first, and so on.."

"Really?!" she smiled, "So do you think about me?"

"I'll be balls deep in Ironman training before I get to you," I told her. Not sure she liked that response. This girl was #81, so today's 4000 meter swim would be as close as I would ever get to her getting a lap. Of course, I don't really employ that method anymore, so the point is moot. But it takes a swim where you do the same distance as the Ironman race to get that far in my sexual history. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

Swim - 2x2000

2 Sudafed
2 Lipodrene
I had been feeling a little sniffley and drwosy, so I took some Sudafed to clear that up maybe an hour or so before the swim, then knocked back a couple Lipodrene before heading to the GHFC pool. I didn't even bother with a warmup, as it was already about 9 p.m. and I knew I was going to be in the pool for a while. So I hit the water strong and found myself keeping a nice form with a good push for a while. Stroke felt good, glide felt good. Everything felt good. I looked up around lap 12 of the first set and saw I had done 12 laps in 10 minutes, pretty much the reverse of how it had been up until this cycle. I was pleased.

The first set went well, and I managed to get through the whole thing at a fairly even pace and finished it in 38 minutes. So looks like I went real strong the first 500 meters or so, then settled into a good race pace. Which is probably exactly what I'll need to do during the race. I took a gel and some water after the first 40 laps, but my break was probably less than a minute. I feel like this is a good simulation for the "break" between laps on the course, since you have to get out of the water and start again. I didn't feel like running around the GHFC pool deck either. That mighta looked weird.

The second 40 laps also felt strong, and I never felt myself really let up at all. About lap 20 I started to feel a small cramp in my hamstring when I pushed off the wall, and by lap 25 I started to feel cramps in my lats and forearms. Not so much I had to stop, but definitely enough that I felt it. I'm not sure if salt tabs will help this, but I am mildly concerned since if I cramp up 1000 yards from shore during the race, I'm pretty fucked. Throw in a wetsuit that makes you sweat more, and I gotta definitely figure out how to mitigate this in the next couple of weeks.

But the swim felt strong the whole time, and I ended up finishing in 80 minutes, including my break. This is right where I wanted to be, and it was nice to have a training day where I actaully met a goal and felt strong for once.

I used my outdoor goggles, since I need to get used to having those on for long periods of time. They left deep caverns on my eye sockets, making me look about 10 years more weathered than I am. And about lap 60 I really started wanting to take them off. But otherwise they worked great. I also was wondering if I can put a gel in my wetsuit to take at the halfway point on the race. I'll definitely have to look into that once the wetsuit comes in the mail. But the main thing I thought as I got out of the pool, feeling a little tired but still energized was, "Ok, pal. You ready to go and get on that bike?"