The Blue Mile

I love a good Saturday morning swim! I love it even more when Tom and the boys join me at the YMCA.

The night before we traveled to Highland for the football game and enjoyed watching Mason and the team win the second of their two divisional matchups for the season. On the way home I announced that I would be going for a swim the next morning and everyone was welcome to join me at 7:30 am. Tom, Connor, and Parker were all interested and I was happy to have them come along.

Tom played a lot of raquetball in college and liked the idea of reacquainting himself with the sport. Connor stated he'd like to give racquetball a try and Parker's plan was to workout then shoot hoops until I was done with laps.

We were running a little late, of course, and I got to the pool at about 8:10 am. I was determined to stay in the pool until I had completed at least one mile which is 44 laps / 88 lengths. I didn't think it would be a problem since the last time I swam in this pool I completed 35 laps in about 40 minutes. I still haven't quite figured out when is the best time for me to swim and under what conditions. I usually have more energy during the swim if I eat before I go but then I have to deal with all the regret associated with what's residing in my stomach. I opted for my standard protein shake and vitamins and was curious to see how I reacted to that. I didn't experience anything unpleasant associated with the combination but I was dragging....

I've discovered that it takes me about 10 laps to really get warmed up and into a groove. I shared the pool with one other swimmer.....the teen-something girl I was so impressed with during my very first swim. She was still a machine but I didn't feel nearly as lame this time around. As with Slappy in Seattle, I discovered that my stroke is fairly efficient compared to the standard Red Cross crawl.

I HATE counting laps!!! I love to let my mind wonder when I'm swimming and the task of keeping track of what lap I'm on is really annoying. (I decided that my first job when I returned home was to order a lap counter.) Once I hit lap 20 I was feeling pretty good until I noticed that this series of 10 was taking FOREVER! I don't know if I lost track or if I just hit a bad groove but I didn't think I would ever make it to 22, which is halfway, much less 30. It's times like these that I have to dig deep and realize that swimming across the channel is going to play with my mind a lot more than swimming a measly mile in the pool. (another reason I MUST have a lap counter) I'm pretty well versed in the art of self-talk and self-motivation as long as I have a good attitude. I'm also very accomplished at tearing myself down and defeating my best intentions.

This time, I refused to let myself fail and kept on swimming..... Once I exited the 20's, the next 14 laps went relatively quickly. Wait.....I just completed my first official mile!! YEAH!!
I have a very long way to go.....about 29 miles.....but when I think back to the beginning, the progress is good!

My new short-term goal is to increase my rate and endurance to complete two miles per hour by January 1st. I begin training under the direct tutelage of my coach in a week or so and I'm sure he can help me accomplish this.