As I mentioned in our last post, the first open water
experience for me was a bit nerve racking. Luckily we have open water swims at
a lake nearby on Tuesday nights. So last Tuesday Pete and I ventured out to practice.
I asked him on the car ride over how far we were going to swim that night, he
said we'd go about three quarters across the lake and turn around and come
back, about 2/3 of a mile. I wasn't sure quite how that would go, but he said
we have two hours, and we'll take our time. My goal was to just get into a
steady rhythm and see how that felt.
Pete asked how I was feeling mentally before we began and I
said I was nervous, but ready to get started. We started out and Pete stopped
me after a bit to see how I was doing. I was good. I went slow and steady, and
we stopped 3 times or so on the way to our halfway point.
Sometimes I'd stop when I felt like I was going way off
course, or as much off course as a short tether would allow, but I quickly
realized
I have absolutely no sense of direction in the middle of a
lake. I have to trust that we're going straight... or straightish, and adjust whenever
I feel myself getting too far away from my guide.
We reached the half way point and I was feeling pretty surprised
that we got there so fast and that I was doing well cardiovascularly. We turned
around and only stopped twice on the way back, the first time so Pete could
show me one of the giant buoys they use on the course and once because we hit a
patch of weeds, which threw me off a bit.
We ended up only taking around 32 minutes to complete the
swim. I was really really excited about that. The kind of excited where you
just can't stop smiling for a while. After my first open water experience I wasn't
sure how it would go, but this was just the result I needed to keep going and
to start to feel really good about this portion of the race. For the first time
I really felt like the swim was going to be okay. There are still things to
work on, but I feel like I'll be able to make it.
This past Sunday we ventured back out to Square Lake and
completed a swim, again around 2/3 of a mile, and a 24 mile bike ride pretty
much back to back, with a brief pause to get the bikes ready and to get a quick
bit of food in between the two. After the bike however, we did a very brief
"brick run" thusly named as your legs feel like absolute bricks. I'm
pretty sure I muttered and cursed the entire run. I couldn't believe how
terrible my legs felt, it hurt to move, my legs felt so tight and sore. It's
like nothing I've ever felt before, and something I'm going to have to work on
after every spin class or bike ride. Bottom line, brick runs are horrible,
terrible, no good, very bad things... that are probably very good for me.
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