Time to Read: ~2 minI attended the Ithaca Tri Club canoe clinic so that I could attend the summer lake swims. Well, after learning that they have a 1 hour cut off for the 1.2 mile swim, I decided it was time to do a baseline mile. I haven't been swimming a full mile very often in my swim practice, so it was time! At the lake swims there won't be a chance to warm up, so I decided to just hop in and swim. I'd deal with any problems (goggles, getting winded etc) just like I'd deal with them in a race - manage them and keep going.
This went surprisingly well. It was slow like I expected, but came in at exactly 1 hour for 1.2 miles. Of course this was in a pool. There is no current, no wind, you don't have to sight or worry about swimming in a straight line!! Clearly I wouldn't come in under the 1 hour time limit. I made peace with that though - it is a progression for sure. Here is my entry from this swim in Dailymile.
Well this went great. Now that I know that there is a 1 hour cut off for the 1.2 mile lake swim (tri club group swims) I realized it is time to start practicing the mile distance in the pool before those start. I set my tempo trainer to 1.21 and just started swimming - no warm up or anything. I shared a lane with two different people and had some solo time too. Kind of proud of myself.
Never one to settle at one attempt, I decided the next week to do a 2nd pool attempt. Of course I expected this one to go even better!! I was commending myself for having taking swim lessons for a year. I had this. I have learned to enjoy the pool (never thought I'd say that) and felt ready to happily swim a mile again. My hopes were dashed when this swim was hard, sloppy and not nearly as strong as the first. My entry;
Kind of crappy actually. I was disappointed in myself because this felt scattered and hard. Kept visualizing myself drowning in the lake even though I was in 4 feet of water. Grrr.
I don't know if it was the realization that the next step was actually the LAKE or just a bad day, but I felt defeated by this swim.
I didn't intend to write about it in the blog, but then I ran into one of my swim classmates in the locker room a week later. We chatted about swimming, summer lake swims and running events. Realizing that the plan was to document this "year of swimming" and that those baseline swims were a part of the journey, they now get their own slot in the blog!!
Verdict. It is time to get into the lake. It is time to put on a wetsuit and suck it up and move forward to lake swimming. At the time of this writing, I have finished my first attempt at a lake swim, but more about that in the next post.