Time to Read: ~2 minAfter finding moderate success swimming in the lake the day prior, I was eager to get right back in. After all, even with my moderate success I was very far from anything "tri worthy" in the lake. Last year, I panicked near the first or 2nd buoy and flipped over to my back. I ended up completing the entire distance using the backstroke.
I promised myself that I would swim freestyle and enjoy the swim this year. This promise took the form of a year of Total Immersion Swim lessons with Master Coach Shane Eversfield, and now it is culminating with a month of practice in the lake.
Pitting Cherries helped me Swim!
On July 5th we picked Cherries! We had lots and lots of sour cherries. I had to pit half of the almost 30 pounds that we picked. As I stood picking them the morning before we headed out for the swim I realized,
Cherry picking is boring. Progress is slow and it seems like it takes forever to see a change in the bucket. It isn't so much that it is difficult, just tedious and slow. Just like swimming is for me.
I vowed to remember this when I was in the water. I could do this. I just needed to get into a stride, find a comfortable rhythm and swim the way Shane taught me to.
Choppy Water
Late in the morning on Monday July 6th, the kids and I hopped into the car and headed to Kathey's house. They were excited to kayak for me together. Elizabeth is 14 and very capable in the kayak and Xander enjoys kayaking too. He was excited to be in the boat and not really have to paddle. I totally trusted them to be my support for this third lake swim.
I realized I forgot my tempo trainer as we headed down to Kathey's house. Luckily Kathey also took Shane's classes and had one that I could borrow. I donned my wetsuit and walked out to the dock. I would start from the dock today; no booties.
The kids paddled out, and off we went. The lake was really rough with a strong current going against me. While scared, I was happy about this because you really can't control what the weather brings you on race morning. I know that practicing in rough water is a good opportunity. The first half of this swim went much better than the day prior. I still had water in my goggles twice at the start. I realized this was mostly about the position of the tempo trainer and got it sorted out after the 2nd time it happened. I flipped onto my back once and had a big wave crash on me. I was breathing heavily and a little freaked out but there was no hyperventilating today!!
Soon we reached the turnaround point. There were moments when I considered stopping early. After all there was no rule saying I must finish the half mile, right? Yes there was - this was MY goal today and I would meet it!
With the current
And the beauty of rough water is the way back!! Suddenly the current was with me and I felt its gentle push as I swam. The way back was completely uneventful. I swam without stopping to lay on my back or fix goggles. Soon we were back at the dock in just over 26 minutes (my swim time from last year for 750 meters when I did the backstroke was 25:07).