Monday, January 30, 2006

Longest. Swim. Ever.

Done! The longest swim for me ever: 2550 meters. Yep, that's right, EVER. Except maybe at Eagleman last June I was probably far enough off course to have swum that far, but it wasn't on purpose - in theory that course was only 1931 meters long.

My swim coach Yurtie from Australia sent me a workout that I've been scared of tackling for a week and a half now, and put off and put off, but today I finally did it to the letter (except when I forgot my lap count and did one extra):
  • 250 m freestyle, 30 sec rest
  • 150 m freestyle, 30 sec rest
  • 100 m freestyle, 30 sec rest
  • 50 m freestyle, 30 sec rest
  • Repeat above
  • 200 m kicking with fins
  • 800 m straight freestyle (this took me 27:41)
  • 100 m breaststroke
  • 4 x (25 m slow, 25 m fast) (fastest 25 m was 38.83)
  • 100 m cooldown
I couldn't stand the thought of attempting what passes for "speedwork" with me after that long 800m swim, but I did my best to get it done. I'm glad I didn't add it all up beforehand or it would have seemed even tougher than it was.

At one point I thought, "Jeez, I haven't done any breaststroke yet at all today! And last year at this time I would have done about 75% breaststroke!"

But mostly I thought, "My swimming sucks." The whole workout took me an hour and forty minutes. That's a long time to have "My swimming sucks" stuck in your head. One of my new goals for the year is to get up to 20 laps completed before the "my swimming sucks" thoughts start taking over my brain.

Somebody in the little nasty pool locker room had left a shower running full blast on HOT and apparently walked out and it was nearly impossible to breathe in there! Plus somebody, probably the same person, had left a plugged-in blow dryer sitting inside the sink with a big wad of hair. Gross.

But not as gross as the pool, which was so cloudy that I could hardly see the bottom 4 feet away from my nose. I tried to tell myself it was just good practice for swimming blind in the murky Choptank River next June.

Note to self: Next time bring a snack or mix up some Gatorade for anything over an hour swim!

14 comments:

TriZilla said...

Great Job, Nancy!

Hmm, about this swimming sucks thing... How about a positive mantra to repeat... like... I am a dom-in-at-ing swimmer. Repeat it over and over... and pretty soon, you WILL be. I daresay you are now!

I just have this thing about negative thoughts during workouts. They tend to drag me down. So, I just combat them with equal force. :)

Nancy Toby said...

Good idea! Usually I do pretty well to force myself to stay positive when I'm running or biking, even when I feel like crap. I don't know what it is with the swimming. Maybe it's the choking and not being able to breathe thing?

I'll try that!!

Kim said...

OH my word! That was an amazing swim! You should be SOOOOO proud of yourself. That's a long time to be in the water.
GREAT JOB!

Flo said...

Yea Nancy!!!!! Good job. Knowing how boring swimming laps are I applaud your outstanding performance today. I, on the other hand, skipped swimming this morning due to some lingering intestinal distress. Hopefully I'll get to the pool tomorrow.

soozey said...

Super swim--
Thanks for the info about track running. That is one great---and very obsessed---site. I will now only be running in the inside lane at my track. :)

tri-mama said...

I'd have a hard time being positive in yucky swimming pool myself- way to go on the swim.
And, if the mayo jar is full of MPH parts, it means you have a clean basement and need to get out for coffee with friends :)-dare I say even Irish coffee?

Anonymous said...

Very impressive Nancy! Great job!

Speed will come after endurance.

I'm with Mipper, "just keep swimming" is a great mantra to zone out to :)

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

Great swim, but you deserve a nice gym, girlfriend!

Dianne W. said...

Jen and mipper are RIGHT ON! You WILL NOT say anything negative more than once. Stop. Reframe.

I am a great swimmer. My freestyle is amazing.
Close your eyes and SEE yourself swimming with strong strokes. IM distance is a BREEZE. FEEL how strong you are in the water.

It works for the big dogs and it'll work for you.

Just keep swimming
just keep swimming
just keep swimming swimming swimming...

Ellie Hamilton said...

Your swimming does not suck!! If it did you would have been pulled down the drain and not written this post.

You done us proud!

Chris said...

That's awesome progress! If your progress since last year is any indication, I'm sure you'll be at that 20 lap happy place soon! :) Keep up the great work!

Sixteen Chickens said...

Great job Nancy! Your swimming doesn't suck, anybody who can swim that routine so obviously does NOT suck. Keep up the good work.
P.S. What is up with the water in that pool? Somebody should be testing it if it is that cloudy, who knows what might be causing it. ugh. yuck.

Nancy Toby said...

I agree about the pool. It's crappy. They do test it (I think hourly) and I believe the pH was high, making it cloudy. But still, it's no fun to swim in that. I'll start looking for a different pool for weekdays, I think. The big advantage is that it's very close to us, little travel time involved. I have the new one on weekends, want to get settled in that routine first.

Comm's said...

that is so awesome nancy.