Practice run

Four weeks from today I'll be done with my swims at memphramagog. I hope they go well! We are all getting more serious about training - today we met at the lake in the afternoon for a swim. My swim buddy nick who is also doing the 200 and I decided that since the beach was still icy we would swim over to the side point and back. According to google maps it's about a quarter of a mile there and back, so twice the distance of the long swim. Seemed like a good plan!

My fingers are still a little funky from the swim at lake sunapee, so I'm still wearing gloves when I swim. I started with the 5mm gloves, but they were really clunky and didn't let me move my hands well to swim. Also, they don't dry out well, so they are really cold when I first put them on. Now I'm using the 3 mm ons, which provide enough protection that my fingers aren't freezing. I think I'm just going to keep wearing them until race day. I'm resigned to the fact that my hands will be cold on that day, and will just have to grit my teeth and get through it.

We got into the water and headed off for our swim. We quickly ran into each other - I was going across the water and nick was going along the shore. My googles fogged up, so I couldn't really see - so I just kept swimming waiting to get to shore. After a bit I heard shouting, and popped my head up. Nick was like "we're there! It's time to turn back." It was a good thing I heard him and we turned around - I was swimming at an angle and wasn't going to hit shore. 

The way back I could see the shore better, and was able to stay closer to it. But, my swim bouy kept slipping down my legs and at one point actually came off. Not sure how that happened, it's definitely not that I've lost weight. Anyhow, I could feel my body giving off that awesome burning feeling on the way  back - it feels so good, but it's also a sign that I'm getting cold. I tried to swim faster, and kind of did, I think. We got into shore and nick's wife was there with both our jackets - it's was really nice!

I did feel a little funky as I went back to my stuff - I definitely felt a little nauseous and wobbly. I was wearing wax ear things to keep the cold water out of my ears, so everything was really quiet. Once I poured out my hot water and got my hands and feet into it I started feeling better. It took me a little bit to get dressed, but I felt much better by the time I did. I was definitely shivery, but otherwise good. 

Tuesday is one of the group's birthday, but I can't be there (I'm at work and we have the president of the college coming to talk to this program that I run. gulp). So, I made a cake for today - a chocolate texas grandma sort of cake where you melt the butter and cocoa together and add the wet ingredients hot, and then you cook it really hot - at 475 for only 18 minutes. And, the frosting was also melted butter with cocoa and powdered sugar added. It was really delicious and made me feel so much better after the swim. That and some tea and I felt great! We danced a little on the beach before heading home.

According to nick it was about 36 degrees and we were in the water for 14.5 minutes, which is a pretty long swim at that temperature. I still want to do more training for race day, but I feel like I'm headed into the final stretch in good shape.