Final training swim

I finished my six 200's in February, two a week, to prepare for the big swim. And it was intense. Now that I'm done, though, I'm really glad I did it. Today is president's day and so I have the day off work. I slept in a little and then went to yoga class. After I was meant to go for a swim with a friend, but he messaged that he wasn't feeling well. I was like "I don't want to go. It's just me, I can go on Wednesday." But then another person from the group said that she was going to come just to say hi, and I was like "fine, I'll go, but I might not swim." Of course then I got to the lake, put on all my stuff, and swam. It was hard. But now I'm so glad that I did it!

According to my watch it was 35 degrees and I swam a little over 200 meters in less than 8 minutes I think. Which is not less than five minutes, but whatever. According to my watch I did the first 200 at a 1'07" pace, and after that at a 3'44" pace. Which is just not true. So, I can confidently say that my watch isn't always correct on the pacing. Hopefully it's good enough.

Yesterday I went cross country skiing. That makes 11 times so far with the annual ski pass, just need 4 more to make it worth the cost. It's nice that there is still real snow on the tracks, so the place is a lot bigger. There is an area on the other side of the river that's a blue track that I tried for the first time last week and discovered that I love. If there's snow over there, that's my place now. The tracks wind around on the golf course, you can see the river, there are trees and it's a little less crowded. There's one big hill that's a little hard to go down, and even harder to get up. But it's really not that bad. I'm planning for some skiing during the trip to vermont and am pretty excited about it. If I like it on a golf course I think it's going to be really amazing in the woods.

One week left...

A group of us met at the lake today for some swimming. I was just going to dip and maybe play around on the ice shelf, but my friend who is doing the 200 was all "I'm going to do a practice swim!" and that motivated me to do one as well. I wasn't super psyched about it, but what can you do?

Even though it was warm out today there was no sun and a bit of a wind off the water - it felt colder than yesterday! By the time we had chatted and hung out and such I was already a little cold, but then I reasoned that being a little cold before getting into a 35 degree body of water isn't really a deal breaker. I was so not excited as I put in my ear buds, but now I'm so glad that I did the swim! Just one more on my completely unscientific training plan.

The ice shelf was pretty much in the same place as yesterday but there were more of us swimming.  I swam sort of at an angle to the ice shelf and back five times. I wore the thin gloves and no booties. My hands were pretty cold at the end. I know they will be killing me on race day! It was a tough one, but I reminded myself during the swim that I can do anything for 10 minutes and I would be so glad when it was done. Which I was. By the time I finished everyone else was out of the water and someone had poured my water into my bucket again. It felt so good to put my hands and feet into the hot water.

I spent some time reading about swim stroke yesterday and it said that you should imagine that you are rolling your arm over a barrel at the start of the pull to get a little extra oomph, making sure that your hand goes down fast so that you are forcing the water behind you instead of down. I was able to focus on this for most of my swim, and I thought maybe I was moving faster than usual, but when I got out of the water and looked at my splits it was significantly slower than yesterday. So, maybe don't try to change the swim stroke the week before the race.

We are going to go again on Monday and I will try to get in my last official swim then. I am also thinking that I will try to go on Wednesday, just to play around in the water a little, maybe with no gloves on. Or maybe I will go out to the ice shelf again and have a little fun before the big day. 

Right now I'm registered for the 200 on Saturday and the 100 on Sunday. We keep talking about doing the 50 relay on Sunday as well. Now I know I can do the 200 two days in a row (of course, with gloves. Without gloves is next level.) I will think about doing all three, but we'll see...

8 days to go

Today I met 3 friends at the lake for a swim. We got there at 4:00, which is a cutting it a little close with the sun going down. By the time everyone got there, chatted and puttered around it was about 4:30 and I was starting to get antsy because although sunset is after 5:00 the trees around the lake mean that you stop feeling any warmth from the sun before that. So, finally I just got ready, remembered to put in my ear thingies, got my goggles and thin gloves (no booties) and headed to the water. Everyone else was still fully clothed, but I was like "see you on the other side," and went for it! 

My strategy of acclimatizing is working because although it was cold, I felt fine as I started to swim. The ice had melted back and I was able to swim almost as far in each lap as usual, though not quite. I got acclimated pretty fast and was able to spend most of the swim focusing on technique, counting strokes, and trying not to hit anyone. I didn't manage to swim in a straight line, but whatever.

Towards the end of the swim I had that funny feeling that my hands were outside my gloves again, but not quite as bad. When I got out of the water one of my friends was pouring my hot water into my foot bucket for me, which was so nice! My hands and feet were so cold, it was super helpful to just be able to get them in the water without fumbling with pouring. I will say that my feet and hands are getting more used to the water now that I'm not wearing the booties and thick mittens (though I'm excited to go back to them after the Big Swim). 

We had a 4 person team for the relay last year and it seems like we are going to get one together again this year. I am now registered for the 200 and the 100, I'll have to decide if I will also add the 50 or just switch from the 100 to the 50 relay. I'm going to try to get in two more 200 swims before race day - it looks like it's going to be a warm week, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Solo 200

No one was able to join me for a swim today, so I popped over to the lake by myself at lunch time. It was beautiful out - 30 degrees with sun and almost no wind. It felt positively balmy compared to some of the recent weather. When I got to the lake, though, it was so frozen in! Even though both agitators were going by the docks the area that we usually swim in was covered with a thin (but not insignificant) layer of ice, leaving me only a short space by the shore on either side of the docks to swim. At first I was like "well that's it, I can't do it." But then I calmed myself down and made a plan. There may have been a little more space on the far side of the dock, but it was in the shade and I wasn't so excited about swimming there. The side where we usually swim was at least in the sun, and there was enough space for about 15 or so strokes with each arm before turning around. I was a little nervous, though, because there's a spillway that pulls water underground near the dam, and it was bubbling a little. So, I decided to swim on the sunny side, but to turn around well before the bubbling. 

I've been trying to acclimate my hand and feet, and went for my first dip without booties yesterday. My feet were so cold! I didn't wear booties again today and they were much better. I also wore my thinest gloves instead of the nice cozy mittens. Because my feet were bare I decided to step in off the dock, walk up to my waist, and go from there. 

For whatever reason, it was actually a pretty easy swim today! In part because I had to stay close to shore and so when I turned around I could put my feet down and push off (something that you can do on race day) and in part because of the sun. I did have to swim shorter laps of about 10-15 strokes in each direction, but I still went to about 175 strokes with each arm, which should have been a 200. For whatever reason my watch didn't pick up the distance correctly - maybe because I was swimming such short laps? At one point I did run into the ice shelf and cut up my arm a bit, but otherwise it was uneventful. When I got out I was cold, especially my feet, but not freezing. I did a quick change, got into my car, and came on home.

It's hard to believe that the Big Swim is just 11 days from now! I'm hoping to get in three more practice swims before the event. That's just 4 200's left this season hopefully. Then I can go back to playing on the ice shelf :) 

Another 200

I did my second 200 this week! I met a couple friends after work at the docks - it's so nice that the sun is going down after 5 these days so we still have sun at the end of the day. I used voice to text to message about the swim, and I accidentally sent a message that I would be there at R. The messages that get mixed up are so funny :)

It was mostly cloudy and gently snowing while we were there. I love that kind of weather, where it's so silent and everything has almost a pastel haze. One of the docks had come detached early in the winter and floated next to the other one, but when we got there today it was reattached where it belonged. Which meant that the area that I was swimming was smaller. I decided to swim on the other side of the dock, in the normal area, and maybe just have to do an extra lap and try not to hit anyone.

I did have the thinner gloves today but I forgot my crocs - I should just put them in my bag now before I forget. Anyhow, my hands were plenty cold in the gloves, I guess it's OK to wait for next time to torture my feet.

I got into the water, walked up to my waist, and went for it. Again, the first strokes were so hard, but then I could focus better on technique and breathing. I went out the the ice shelf and back 4 times before stopping to look at my watch. When I did, it looked like I was still a little short, so I did some extra strokes, and then wound up having to do more. In the end it was about 200 strokes with each arm. One thing that was nice was that I swam all the way back to the shallow part and was able to turn around and push off from there. At the other end it was slower because I had to make sure not to run into the ice shelf and and to turn with nothing to push off of. In the end I did a little over 200 meters in about 9 minutes, which is a little faster than I've been going. I think the push-off helps (which there will be two platforms at the swim fest, so double push off).

By the end of the swim my fingers especially were really cold. They felt like they were outside the gloves instead of inside, which I know isn't possible. But still I spent the last lap thinking about it anyhow. After the swim I was cold, but not too bad. In addition to jumping up and down and waving my arms around I also ran a couple laps in the parking lot to help warm up. I did have a good shiver in the car on the way home and a nice hot shower. 

Tomorrow its supposed to snow and Sunday it will be very cold - a high of 14 according to weather underground. When I looked at the forecast for northern Vermont, it's supposed to be a high of -2, without wind! I feel like if it was that cold on the festival day they would have to cancel, not for the swimmers but the judges and volunteers.

I'm hoping to get in 3-4 more practices before the big race - I can't believe it's only 15 days away!

Mock 200

Things are starting to get real - the big race is in 18 days, so I need to stop sledding into the lake, climbing on the ice shelf, and get in some practice. Today I met a couple friends at the lake at lunch time for a swim. It's been so cold and windy out that the 32 degrees with sun and no wind felt so nice. I was standing around in my dry robe feeling a little hot. Of course, once I got into the water that all changed.

I decided to do the swim on the far side of the docks because the water over there is a little more open and I thought I could swim more in each lap. Which I think was a good plan. I got in and went for it, just like at the swim fest. Again, the first 20 or so strokes were fine, then it was really hard for about 40 strokes, then it was fine again. Unfortunately something was up with my watch because it said that I only swam 88 yards, which I know isn't true. I counted my strokes and it should have been a full 200 meters, maybe more. Hopefully more, because it took me almost 10 minutes, and I think we can all agree that that's more than 5 minutes. Hopefully during race day I will be a little faster with the push off the wall instead of having to stop, turn on nothing, and then go in the other direction. 

After the swim I was so cold at first, then better, then really cold again. I tried not taking a shower when I got home, but it was killing me, so I caved and did. And it felt awesome. On race day of course I can't shower, but I will get to change in a nice warm room, and someone will bring me a hot sock filled with rice, etc. 

I do need to work a little on acclimating my hands and feet. I've been wearing booties because I don't like walking on the pavement without them. A friend brings his crocs and puts them on in the water. I think I need to try that. I did swim with gloves on today instead of the lovely mittens, but I could only find one of the thinner gloves so I had to wear my thicker ones (what can you do?) Of course when I got home I found the second one in my bag. My plan is to go for another swim on Friday at lunch and bring the thin gloves and crocks and see how it goes.

Yesterday I had my last swim lesson for the session. We did a lot of drills with different strokes, but while practicing my freestyle I really focused on tightening my core and the pull work. Hopefully they won't pull me out of the lake if I'm going too slow, but if they do they do. I don't think I will be much faster over the next 20 days. 

Sledding at the lake

We got a nice storm over the weekend - super fluffy snow that took an entire day to come down. I spent Sunday doing a puzzle and overeating and really enjoyed it. We wound up with almost 2 feet of snow, which was the largest storm in 4 years.

One of my swim friends has long wanted to sled down the hill at the lake into the water, and today we did! It was so fun. Not the longest sledding hill, but reasonable. And the splash at the end was epic. The water was 36 and the air was in the 20's. While sledding I was fine, but I had a big case of shivers on the drive home. 

Before sledding it had been such a stressful day, but once we started I immediately felt better. 10 of 10 would absolutely do again.