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!