More Adventures in Open Water Swimming

There I was, back at the lake again. It was cloudy and cold, but calm. The water was glass. I had a friend with me who was a very competent swimmer. She left it up to me as to where and how far we would swim. I decided on a couple warmup loops close to shore before heading across the lake. It was a quarter mile swim across and I felt strong and relaxed this time, if not especially speedy.

After arriving at our destination, we chose another point to swim to further up the lake, adding another quarter mile. I arrived at our second resting spot feeling good and so with encouragement from my buddy, we decided to swim the full half mile straight back to the swim beach where we had originally started.

The trickiest part of this portion was sighting. The beach was a long way off and at one point I looked up and realized I was swimming in a circle! Yikes. Redirect. This was followed by a bit more zigzagging by both of us until we reached the shore. I'm not sure how much we added on to the distance by swimming slalom, but I finished feeling strong and picked up the pace for the final 100 meters.

I DID IT!!! I swam a whole mile in the lake. Our last half mile took us twenty minutes,well, really me, because my friend kept getting ahead of me and then swimming back. If I can keep up that pace for the swim portion of my upcoming triathlon I will be out of the water in a reasonable forty minutes, with my legs still fully rested, as I have given up using my kick at all. I can do the whole swim without kicking at all due to all the balance drills I have been practicing using the Total Immersion drill series. In the end, that is what has brought me to the place where I can comfortably swim a full mile without tiring. If I keep it up, I know I will eventually get faster. An added benefit is that my legs will be fully ready to cycle and run, which are my strong suits.

I'm actually starting to look forward to this Olympic Distance Triathlon. Who would have thought? Probably everybody I know except me. LOL.


Michelle's Swim Training for Olympic Distance Tri:
Week 1: Wed.- TI Drills; 10x100 w/ 8 rest breaths; Thurs. - same as Wednesday
Week 2: No swimming (family vacation)
Week 3: Wed. - TI Drills; 10x100 w/ 6  breaths; Thurs. - same as Wednesday but took more rests at wall
Week 4: Wed. - TI Drills, 12x100 w/ 6-8 breaths; Thurs. - same as Wed.
Week 5: Wed. - TI Drills, 12x100 w/ 6 breaths
Week 6: Tues. - Drills, 12x100 (6 breaths); Thurs. - TI Drills, Swim w/ fists, pull buoy, 12x100 w/ 6 recovery breaths and half with no kick
Week 7: Tues.- 800 yds.
Week 8: Tues.- Lake swim 800 yds.
Week 9: Tues.-Lake swim 650 yds.; Thurs.- Lake swim 800 yds; Sat.-Lake Swim 800 yds.
Week 10: Mon.-(pool) 1500 straight w/ pull buoy; Wed.-(pool) 800 yds.; Thurs.- Lake Swim 1750 yds.
Race Week: !!!!!??????