training stuff
Last Saturday was the big day: a small group of us drove down to Whidbey Island to swam the Whidbey Adventure Swim. I was the only one who swam the long course (2.4 miles), everyone else opted for the short course (1.2), although they had all done the long one in the past. I have never done this one before, and it's a really lovely swim.
Swim 3.11
Date: May 11, 2025
Time in water: 1:10:31
Water Temp: 57°F
Air Temp: high 50s
Where: AM/PM Beach, Lake Whatcom
Neoprene: Sleeve-less wetsuit
Twice around the island, with a bit of wind! Felt pretty good, just a touch of pain in my bicep. This is my longest time in water so far this year, and it will be my longest before Whidbey. I'm very happy I did this swim and felt fine afterwards, because I've been really waffling on if I think I can manage 2.4 miles. This swim was 1.8 miles...certainly still quite short, but not too far off, and the temperature is about what it will be on "race" day. More on this later.
I've been swimming a lot, which is great! I feel weird saying that 59 degree water is "cold" but it is, currently, to me. So "cold" is more of a feeling, then a number!
Well hello there! I have a lot of to catch up on, but for now, I thought I'd just go straight back into the cold water swim logs. I have found these incredibly useful for gauging swim times, especially since I haven't been cold swimming in years.
Although I admit it's also a little defeating when I look back and see posts like this one, where I swam for 55 minutes in 53ºF water, no neoprene at all, and it was my "first good shiver of the season". Today I swam for 35 minutes at that temperature, with a wetsuit, and I was a shivery afterwards. I know that it's dumb to compare, since I had been swimming multiple times per week for a few years at that point. It's hard not to! But that means I can get there again, if I want. Onwards!
I should say from the outset, before I launch into a long winded explanation of why I DNF’d, that I actually met nearly all of my goals for signing up for this race.
We needed a long term goal to get us back to something of a pre-pandemic life. 2018 Santa Rosa was such a bad time for me–bad attitude during training and a bad attitude during the race–that I really wanted to have fun with triathlon again. I wanted to train hard, but also enjoy it. I wanted to go into the race with a sense of calm, determination, and gratitude. And honestly, I think I did achieve that.
I discovered something about myself this year.
My cold water season kind of petered out last year; I didn't swim nearly as much as the year before, my swims were filled with more stress then fun, and my attempt at the 24 hour relay did not go well (I signed up for 45 minute shifts, but only managed 2 before I had to drop back to 30 minutes). I felt a bit lost, depressed and aimless. And then covid hit.