training stuff
When I looked out at Lac Massawippi from the shore, the wind pushing the water away from us, I felt calm. I had 9 miles of swimming ahead of me, which was 3 miles longer than my longest swim to date, but I felt ready. I only had to swim 30 minutes, then swim another 30, and on and on until I touched the rock wall at the other end. One stroke, and then another.
In the end, I swam over 50 miles in 18 days for my Swimapalooza, I can hardly believe it. My final day was Saturday, culminating in my first 6 mile/10 kilometer swim around Hagg Lake. It was nothing short of glorious. The water was calm and the boats were sparse. Couldn’t have asked for a better day.
I’m proud to say I’ve stuck with my goal of swimming every day, and I had my biggest week ever at 27,000+ yards (over 15.5 miles)! And my shoulder doesn’t hurt, I can hardly believe it.
I haven’t been feeling particularly confident about the status of my swim fitness with the NEK Week Swims looming on the horizon. After my 10,000 yard swim back in early April, I messed up my shoulder and never quite got back in the groove again. My trip to the San Juans included zero swimming, and my planned 10km qualifier swim keeps getting pushed and pushed because of events or temps or this or that. However, it just so happened that a few weeks ago I quit my job and find myself with 2.5 weeks of unplanned vacation. What to do….
I’ve been watching fellow swimmers clock 3-6 hours in the pool, thinking to myself _no fucking way can I stare at that black line for that long_. For some reason yesterday I decided I needed to accomplish a 10,000 yard swim.
Someone asked me today about these super short cold water swims, feeling like she wasn’t getting “exercise”. I told her I don’t think of this as exercise at all (although you do burn a bunch of calories rewarming). It’s a physical and mental challenge, it’s social hour, it’s a refreshing ice bath, but no it’s not exercise. That seemed to switch a light on for her, in the way she was framing the whole activity. It can feel like a huge waste of time; we meet at 10:30am, get ready for maybe 20-30 minutes, swim for 10-15 minutes, and sit around shivering for another 40-60 minutes. So basically I’m gone for for 2.5-3 hours for a 10 minute activity. Yeah if you’re trying to have an efficient work out, this ain’t it.
I stood knee-deep in the water, staring out at Janie, who was already swimming away from me. “Wait!” I yelled, wading in mid-thigh. From there, the small shore on Haydn Lake dropped sharply, 12 feet at least. I could see the tangle of seaweed growing on the lake’s bottom through the clear water, and I knew once I was in I had to swim hard away from shore to avoid it touching my feet. But the water felt cold to my 11 year old self.
For some time, most of my personal goals are athletic, and most of those are around either speed or distance: completing an event at a certain ranking or time, or just racing some distance I’ve never done before. Or in the case of Ironman, both at the same time (because of course you would set time goals for something you’ve never done before…) After Santa Rosa, I took the summer off from goals and challenges (except the challenges that come with selling and buying homes). So as summer started winding to a close, I was feeling ready to do something with purpose. However, most of the things I do start training in January.
Two and a half years ago I raced the High Cascades 100, a 100 mile mountain bike race around Bend, Oregon. In typical Kristin fashion, I raced without a Garmin, without a bike computer, without even so much as a watch. I hardly looked at the course map or elevation profile (I dunno, we climb up Mount Bachelor a few times, whatevs). Unsurprisingly, around what was probably mile 40 I thought I was like 80% of the way through. So I went into some dark places later in the race.
My alarm goes off on Friday morning at 6am. I am a light sleeper, so even the slightest whisper of alarm wakes me up fully. I lay in bed for a few minutes, thinking of only one thing: how cold the water is going to be for that first lap around the pool.