What a great swim!
First off...I swam 1.44 miles which is a big milestone as the longest distance I have gone in open-water.
Second off...After the last swim, I was going to make a goal of 1.9mph a future goal...I made that on the very next (this) swim!
It was really foggy and wet this morning. Although the majority of the country is going through a massive heatwave right now, up here in Seattle it has struggled to get above 65 degrees...AND IT IS AUGUST! This was one of those mornings where the water and air temperature were about the same...probably about 60 degrees.
When I got in the water I was barely able to see the houses across the lake. I decided to swim across to those houses and then follow the dock line all the way down to the far end of the lake.
When I was completing the swim and it was time to swim across the lake to the park, the fog really rolled in. I wasn't able to make out anything across the lake except for a faint tree line up in the sky. At one point, I got pretty disoriented and had to use sound to help me out. There was construction on a home not to far away from where I started. I wasn't nervous because it was a small lake...but at the same time it was an eerie experience to not really know what direction to go in and be out in the middle of a body of water. You can see that in the big "looping" shape at the end of the swim...I was trying to find the park.
Even though it is not my goal, I feel that I was pretty comfortable doing a Half-Ironman distance swim. (1.2 miles)
All in all...It was a very encouraging morning. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to swim it.
So the breakdown of the numbers is like this:
-I would have completed an Olympic Triathlon Swim (.93 miles) in ~26:00-27:00.
-I would have completed a Half Ironman swim in ~35:00-37:00.
-If I could keep this pace for a Full Ironman, it would put me about 1:15:00 which would keep me ahead of the majority of the crowd and in more free water.
-I have gone the farthest distance I have ever gone, and I probably had another .3 miles in me.
I am really impressed with the times that I got. I think that I can attribute the time to 2 swim tips that I have had to figure out:
-Forcing my face down in the water. Naturally, My wetsuit pulls down and back on my shoulders and arches my back. If I don't voluntarily flex my muscles then it has my body slightly bent backwards that causes me to stick my chest out and tilt my head up instead of straight ahead. In the water, this doesn't make for great hydro-dynamics. So I forced my face down in the water. This pulls on the wetsuit, which opens up my shoulders, closes my chest, and straightened out my back. You can try it while reading this: put your shoulders down and back and look up at the ceiling. Pay attention to your chest sticking out. In water, that adds resistance. Then relax your shoulders and put your chin down near your chest. Pay attention to how NO PART of your body sticks out...No resistance. It changes the entire dynamic of your back. So in the water, I keep my face down so low that water tries to enter my nose.
-From mile .2 to mile .6, I worked on "Humming" and exhaling while I swam. This is where it appears that I was swimming the fastest. Historically, I have kept my air in my lungs while I swam to keep the gasses in my lungs. Without a wetsuit it is very difficult for me to float. I use a lot more of my legs which burns more oxygen. Keeping gasses in my lungs would assist me with floating. I haven't had any problems with exhaling and inhaling when I raise my head out of the water, but I gave exhaling underwater a shot to see how I did. Looking at the numbers, there does appear to be a difference. Unfortunately, without the wetsuit it makes swimming much more difficult without the buoyancy of the gasses in my body so I will have to keep that in mind in a pool and training.
What a great and encouraging morning. Thank you God!
First off...I swam 1.44 miles which is a big milestone as the longest distance I have gone in open-water.
Second off...After the last swim, I was going to make a goal of 1.9mph a future goal...I made that on the very next (this) swim!
It was really foggy and wet this morning. Although the majority of the country is going through a massive heatwave right now, up here in Seattle it has struggled to get above 65 degrees...AND IT IS AUGUST! This was one of those mornings where the water and air temperature were about the same...probably about 60 degrees.
When I got in the water I was barely able to see the houses across the lake. I decided to swim across to those houses and then follow the dock line all the way down to the far end of the lake.
When I was completing the swim and it was time to swim across the lake to the park, the fog really rolled in. I wasn't able to make out anything across the lake except for a faint tree line up in the sky. At one point, I got pretty disoriented and had to use sound to help me out. There was construction on a home not to far away from where I started. I wasn't nervous because it was a small lake...but at the same time it was an eerie experience to not really know what direction to go in and be out in the middle of a body of water. You can see that in the big "looping" shape at the end of the swim...I was trying to find the park.
Even though it is not my goal, I feel that I was pretty comfortable doing a Half-Ironman distance swim. (1.2 miles)
All in all...It was a very encouraging morning. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to swim it.
So the breakdown of the numbers is like this:
-I would have completed an Olympic Triathlon Swim (.93 miles) in ~26:00-27:00.
-I would have completed a Half Ironman swim in ~35:00-37:00.
-If I could keep this pace for a Full Ironman, it would put me about 1:15:00 which would keep me ahead of the majority of the crowd and in more free water.
-I have gone the farthest distance I have ever gone, and I probably had another .3 miles in me.
I am really impressed with the times that I got. I think that I can attribute the time to 2 swim tips that I have had to figure out:
-Forcing my face down in the water. Naturally, My wetsuit pulls down and back on my shoulders and arches my back. If I don't voluntarily flex my muscles then it has my body slightly bent backwards that causes me to stick my chest out and tilt my head up instead of straight ahead. In the water, this doesn't make for great hydro-dynamics. So I forced my face down in the water. This pulls on the wetsuit, which opens up my shoulders, closes my chest, and straightened out my back. You can try it while reading this: put your shoulders down and back and look up at the ceiling. Pay attention to your chest sticking out. In water, that adds resistance. Then relax your shoulders and put your chin down near your chest. Pay attention to how NO PART of your body sticks out...No resistance. It changes the entire dynamic of your back. So in the water, I keep my face down so low that water tries to enter my nose.
-From mile .2 to mile .6, I worked on "Humming" and exhaling while I swam. This is where it appears that I was swimming the fastest. Historically, I have kept my air in my lungs while I swam to keep the gasses in my lungs. Without a wetsuit it is very difficult for me to float. I use a lot more of my legs which burns more oxygen. Keeping gasses in my lungs would assist me with floating. I haven't had any problems with exhaling and inhaling when I raise my head out of the water, but I gave exhaling underwater a shot to see how I did. Looking at the numbers, there does appear to be a difference. Unfortunately, without the wetsuit it makes swimming much more difficult without the buoyancy of the gasses in my body so I will have to keep that in mind in a pool and training.
What a great and encouraging morning. Thank you God!
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