nekedschwimmen für mich!!!
Okay well I am not going to swim naked, but I have decided that I am not going to swim with my wetsuit in the bay swim. I am going to do this real swimmer style! I did a 2 1/2 mile ocean swim today...60 degree water, 65-70 degree air, and high winds (which really cool your arms when you lift them out!). The bay is 68 on the edges and should drop to about 64 in the center, and may be a little warmer than that on Sunday..it will also be 85 degrees in the air! My swim this morning was great, it was very rough because a storm is coming. I did the first 1 1/4 mile with the current in just under 20 minutes...haha yeah that current was moving me. I probably only swam about 1 mile (or slightly less). I was going to average my times coming back, but the waves were really picking up and it was hard to swim into them (they were chest/head high- about 4-6 feet) because a wave will push you out into the break, then you have to swim back, so it was a lot more zig zagging. So I swam for half an hour going back to nearly my starting point, but definatly swam the distance again (or more!). Since I am tapering though, the distance doesn't matter so much. I was fine in the cold water for 50 minutes, and I could tell that the wetsuit was inhibiting my stroke some before. I felt so happy and free without it on. I think I will do much better Sunday without it.
As far as my start strategy, I called my friend who has done this before and is good at sharing advice and is also a coach, and she said, knowing how I swim, to hang to the left, hold a good sprint/pace (500-800 pace) around the crowd, and avoid getting in the middle of it all. Go to the left because the right of the crowd is in the rocks, and where the pack bends, so everyone squeezes over to that side. I won't have to swim around the entire crowd because of that squeezing anyway, so I won't be swimming much extra, and will avoid getting a black eye or hurt in the start.
So just three more days left!! Two more practices: one team practice tomorrow morning, and either a ocean swim or some long streatched out swimming in the cold outdoor pool on Friday. Saturday is a resting day, but I need to do 1000 to stay loose.
I am sooo excited. :-D
As far as my start strategy, I called my friend who has done this before and is good at sharing advice and is also a coach, and she said, knowing how I swim, to hang to the left, hold a good sprint/pace (500-800 pace) around the crowd, and avoid getting in the middle of it all. Go to the left because the right of the crowd is in the rocks, and where the pack bends, so everyone squeezes over to that side. I won't have to swim around the entire crowd because of that squeezing anyway, so I won't be swimming much extra, and will avoid getting a black eye or hurt in the start.
So just three more days left!! Two more practices: one team practice tomorrow morning, and either a ocean swim or some long streatched out swimming in the cold outdoor pool on Friday. Saturday is a resting day, but I need to do 1000 to stay loose.
I am sooo excited. :-D