Well, technically
this was my first open-water swim of 2012 back on Memorial Day weekend:
And then I
did do
the Trinona Triathlon about 2 weeks ago... but I can't count a race as an open-water swim workout, so THIS was going to be my first real OWS of the year.
I headed out to Square Lake early Thursday morning because my wife didn't work until later that day, so she watched Henry. (They actually cuddled and slept in.) I worked my way into a warm lake on a chilly morning:
Being I was there alone and I'm not THAT dumb, I stayed in the shallows. I went down and back along the beach. We've thought in the past that it's just under 200 yards in each direction (around 400 yards / lap), and mapmyrun.com helped confirm that that was close:
0.25 miles / lap
I started swimming without a plan, which is never a good idea. That usually ends up with me quitting after a short swim as soon as I start feeling tired. So I quick came up with a plan:
6 laps, 12 lengths, or about 2400 yards. That wouldn't take me forever, and yet it'd be my longest swim of the year so far. (Yeah, my swims have sucked in 2012.)
I kept my splits for each 200 yard (roughly) length:
3:11
3:16
3:30
3:28
3:30
3:33
3:33
3:36
3:40
3:43
3:17 (nearly "all out")
3:43
Total of 42:04 for (about) 2400 yards
You can see I did a harder one near the end. I told myself after about 7 or 8 lengths (when I was THINKING about stopping at 10) that I should throw in a hard length, so that got me to do 12 total. I snapped a photo when I was finished:
Why hello "vein of approval!" It's been a while since I've see you!
All in all, a good morning swim! I need to get in more of those....
great
ReplyDeletenice post
ReplyDeletegood
ReplyDeleteI have a few tricks for swimming in open water that maybe you could use:
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm by myself, I have a bright green pool noodle (from the dollar store). I tie one end tightly with a shoelace, and attach the other end of the shoelace to a race belt that I wear over my wetsuit. Then, there's a pool noodle there floating behind me *just in case* I need it, and any boat traffic can hopefully see my bright green noodle if they don't see me. (I also wear a bright swim cap in the lake for this purpose.)
Also, I think you have a Garmin? In the "other" settings, I have mine set to lap every .1 miles. Take off the straps, put it in a ziploc baggie, and tuck it under your swim cap. You can hear it beep every .1 miles and as long as you're swimming freestyle, it picks up a GPS signal. It's been very helpful for me!