First swim in 50m pool

SWIM: 3000m in 1:16

I had set some goals last week about swimming, and one of them was to do a long 50m pool swim on Friday nights, working my way up to 4000m of a long continuous swim. Also see if nutrition can work during the swim. The goal? 30 laps.

It was raining when I left work and the pool was closed for lightning. The radar suggested clear skies soon, so I waited it out. Half hour later, I had the pool to myself! This only lasted a few minutes, but it was fun to be doing laps in the quiet pool.

I had eaten raisins and cashews before waiting, so I was fueled up and the tummy comfy. I brought a gel just in case, planning to try it around half way. I started off slow, to warm up and focus on a good efficient form. I was slow alright, soon enough I was getting lapped by the swimmers around me. How do they swim so fast? What am I doing wrong?!?!?

No bilateral breathing, so I also worked on keeping my neck loose and straight. The laps passed by relatively quickly, soon enough I was at 15 laps! I skipped the gel, I really didn't think I'd need it. At 20 laps, I decided to test it, as 20 laps was the half IM point. Note to self--the coco gels are NOT good for a swim. In fact, I can probably get through the swim without eating, if I have enough to eat beforehand. See? Learned something already!

At one point during the swim, it started to rain lightly. I knew more storms were rolling in, and I really really wanted to finish the swim before they came. But I could see the dark clouds too, not a good sign.

I was excited to have only 10 laps to go, and started counting them down. 10 laps in this pool sounds so much shorter and 20 laps in the smaller pool (even though 1000y is shorter than 1000m) so I also counted the half laps too. Guess I didn't have much else to think about. I was getting tired, sloppy, my hands were hitting the lane ropes, and I was slowing down a bit more. It all didn't matter, I was almost done! Once I finished, I had to ask, can I do 10 more? And I think I could have, but that wasn't the point. I'll be doing that next week!

The other swimmers were still going, so I watched in wonder as they just glided through the water. How do they do it? Do I need even more lessons?!? I stretched out, happily went into the showers, and THUNDER!! I had missed the storm by minutes! Yahoo!