St. Patrick's day long swim

Today I managed a 18,200 yard swim at the downtown Y. I'm surprised it went as well as it did considering I indulged in our dinner group's Mexican feast last night and couldn't sleep for the resulting acid tummy. Finally, after a Gaviscon and 2 acid reduction tablets, I was able to sleep ... only to dream about dozens of tornadoes heading for the house I was in with a former Madonna patient. Totally weird. I was actually relieved when the alarm went off just so I could get on with the day.

Even though this was a long swim, it was less than half what I'll have to swim at the END-WET swim in July and the English Channel. But, I still feel good to have put in that many yards. It was a confidence booster.

I discovered something. It's really hard to pee while treading water. Peeing in a pool is gross and that was probably my problem, but I won't have a women's locker room nearby when I'm swimming in open water so I wanted to practice that little necessity. I wasn't successful. I had to hold on to the side of the pool and actually made use of that handy ladies locker room a couple of times. 

But, the feedings went well. I didn't have any trouble slurping Perpetuem from a water bottle while kicking like a drunken duck to stay afloat. And the Perpetuem worked great. Though feeling a little fatigued, I was able to maintain my pace, swimming each 2000 within a minute of each other. Granted, it was a slow pace, but I kept going.

Long swims are not very glamorous, it's just hours and hours of swimming -- in this case, 5 and half hours of swimming. I thought about my body position and stroke form, then wandered off to vacations past and future, then thought about some of my favorite foods, then did karaoke in my head to a few tunes. Somehow, the time passes and I don't get bored.

I even chuckled to myself, "You know you're a marathon swimmer when you catch yourself thinking, 'Thank goodness, only 5000 yards left!'"

Lots more yards to go.