Sunday, March 18, 2012

Birthday week kick-off swim: 4500y


If the kids get to have birthdays that last a week (or more) then shouldn't I? It is in that spirit that I kicked things off today with a 4500y swim in anticipation of Thursday's 45th birthday. My husband said I was doing my "long range torpedo impression." Cute.

For some of you, 4500 in the pool is a regular thing. But my time-crunched life, my swims are smashed into a narrow window between when the pool opens on weekday mornings and when I need to get home to get kid #2 organized and off to school. I like to hit 2500y. Today I had no such constraints.

4500 yards = 2.56 miles = 90 laps. Given my admitted inability to sustain focus long enough to count laps reliably beyond about....oh...say 3 of them, you may be wondering how I successfully counted to such a large double-digit number? I lapped my watch in increments of 500y, knowing each would come in around 9 minutes at a relaxed pace. I'd never really done much beyond 3000 yards. I went at an easy "forever" pace but wondered if "forever" might hit before 4500 or not. Happily, it did not! I took a quick drink break at 1500 and 3000 but all the 500s hit within 10s of 9 minutes. Nice to know my pace didn't slip.

While I definitely enjoyed this slightly longer than Ironman swim, I was glad I didn't have a 112 mile bike ride and a marathon afterward! And now that I think about it, it wasn't that many years ago that I could hardly swim a 200 without being completely spent! Gotta love progress!

More "fun with 45" to come this week.


Related to Boston, I just want to say THANK you for the support, information and leads about gluteus medius tendinosis (ok, yes, DEAD BUTT syndrome, snicker, snicker). I start PT this week and in my normal life and on the bike and in the pool I feel just fine. I cancelled my Boston hotel room and rebooked our family trip for the week prior and already have our entire sight-seeing schedule planned out. So I'm still excited for Boston, just for different reasons and on a different schedule.

 As Swim Bike Mom would say, just keep moving forward
 Picture of our dog at soccer Saturday, she is just the best!