3 Mile Swim

So when I was done with my 50-miler, I had a sneaking suspicion that my mileage would go up in other areas... and I was right. Ross and I had a challenging week which included a ride up to Cityview on Wednesday

The actual view of the city is off in the distance, behind the
mountains we are standing in front of.

And a 3 mile swim today. Yikes! I am not sure I have ever swam that far. Ok, I KNOW I have never swam that far, and certainly not without stopping. Masters swim (which I do 2x/week), I believe, is usually 3200-4000 yds, but that is with stopping, rest, kicking, pulling, etc. This would be 4950 non-stop.

So, how did I prepare? I tried not to think about it. I think that sometimes the distance and the numbers psych us out and the more I think about a daunting task, the more daunting it becomes. Tried to treat it like another day in the pool.

Except, today I brought the camera.Here's Ross--ready to swim

Now, if there is one thing I am not good at, it is counting. And I had to do 105 laps. Ugh. I came prepared with my Garmin 310 (the waterproof one!) and set it up so that all I had on my screen was the lap counter and the time. Every time I completed a lap, I would just hit a button and it would count for me. It was perfect.

I started off strong, but if there is one thing I know about myself is that I am consistent, so I quickly settled into my "happy pace". I tried not to think about the task ahead of me. Instead I tried to think about anything: Hunter's birthday, what we were having for dinner, when would Kate Gosselin get kicked off of Dancing With The Stars?, my outfit for the upcoming Warrior Dash, anything.

I hit the mile mark-- 35 laps. That's good, I thought, 1/3 of the way there.

Now, the laps were just ticking away. 43. Only 10 more till the halfway point. 48. 52.5--HALFWAY!

Something strange happens to me when I reach halfway. I get very excited. Very excited to be "almost" done, that is. Mentally, I am always better in the second half of an event and this was no different. I say to myself, "If I have done this once, there's no reason I can't do it again."

The laps were now flying by, maybe not physically, but mentally. I started counting by 10's. Saying to myself "only 500 till I hit 70" or "80". Only 500. Did I really think that? Well, considering I had already swum about 3000, 500 seemed not so much anymore.

And the real crazy thing, once I hit 90 laps, I felt like I was home. 15 laps, a mere 750 yds to go. And instead of slowing down, I went to it.

3 miles. 105 laps. I was done! And instead of peetering out at the end, I was full of energy. Until it was over. Then I was tired. Ross was, too (pictured below).
So, we opted for some recovery in the hot tub.If I didn't have a long run in the morning, this would deserve a drink (or twelve).