Friday, July 29, 2016

Swimming and Surviving in the Rain

I told you that John was back. But I didn't tell you how much he was back. I almost hesitate to let out how long we were in the pool Thursday. Because if you know that number and my total meters for the day, you are going to think Zane is really slow. But I had to stall at the wall a lot just to make it through the practice. I'll explain.

I knew John was going to want to stay in the water until straight up 1:00 o'clock. That's when the kids are let in. Like a herd of squealing piglets, they rush us as they race for the water and make real swimming impossible. Don't get me wrong; I love kids. As long as they are mine or my grandchildren. Otherwise, I prefer cats. Since we usually get into the pool around 10:30, I was preparing mentally and physically for a two and a half hour swim. In that much time, I can swim a lot. 

Turns out the rain that kept the ladies water aerobics out Wednesday kept them out Thursday also. Not only that, but the precipitation didn't stop, increased even, and we swam longer in the rain than I ever have in my whole life. I loved it. Rain swims are rare and magical. The English language doesn't have words to explain it. It does have a word for its failure to communicate: ineffable. But besides giving us a glorious swim, the rain kept the kids out also. The pool was ours. All day. 

About 1:00 o'clock I began to suspicion that the kids might not be coming. It was raining hard. John got out to use the restroom, and I was at the wall between sets when he got back in. 

"You think those kids are coming?" I asked. 

"No," he answered. "There's not even a lifeguard in the building." 

Yeeha, I yelled in my mind.

Then John said, "I want to go until 5:30."

I almost crapped my jammers.

I swam and pouted a bit. Then God spoke to me. Lately, I have been praying a lot that God would give me people to help with my swimming. I am so grateful that the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi lets me swim for them. So of late I have been dropping hints to others. Need a swimmer? Call me. Let me use my gift to help you. Seriously. Want to do a fundraiser? Call me. I will swim for you and your cause. All day or as long as you want. Call me.

While I pouted about John taking my whole day, God said, "You want to help others? Help John." 

"OK, Lord," I answered and determined I would stay until John was ready to go.

You may wonder, what's the big deal. Didn't you just swim 22.38 miles? Yes, but it's been two months, and I am not in 22-mile shape right now. And I definitely didn't get my mind right to swim for seven hours. You have to get your mind right to do really long swims. Trust me, you do. But this is helping someone and it will give my endurance a big boost to boot, a boost that may come in handy if someone needs a swimmer, if someone actually calls me.

At this point, let me backtrack and describe the sets I swam. This also was part of my angst because I was pacing myself for two and a half hours not seven. I don't care how fit you are, if you design the sets right, you can exhaust yourself in short order. My sets were designed to leave me on empty at 1:00 o'clock.

I started with 16 X 500 @ 11:00 minutes. What that means is I left the wall every 11:00 minutes. Swim hard and you get more rest. Tire and slow down and you have to leave sooner. I was getting about 1:40 rest on most of them. On the last few I had slowed to about 1:20. The reps went like this:

1 - warm up
2 - warm up
3 - 1st 100 hard
4 - 2nd 100 hard
5 - 3rd 100 hard
6 - 4th 100 hard
7 - 5th 100 hard
8 - 1st 100 and last 50 hard
9 - 1st 100, last 50 of the 3rd 100, and last 50 hard
10 - 1st 50 of 1st, 3rd, and 5th 100 hard
11 - easy
12 - medium paddles
13 - small paddles
14 - small paddles
15 - medium pace
16 - medium pace

This put me at 8,000 meters with a lot of fatigue. At this point, I knew I had to shift to survival mode. I then swam

2 X 400
2 X 300
2 X 250
2 X 150
30 X 100 @ 3:00. The 3:00 minutes gave me enough rest so I could keep going without my arms falling off.
Total: 13,600 meters (8.45 miles).

John finally got enough and we exited the pool at 5:05 after only six and a half hours instead of seven.

This was by far the longest swim since Chicot. I know I will get a fitness boost from that mileage. I hope I need it. Call me.

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