Friday Pond Trip

You may have noticed that I have been writing a lot lately. That's because I have been swimming a lot. God has given us a blessed winter which has allowed me access to the pond much earlier than usual compared to the past few years. According to my training diary, I did my first pond swim last year March the 7th (see what I didn't do there? I didn't say "on") and the water temp was 60 degrees. I made my second trip to the fish farm the 29th of that month, and I recorded the temp as 62. It was not until April that I did a long swim (five plus miles). This year I have done two three milers already.

I took the dogs back yesterday and gave them a good running. Bear likes to run. Pee Wee loves to run and the faster the better. He possesses tremendous energy and has so much fun that it brings tears to my eyes to watch his joy at living the life God has given him. He had a tough start in this world, but things are better for him now.

When we arrived on scene, I thought maybe I had made a mistake and should have gone to the pool. It was cloudy, windy, and teasingly cool. The water looked almost angry as it churned and waved in the wind. It was forty minutes before I got my nerve up to wade in. 

When we get to  the fish farm, Pee Wee almost busts
the window out wanting to run and chase birds.

The swim wasn't so bad, and I need to train some in choppy water because you never know what it will be like on Chicot day. Amazingly, the water was only 68 on the warm end, the same temp as Wednesday. But as the pond had equalized a lot from Monday to Wednesday, it had done so even more by Friday. There was only about a degree maybe a degree and a half difference between the warm and cool ends despite the fact that the wind had been out of the west for several straight days and was blowing ten to fifteen Friday. That means the up-well water is warming. Nice.

I stopped after two laps. My shoulders were tired and I felt a twinge a time or two so I decided to tap out instead of getting greedy and maybe injuring myself. The weight session plus 5,400 I did Tuesday was heavy duty stuff. Besides, I am ahead of schedule thus there is no need to push the envelope. Not yet anyway. I will lift weights today and do total rest tomorrow. I should be ready to bust out one Monday if the water doesn't fall too much. Outside right now it is forty something. I will be able to swim Monday, but will I freeze out before I push the distance above my longest for the year? We shall see.

Thank you Jesus for some good training this winter. Praise His holy name.