Oh Happy Day. . .

When I went to the pond Thursday, the plan was to just test drive my body in the water and see what happened. If things felt well, I would swim long; if not, I would tap out early. Well, things felt well. Remember, I swam the pool Monday. Tuesday I did my year-high 8.25 miles of stroking and six miles of running. Wednesday I did an easy pool swim. How would my body perform Thursday? Better than hoped for.

They were seining when I showed up Tuesday morning. Thursday, however, all was quiet on the western front. I don't know a lot about the ins-and-outs of the fish business, but David told me there are still some fish left in Lee Watts 30. But nothing like it was. I started swimming this pond last spring, and then I couldn't even tell it had fish in it. This spring, however, I knew. Not that it was a problem, but I figured my days of swimming here were numbered in the months. The fact that my pond now has very few fish made wading in a renewed joy. It's nice to know that getting finned is almost an impossibility. And the fewer the fish, the higher the water quality. And now it is like the lease on my all-time favorite pond has been renewed. Yeehaa. 

I began with a four-lap effort and everything felt loose. Sometimes I am very tight after a long swim. After getting out of the water, I became cold so I took a two-mile run to rewarm my body. Imagine that, getting cold on May 19th.
After warming up and taking nutrition, I climbed back into the water for three laps. To make a short story long, I did not run anymore, but swam a total of 8.51 miles. That's a first, two eight-milers in one week. And Thursday I was stronger than Tuesday. That has always amazed me about swimming, how I can improve fitness in days. Maybe not speed, but I can build endurance pretty quickly.

So how do I feel now? Better, much better. My confidence is coming up and now I hope to get in one more long swim next week and then it will be taper time.