Ssthomas wrote:
The speed variations were mostly due to wind. And me getting really tired over time and slowly slowing down. We started in calm weather conditions, got a slight push during the first day, and then had a headwind most of the first night. Day 2 started with a great tailwind, but I completed my loop around 2:30 pm and had to turn back into it. We had a pretty solid headwind then from about 2:30 until 9 pm, when it started to calm. Around 11 pm we picked up a slight tailwind, which grew to a 20 knot tailwind from about 3 am to 5 am. I was flying down the lake! It slowed a little with daylight, but I did have a tailwind wind until about 2:30 pm on the third day. Then, it flipped on me again. It wasn't horrible, but I was pretty tired at that poit and a headwind takes a lot out of you. Luckily, it calmed as darkness came and the final several hours of swimming it was smooth as glass. Too bad I was too tired to take advantage of the conditions! All in all, we got super lucky on the weather. We had some rain, but no storms and the wind was manageable.
I saw someone else say that I probably had a team advising me when to swim. I wish! We only had the boat rentals from Monday-Thursday, so it was swim then or not at all. I don't have sponsors or any other financial support other than my own wallet- so we don't have the advantage of waiting for perfection. So, I know I was dang lucky on the weather this time!
Also, for what it's worth, I did my best time for a 50 mile swim and was about 6 hours faster at 80 miles than I was on Lake Powell.
Wind...wow, i did not even realize that the wind could slow you down that much in the water. I've swum against/with the current in the ocean many times but no experience swimming against/with the wind. I have ridden a bike against/with the the wind but did not realize the wind had such a big impact in the water.
So, just out of sheer curiosity, if you had been doing this swim in a 25-yd pool, what pace would you have started at vs finished at??? I know 104 miles in most pools would be too hot but let's just imagine a pool with a nice constant 70 degrees. I am especially curious about the starting pace b/c from my own experience I know that each day i start at a given warm-up pace that seems natural on that day, and it is pretty hard to swim slower than that pace; thus it would seem that it would be hard to start out at a really slow pace, but rather you just inevitably wear out over the course of many miles and slow down. Is that your experience in these super long swims???
In any case, that was a phenomenal swim you did!!! I've done the 10K in the pool a few times but 104 miles is 17 times that, which is pretty inconceivable to me!!!
ETA: Also, how many hours did you sleep afterwards, maybe 24 hr straight??? Did you fall asleep while riding in the car to your house or hotel???
"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."