Helluva race, lady! Impressive even with your darned equipment issues! ha!
I had another fairly large week - althought a bit shorter than the last. I'll be honest I don't really have the totals. I hit four practices (usually around 3500yds), extended two of them, swam twice on my own (usually around 4k), raced a 5k this weekend and took an entire blasted day off on Sunday (
BIRTHDAY!!!). So I'd say it was around a 30k week.
The 5k race, Eric Shanteau's Swim for Your Life (
www.shanteauopenwater.com) in Lake Lanier on Saturday, was amazing. Had about 8 or so current & past Olympians there as well. They also have a 1k & the entire event raises money for Livestrong as Shanteau is also a cancer survivor. He's got a great story if anyone hasn't read it. The plan (in my coach's mind, anyway) was to swim the 5k then stay out & swim the 1k course to tack on some extra. MY plan was to swim the 5k
hard, throw down a decent time and actually race it. (The course was fairly well monitored and there were different caps for the 1k & 5k, I would've gotten questioned & turned around anyway..so it turned out to be a good plan.) I think the course was maybe only a wee bit short, it felt fairly accurate, which is always a challenge with swimming. I think ALL of Swim Atlanta and half of Dynamo was there - tons of young swimmers for an OWS. It was a 3-loop course for the 5k and a time trial start! They started the 18&U first & then the "masters". I started about 2/3 back in the 5k people (mostly because I wasn't paying attention) and had plenty to keep me busy. The lake was about 72*, perfect. The water looked smooth, there wasn't much breeze. Both of those kind of changed right after I started. The end of the course turned into a bit of a washing machine, but it was still a good swim. Had plenty of entertainment with the kids all swimming in clumps, so I spent a lot of time swimming to/through small packs & moving up to the next one. Pushed the first and third laps hard, maintained a nice stroke rhythym through the middle and just kept plowing. Spent the entire last 1/2mi actually racing another chick - side by side, swimming hard. What a great time! Had to go around her at one point as I got pushed into the shallow as we went wide (shorter path) down the "backstretch". Was a great push and a great effort by both of us - having swum more 5ks I was better prepared for the lack of legs when I stood up to make the final steps for the finish line (chip timing). She had an inside line & would've had me by a step but went *splat* when feet hit sand and knees went wobbly. It was all in good fun, we laughed for about an hour after it. Turned out we're in the same age group, so I snagged second (my coach being the one taking first) by a splat.
Huge pr by about 11:00 from another 5k earlier this year on a very accurate course. (Overall PR was probably 8-10min)
Birthday involved drinking a few beers, watching some football, shooting pool & just hanging out with friends after an AMAZING dinner in ATL. I'll definitely take it.
This week: if I make it through Wednesday I get to "taper." Becuase I don't need the intensity that would typically come with a shorter effort (& a taper), I just get to back down the yardage and swim once a day! Doubles yesterday, today & Wednesday, Thursday is a long, easy swim, Friday morning practice, Saturday is another long, easy one, Sunday is OW at the lake. Next week will be much the same, single practices until Thursday & Friday - which will be VERY easy days.
AW