The second part of the week was a bit better than the first half. Still not completely on track but I managed to do something every day Wednesday through Sunday. Saturday instead of doing a 35 mile bike ride, I did a spin class and decided to do a 5 k run. A little brick training (https://breakingmuscle.com/fitness/what-is-a-brick-workout-and-why-do-triathletes-do-them) to get my legs used to the bike/run transition. I was going to do a mini triathlon but I ran out of time so I promised myself that I would do a long swim the next day. Side note- due to the weather I’m not able to get outside to do a long ride. I have yet to purchase a bike trainer which is now priority since I’m not getting the saddle time I need in order to train for this properly.

Sunday came and it was time for the gym. I had decided to do it… I was going to swim the distance that I will be swimming in my Ironman. I was going to swim 2.4 miles to see what time I was working with. My pool is 25 yards so I had to figure out how many yards I needed to swim in order to get to my 2.4 miles. In case you are attempting to do the math, that is 4224 yards to make a my 2.4 miles. Knowing this, I wondered how many lengths I needed to do to also equate to my goal. If 1 length is 25 yards and 72 lengths make a mile, I needed to swim 169 lengths. My first 20 minutes I managed 1000 yards so I wanted to keep that speed throughout my work out. Every 20 minute marker was a small victory for me cause I was that much closer to being done. I finished in just under an hour and a half. I felt that was pretty good considering I have a time cap of 2 hours 20 minutes.

I do understand and realize that A) I’m swimming in a pool and not open water B) I can see what the hell I’m doing and going because it isn’t murky water C) the water is heated versus the possible cold temperature and D) I was in a lane by myself not in an area with 1000’s of people kicking and throwing their arms. All of these factors will play a huge part in how well I do but this is a nice start to understanding what I am capable of doing.