Birthday Swim

For my birthday this year I decided to give myself a little gift. The gift of accomplishing something that seems just enough of a challenge, but not entirely out of the comfort zone. That gift was a 10,000 meter swim. 10k. 6.2 miles. 200 laps in a 25 meter pool. Why, you ask, would I want to swim 10,000 meters? For my birthday?!

Well, the answer is fairly simple. Each year, it's natural to take stock of where I'm at health-wise. How is my fitness compared to last year? Despite looking significantly older than I did 5 years ago (I recently stumbled across a photo album with some pictures of us when we first moved to AZ), I am in quite a bit better shape. I can run faster and farther. I can swim and bike- which I have been able to do since I was very young but never did on a routine basis until 5 years ago. 5 years ago I had just finished my first triathlon. It makes me laugh now thinking about how hard it seemed, and how slow I went back then.

Anyway, back to my birthday. I wanted to take on a challenge that I knew I could accomplish, but was just enough of a stretch to make me a little nervous and excited. I managed to recruit my husband to swim with me, and we were joined by a couple of friends in the second half of the swim. I chose early Sunday morning, December 12. 6 am. I planned for 4 hours which would give us enough rest between intervals. I mapped out the sets and my husband brought home enough packages of Sharkies (shark-shaped energy chews) that we used to count 100s. We put 100 Sharkies into one Tupperware, and after each set we transferred the appropriate number of Sharkies into a second Tupperware container. These also served as sugar and calories during the swim.

The Workout:
Warm up 500 swim/ 500 pull (1000 total accumulated)

Main set #1:
10 x 100 swim (2000)
500 pull (2500)
10 x 100 swim (3500)
500 pull (4000)
10 x 100 swim (5000)

Mental break:
300 breaststroke/ backstroke
200 swim
300 pull
200 breaststroke/ backstroke (6000)

Main set #2
10 x 100 swim (7000)
2 x 250 pull (7500)
10 x 100 swim (8500)
5 x 100 pull (9000)

Cool down:
10 x 100 alternating 100 swim/ 100 breaststroke or backstroke
Grand total: 10,000 meters!

My arms felt like Jell-o after about 7500, but we hung in there. Our splits were actually pretty even, with our final 100s just as quick as our first 100s. We averaged 1:40-1:42 per 100 and did them on 2 minute intervals. Our total swim time was 2:56, total time in the pool was 3:44. Our friend Jim swam with us from 6000-9000 and Danielle swam with us from 7000-10000. Their encouraging words kept us motivated and moving forward!

Afterwards, we celebrated with breakfast at Liberty Market where I treated myself to a sticky bun. It was a good birthday, and another epic swim. But now the question is, what do I give myself next year?