Week 9, Day 3 Herpreet

SWIMMING. Is. My. FRIEND. This is the mantra I am trying to teach myself. On Friday, for my traith. class we cleaned our bikes and then watched some videos on how to transition between events on race day and also on open water swimming and swimming in general. That evening, I forced myself to go to the Y and swim. I ended up doing: kickboard (100 yards), pulls (100 yards), side kick (100 yards - this drill is damn hard btw), and then I swam 100 yards freestyle. I ended with a 50 yard kickboard cool down. So, 450 yards all together - mostly of drills.

I was feeling lame about doing all these drills with so little swimming, but once I got home I was famished, so I figured I did get a work out in. Also, I'd been writing for 4 hours before I swam - and I get moody when I write. I end up sort of adopting the attitude and psychology of the characters, and that can make for a manic-me. The swimming really helped kick those angry adolescent boys out of my psyche. I decided I always need to exercise after long stretches of writing. For my mental health.

I am awfully terrified of the swim portion of the race. 800 yards. 1/2 mile. This feels like an impossible feat to me - no end of the pool to stop and take a breath at before I continue on. Just a big, deep lake. I'm trying not to be scared and trying to remember that I've still got 2 1/2 months to train and work up to the proper endurance. And also reminding myself that 1/2 the battle is being psychologically prepared. The mantra. SWIMMING. Is. My. FRIEND.