10,000!

I hit a new weekly mileage record this week - 10,000 yards! I swam 3,000 on Tuesday night, 3,500 on Wednesday morning and 3,500 this morning. What a difference a few years makes! I swam with Matt today and it was just so nice to swim with him. We did the warm-up (400 swim, 400 kick, 400 pull, 8 x 50 on 1:05, 200 drill) and then decided to swim a straight 1,200. It took him 750 yards to lap me (it used to take only a few laps, so I'm quite proud of that). I finished up with a 300 kick and 200 cooldown.

After this morning's swim, I reflected about my first days of swimming in 2002, when I trained for my first sprint triathlon. I didn't know how to swim freestyle, so I would alternate between side stroke, breast stroke (with head out of water) and back stroke. I felt accomplished if I made it .5 mile.

I got swimming lessons and three years later, I prepared for my first half-Ironman. I thought Matt was on crack when he told me I needed to swim at least 2,000 yards to prepare for it. That just seemed too far.

Even in early 2006, I couldn't believe Angela wanted me to swim 2,500 yards at one time.

I guess it is all about perspective. I still don't know how I'm going to get much more than 3,500 in during a CSU masters practice, because with all the stopping and starting, I run out of time. But, if she assigns more, then I will find a way to do more (like getting in early like Jodi does).

The IM swim doesn't seem so daunting anymore. I felt like I could do 700 more yards today. Now, doing that followed by 112 miles of biking and 26.2 miles of running is a different story. But, I'm confident that come race day, it will be no biggie. Got to keep it all in perspective, right?! : )