292

I've logged just under 292 miles swum so far this year. I'd like to bring that up to a nice round number, say, 300. This number has no particular relation to my swimming goals but it would annoy me to wind up just a bit short of such a nice number. As long as I don't miss too many sessions between Christmas and New Year I think I can make it.

Intervals

I'm swimming short interval on mondays and slightly longer ones on wednesdays. Short for me is 1:35 for 100 yards. The idea is the shorter intervals are good conditioning and the longer intervals mean swimming faster.  I'm looking for a pool meet in a few weeks to see if the theory holds.

2012 Open Water

So in total I swam 14 open water races in summer 2012. I competed in 5 different lakes and the Hudson River. No ocean swims this year. I'll try to branch out going forward. In order of decreasing distance

Kingdom 10 mile
Lake George 10k
Son of a Swim 6 mile
Cape Cod Superswim 3.1 mile
Jim McDonnell 5k
2 Bridges 5k
Quassy 3 mile
Jim McDonnell 2mile
Lake Moreau 3k
Quassy 1.5 mile
Jim McDonnell 1 mile
Lake Moreau 1.5k leg of the aquathlon
Lake Moreau 1.5k
Quassy .5mile

For races that are the same distance I put the ones that felt longer first. I counted the Son of a Swim even though it is not technically a race. I didn't count the 1 mile practice swim at the Jim McDonnell Swims. Maybe I should have.
Fully half of these swims are shorter than 3 miles with only 2 meeting the commonly accepted definition of marathon swim.

Next Year

The end of the year is approaching, and I'm thinking about what swims I can shoot for next year. I'd like to get in a few pool meets this winter, as well.

I used one of those states I've been to tools. (www.world66.com) to make a map of all the states where I've completed an open water swim.

The States I've swum in

That's a grand total of 5 states for anyone having trouble counting the small ones.

Running with real runners

This was probably the smallest event I've competed in on dry land. There was a real cross-country start and most of the course was on trails. Wifey said she could see the runners pass by nine different times. The JO's are held on the same site later in the day so there were a lot of kids and teenagers in groups out walking the course. Many of them looked sleepy and some were even wrapped in blankets as the went along. They made very friendly spectators. too.
Most of the trails are wide enough for several people to run abreast. There were only a few spots where we had to pass single file. With only forty-five runners this was not a problem. At least not for me. There was only one hill, around halfway through the course. Steep and long. I passed several people on the way up only to have them fly past me when I had to slow down at the top. I have got to learn how to run hills without killing my pace.
I felt pretty good about my time of 24:09 just 27 seconds off the PR I set running for the hills on an easier course (on the road) a few weeks earlier. It was good enough to get me the overall finishing place of 38 out of 45.
A great event and a very fun course. It was fun to run with (behind) some real runners.

Age Before Beauty 5k

Who: Greystone Racing and USA track & field
What: The annual Age Before Beauty 5k Cross-Country
When: Sunday, November 11th
Where: The White Memorial Foundation & Conservation Center, Litchfield CT
Why: Because the water is cold