9 Months to Tri

Everyone else is getting ready for a marathon next weekend, so they went running.  I got to swim alone.  No problem.  Love swimming.  It turned into a nice endurance building but low impact workout.

I did 87 lengths before a cramp in my foot stopped me 2 minutes before closing.  The worst part was that I could really taste 90.  Next time. 

Its amazing how much stuff you pay attention to when you know you’re going to write about it later.  For instance, about lap 45 I started to get a cramp in my left calf, so I changed my kicking a little bit to ease up on the calf.  Then, about lap 75, I started to get a cramp in my left ribs, so I stretched a bit on my strokes.  Never would have remembered that if I hadn’t been thinking about this post.

What I realized today was that, yeah, I’ve got the skills and even the muscular stamina to hammer out some distance in the water, but my body just isn’t used to it.  3 cramps total told me that.  I need to condition my body to the longer durations, it seems.

Anyway, stopped at the front desk on my way out of the pool and got some numbers so I could do a little math.  Enjoy!

TIPS:

In a pool, people use the term laps loosely.  Technically, though, from one side to the other is a “length”, and from one side to the other and back to the starting point is a “lap”.

My pools length is 25 yards or 75 feet.  This is a VERY typical length for pools, so you might be able to use these numbers to gauge your own distances.

There are 5280 feet or 1760 yards to a mile, so:

70.4 lengths = 1 mile

52.8 lengths = 3/4 mile

35.2 lengths = 1/2 mile

17.6 lengths = 1/4 mile

Because the decimals are such a pain to deal with, most people round up to 18 lengths = 1/4 mile, and then do the math from there.  So you will often hear that 36 lengths is a 1/2 mile and that 72 lengths is a mile and so forth.

If I’d been able to finish that 88th lap (see? I do it all the time, too. I meant, length) I would have swam 1.25 miles.  So close!  That’s the swim distance for a Half Ironman race.  Now, gotta work on the 56 mile bike ride and 13.1 mile run. Ha!  I think I stick with the Sprint for now. 

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