Whichever Comes Later

Initially I had an idea to do a recovery run on Monday evening. But with the thoughts of giving my slightly sore and tired legs a day rest, I went to the pool instead. And this time, I went to the pool with another one-step-up target to beat my own self.

And my target was, to beat the longest distance I’ve swam before, which was 3.3km that I did last week. I know my body was still tired from the 30km run and the travelling by bus in the wee hours, so speed or timing was not part of my target particularly.

So, at 5.30pm I started my swim slowly and steadily. The weather was nice though a bit overcast, and the pool water was crystal clear. And I have the whole diving pool to myself, with no other swimmers around.

Having done more than 1km swims few times before, I was happy that my first km swim yesterday was very smooth, and the timing was quite consistent with my previous timings. Continuing after that 1km, I broke down my target into two; either to swim 4km, or to clock 1.5hrs, whichever comes later.

Yes, whichever comes later.

Passing 1.5km, I noticed my time was few minutes slower than before. I felt a bit down with that, but I quickly tell myself that the aim this time was to get the mileage, not timing.

So, I soldiered on until 2km with even slower timing than before. Then, I started to feel the fatigue in my upper body even though my breathing was still under control. The thoughts of giving it a quit surfaced right away as I completed the 25th loop (i.e. 2.75km).

Now, the mental game has started. I know I’ve done 30 loops (3.3km) before, but that was with a considerably fresh body as compared to yesterday. And as I simultaneously doubt whether I could go further than 3.3km or swim for 1.5hrs, I also told myself not to waste the opportunity to break another personal record. I was also eager to know how it feels to be swimming the same distance as those doing Ironman triathlon, a 3.86km distance.

So, I continued my swim, slightly slower. I noticed that both my stroke efficiency and stroke-per-minute count have reduced considerably due to the fatigue I was feeling.

As I completed my 30th loop with the time of 1hr14min, I did some quick calculation on top of my head and just realized that if I could go another 5 loops, the total distance would be 3.85km, just about the same distance for Ironman swimming. Ok, now it’s time to see if I can break my own personal record.

I was already so physically and mentally tired that sometimes I thought I’ve lost count of how many loops I’ve done. It was like breathe-stroke-breathe-stroke-breathe-stroke all the way and I was glad that I did my 35th loop in 1hr26mins.

Another quick calculation would say that I can do another 2 loops to make it 4km in the 4 remaining minutes I have left.

I tried my best to beat the time with my tired arms and that 2 final loops felt like a very long distance to swim. I touched the pool wall, the same spot where I started my swim and looked at my stopwatch as I completed the total of 37 loops (i.e. 4.07km). My stopwatch showed the time of 1hr31mins.

I was happy to know that I’ve achieved my target. But I was so tired that I can’t even put a smile on my face. I was shivering and my hands skin has shrunk. As I sat by the pool to ease off my dizziness (I’m a single sided breather, only could breathe at one side, therefore cepat pening), I was wondering how would it be if I still have 180km distance to cycle, and to continue that with a marathon distance run.

[Training Log]
Monday: Swim, 4km, 1hr31min, easy