Week 22: Swim Focus

Last week's focus was on four days of swimming: Tuesday (3500 yards), Wednesday (2500 yards), Friday (3500 yards) and Saturday, one hour open water swim at Lake Del Valle. My upper body definitely felt more toned by the end of the week.

Lake Del Valle actually felt more comfortable than my past swims there and I didn't hyperventilate or have a panic attack. I think this is due to a combination of lake water not being as cold and now knowing what to expect. The underwater visibility was better too from previous 3-inch visibility to about 3 feet visibility.

Following the swim, we ran a hilly but very scenic 10.25 miles on the trail along the lake where I came across a rattlesnake crossing my path. (I stopped and waited about 10 feet back until the snake was fully off the trail. If it stopped and stayed on the middle of the path in front of me, I'd probably be still standing in the same spot today.

Prior to the swim, we had a guest speaker, Tim Borland. In 2007, Tim ran 63 marathons (26.2 miles) in 63 consecutive days to raise money and awareness to a rare and fatal children's disease called Ataxia Telangiectasia (A-T). In 2008, he ran 50 miles a day for 13 days throughout Canada. He shared his experience on how he prepared for this feat as well as how he mentally tackled and persevered even when his tank felt empty. His next goal is to run a mindblowing 130 miles a day for 130 days to raise awareness of the over 130 million orphans in the world. When Tim was speaking, I couldn't help but think about Forrest Gump.