April 4, 2009 - swim of the year so far!

well, i had a pretty good sleep and woke myself up around 8.30 am today. just can't seem to sleep in any later these days.. strolled over to the pool anticipating another sluggish day, but it didn't take long to find my groove. i was swimming fast and strong. at the one hour mark, i had already swam 3.25k and wasn't showing any signs of slowing down. i started to think that this could be something special. sticking with the fast pace, i swam on and on... i hit the 5k mark in near record time and was finally starting to fade. but i knew this was gonna be my first chance of the year to hit 6k in less than 2 hours. i slowed down a bit but managed to swim in the final k in 21 minutes, only a bit slower than the previous 5, and faster than my normal swimming pace. i was totally exhausted at the end but felt very satisfied about swimming 6k in 115 minutes.. add in a gentle 4k run and a 4k walk and my day is complete..

now, let's see how long it takes to recover from this. the arms were sore before i even started. i'm amazed that i managed to get thru this swim.. i'm hoping for another big swim tomorrow..

my record 2 day total for swimming was Feb 16-17, 2008, when i swam 7k and 9.45k respectively in 120 and 181 minutes. the 2nd day featured 2 separate swims..

i could attempt to match this effort as there are two adult lane swims tomorrow, 12-2 and 5-6.30pm. amazingly enough, it is doable. i'd have to match my feat today, then return for 4.5k in the late session.. all it would take would be a swim at my normal pace (3k/hr). of course, it would take 325 minutes to do this, as opposed to the 301 last year. but just the fact that i am even thinking about this aftert my surgery is amazing.. i've often read that the reduction for transwoman is not as bad for swimming as it is for running.. although i can still notice the difference when i am in the pool.. but luckily, the extra weight isn't as much of an issue in the pool.

anyway, on that note, here's a summary of some of my greatest endurance swimming accomplishments:

longest swims:

10/13/08 224 minute swim 10.10 km
11/11/08 258 minute swim 10.00 km


additional long swim calendar days:

10/26/08 212 minutes (2 separate swims) 11.00 km
09/01/08 192 minutes (2 separate swims) 10.00 km
02/17/08 181 minutes (2 separate swims) 9.45 km
04/13/08 180 minutes (2 separate swims) 9.30km
03/01/09 180 minutes (2 separate swims) 9.00 km (post-op)
02/24/08 157 minutes (2 separate swims) 8.15km


Best 2 hour swim sessions:

03/08/08 120 minute swim 7.025 km
02/16/08 120 minute swim 7.00 km
01/19/08 120 minute swim 6.80 km
03/29/08 120 minute swim 6.50 km
04/13/08 120 minute swim 6.50 km
10/26/08 119 minute swim 6.25 km
02/17/08 118 minute swim 6.20 km
02/09/08 120 minute swim 6.10 km
04/04/09 115 minute swim 6.00 km (post-op)
03/01/08 105 minute swim 6.00 km
02/03/08 117 minute swim 6.00 km
08/17/08 116 minute swim 6.00 km


best swim weeks by distance:

Feb 24 - Mar 01/08 648 minutes 32.15 km
Mar 02 -08/2008 541 minutes 28.275 km
Feb 17-23/2008 524 minutes 26.65 km
Apr 06-12/2008 523 minutes 25.25 km
Feb 10-16/2008 501 minutes 24.75 km
Apr 27- May 03/2008 515 minutes 24.00 km
Feb 03-09/2008 462 minutes 23.60 km
Mar 30 - Apr 05/2008 485 minutes 23.35 km
Mar 23-29/2008 476 minutes 23.10 km
Apr 20-26/2008 459 minutes 23.00 km


best 2 day segments:

Feb 16-17/2008 - 301 minutes 16.45 km (3 separate swims)
Oct 12-13/2008 - 298 minutes 14.10 km (2 separate swims)


Post-Op Swimming Achievements of note:

04/04/09 115 minute swim 6.00 km
03/01/09 180 minutes (2 separate swims) 9.00 km