Music To My Ears

Several months ago, unpon the advice of other triathletes,  I bought a Finis SwimP3 to use during my long swim sessions.  I'm so glad I listened.  Shortly after signing up for IMAZ I found a great deal on one at Trishop's Black Friday sale. 

I haven't been doing a ton of swimming by myself, so I haven't had many chances to use it...until  now!  After my hour swim practice on Wednesday and Friday mornings, I stay a little longer to get some addition distance in.  I wasn't sure how I would like this arrangement, but it's working out pretty well.  For an hour I get to swim with other people during a coached workout, which is what I like.  When everyone else is getting out of the pool I grab my music and get in some extra swim time.  Having music makes up for having to swim alone.  At first I was afraid that the music would be a distraction, and I wouldn't be able to keep track of my laps.  This hasn't been the case.  The only downside of swimming with music is that it's pretty hard to sing along.  It throws off my breathing and I end up with a lot of water going up my nose. 

Another handy device I purchased for my long swims is a lap counter.  It's a little ring that fits around my finger that helps me keep track of time and distance.  I'm sure at some point I'll need it, but for now I'm able to swim without it.  I don't like it as much as I thought I would. It actually makes my hand cramp up due to the funny positioning trying to keep it from falling off. Besides, I sometimes forget to hit the little button after a lap, or I don't press hard enough for it to register.  It probably wasn't the best $30 I've spent.

2.4 miles sure is a long way to swim.  It's 3860 meters or just over 154 lengths of a 25 meter pool.  My longest swim to date is about 200 meters shy of this distance.  On race day I will get to swim this crazy distance with over 2500 other insane people.  I don't even want to think about how much pee will be in the water just before the start of the race!!

I want to take a moment to give a big shout out to fellow triathlete, Heidi Lueb, who just signed up for her first Ironman!  Go Heidi!!

"Somewhere behind the athelte you've become, the hours of practice, the coaches who pushed you, the fans who cheered for you, is the little girl who feel in love with the sport and never looked back.  Play for her." ~~ Unknown