Thursday, June 14, 2012

I wonder how many miles I could swim?



Eliza has commandeered one of my iPods.  She walks around holding onto the headphones that are too big for her little ears singing "Oh ohhhhhh oh oh, Oh ohhhh oh oh.....can't touch this!"  It seems MC Hammer is on a continuous loop.

It is a good running tune though.

The days of it just being me and Eliza home in the mornings are slowly dwindling, with only five days of school left.  When she's in first grade in the fall, both kids will be gone all day, and the baby/toddler days will officially be over.  But the good thing is that I get to be my "full time job" self again.

I'm taking advantage of my afternoons while I still have them, mainly, by running and going to the pool.  The pool opens at two, and I pretty much have the lap lane to myself.  It really feels good to shake all the winter stiffness out of my body, and I haven't lost any swim fitness.  I don't think I've ever swam a mile in one shot, the longest has been 800 meters, so I told Mike I want to swim a mile this weekend.  Then I want to work up to two miles in July.  It's nice to have swim goals, as well as running goals.

Speaking of swimming, hot on the heels of racing in the Columbia Triathlon, my Dad took on the Great Chesapeake Bay 4.4 Mile Swim, with a time of 2:19:28.  He's 67, and beat his time from over 20 years ago.

Maybe he should start a blog.

15 comments:

Liz Mays said...

Your dad is incredible!

Big Daddy Diesel said...

Swimming a mile is way more mental then physical, its more about fighting boredom, total silence, how more laps do I have, its tough in a pool because it can get really, really, really boring. But you can easily do it, trust me

You dad is amazing, 2:20 is the cut off for the Ironman swim, 2.4 miles, he swam 2 additional miles under the cutoff time, that is freaking awesome

Jill said...

Wow, your dads amazing! Swimming a mile is great but the first 5-15 minutes seems to feel like am eternity, but after that its smooth sailing and you find your groove.

My son gets out of school next Friday and I'm going to miss my pool time too!

Jill said...

Holy crap, your dad is awesome!! I keep thinking if I ever did an IM, it'd take me that long to do the 2.4 mile swim - and I'm a decent swimmer.

My neighborhood pool is open, too, and I keep forgetting that when I drive to the gym to use the pool. All schools are out here though so I'd be sharing the pool with a billion kids, so maybe the gym pool isn't too bad.

Happy Summer!! :)

Evolving Through Running said...

Didn't realize you had Aquaman as a father. That is some seriously strong swimming.

My kids have been out of school for 4 days and already grumbling about being bored. Thankfully the Summer camps kick in soon.

Johann said...

I did a 2 mile swim years ago and before that 1 mile was my longest. It is easy if you can keep your thoughts busy while swimming. Counting laps in the pool is another story. Your dad is amazing!

NY Wolve said...

I remember when I was in law school, after I had knee surgery, I decided to go swim since I couldn't run. So, I went to the pool and said...hmm..ok, I will do 25 laps. Hahahaha. I made it through about 4 and had to stop. A lot harder than it looks!

Unknown said...

I would totally read your dad's blog! :) He sounds amazing!!!

Love the swim goals. Just take it slow and think about the amazing full body workout you are getting! :)

ajh said...

Your dad is incredible!

Shannon said...

Yea for your dad!

I wonder how many times I would have to go across my little above ground pool to make a mile? Could I even count that high? :)

Shannon
http://www.irunreadteach.wordpress.com

Black Knight said...

Your dad is a great athlete.
I am sure you will swim that mile this week end (64 lap lanes?).
I agree it's nice to have swim goals: mine is not less than 2000 meters (80 lap lanes) every workout.

Questionably Texan said...

4.4 miles? I'd be lucky if I could swim 0.44 miles right now. That's incredible - and fast!

Anonymous said...

Go dad! That's amazing!

H Love said...

Amazing!

Suz and Allan said...

Wow, your dad is impressive!