Nanci
09-06-2005, 02:02 AM
So while I was plotting how I was going to be able to do the open water swim, I decided I would calculate how many tenths of a mile 800 yards was, then ride my bike along the shore and landmark the distance with the lifeguard chairs, then swim it and time it, and compare that time to the slowest times in the previous races at the same site of the same distance. Somehow, I guess it wasn't a math day! I came up with 800 yards being a quarter of a mile, and decided I had to swim two and a half lengths of the beach. So I did that two days in a row, in 15 minutes, and felt like I would be able to swim that far in the race.
Well, race day comes, and the buoy looked _so_ far, but I thought that was just because I would be swimming straight out and back, and I convinced myself that each way was about the equivalent of a length of the beach, plus a little more. Fine, the race happens, I do the swim, it's ok, in fact it seems easier than I thought, and I am very pleased with my time of 15:49.
Then sometime yesterday I decided to recalculate the distance, converting 800 yards to miles, and guess what- you guys that do tri's probablby already know this!! It's 0.454 miles, not 0.25!!! So I swam almost half a mile, and didn't even know it! I'm so glad I didn't know at the time, and now I feel much better about my ability to swim a long distance...
Thanks for all the nice comments and encouragement from everyone before and after. It really helped.
Nanci
Well, race day comes, and the buoy looked _so_ far, but I thought that was just because I would be swimming straight out and back, and I convinced myself that each way was about the equivalent of a length of the beach, plus a little more. Fine, the race happens, I do the swim, it's ok, in fact it seems easier than I thought, and I am very pleased with my time of 15:49.
Then sometime yesterday I decided to recalculate the distance, converting 800 yards to miles, and guess what- you guys that do tri's probablby already know this!! It's 0.454 miles, not 0.25!!! So I swam almost half a mile, and didn't even know it! I'm so glad I didn't know at the time, and now I feel much better about my ability to swim a long distance...
Thanks for all the nice comments and encouragement from everyone before and after. It really helped.
Nanci