Categories: >Swimming

Chop’s Up

I had a fantastic swim at Jordan lake today with my swim group. Lots of folks in the group are training for the Duke 1/2 iron race next month. Today, the lake was very choppy – just like at the Duke 1/2. I love choppy swimming. It’s fun, like I’m a kid at the beach.

And, just like at the Duke 1/2, it was harder and choppier on the way out, and alot easier on the way back. I did three laps, and now I am exhausted. I can see why those olympic swimmers have such huge shoulders. My shoulder muscles are all sore now.

Here is a tip for sighting in choppy water. Only lift your head up out of the water enough to bring your googles out, and do not take a breath when sighting. Sort of like this little froggie!

This works out great when swimming against waves, because if you try to breathe when lifting your head forward into the waves, you’d just get a mouthful of water.

Some more random thoughts about swimming:

Ran across this great blog article about swim technique called Early Vertical Forearm.

Another benefit of lake swimming is that I don’t have to worry about sharks. Sometimes small fish will nibble on us while we are treading water between ‘laps’. But the little guy is only taking a test bite, and it tickles more than hurts. If a shark takes a test bite of you – um, well, I’m pretty sure that it’s NOT going to tickle one bit!

Hey, I just realized I am not thinking of the Duke 1/2 as a “monster” any more. I am really looking forward to the choppy challenging swim. And I know I will do well on the bike – especially after how easy the Bandit’s bike course felt. And, I honestly don’t care how I do in the run. I’ll just relax and do my best, look around and enjoy the day, like my blog buddy Collin does whenever he runs. And if another strawberry girl chases me down in the run, I’ll try to hold her off. But, if I can’t, I’ll cheer her on as she passes me: You go girl! 🙂

Huh. I think I’m experiencing swimmer’s high right now. Never ever had that before in my life. Who needs drugs when you have endorphins???!!!

Weather Data:

The Jordan Lake Water temperature report showed 78 degrees today. The water did feel nice and cool …looking good for a wetsuit legal Duke 1/2 this year.

Link to full weather history for today. Here is a copy of the Wind report from today, for future reference. I swam from 5:30 – 7:00pm. I want to save this so I can check the weather, and head out there next time the wind is this speed and direction…


Time (EDT):  Wind Dir:   Wind Speed:            Events:   Conditions:
4:51 PM   WSW    10.4 mph  / 16.7 km/h  / 4.6 m/s      N/A        Mostly Cloudy
5:51 PM  West   8.1 mph / 13.0 km/h / 3.6 m/s        N/A     Mostly Cloudy
6:51 PM  SW   8.1 mph / 13.0 km/h / 3.6 m/s        N/A     Scattered Clouds
7:51 PM  SSW  11.5 mph / 18.5 km/h / 5.1 m/s       N/A     Scattered Clouds
8:51 PM  South   5.8 mph / 9.3 km/h / 2.6 m/s         N/A     Scattered Clouds

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