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swimsuit addict

In the Hudson's healing waters

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swimsuit addict
, May 13th, 2012 at 08:47 PM (635 Views)
Today I had a really great swim in the Hudson near Poughkeepsie. It was a marked contrast the rest of my swimming this past week, and served as a welcome relief from some of the fears that have been gnawing at me. Ever since I returned from Arizona, I had been having a hard time feeling excited about swimming, and felt tired and unmotivated whenever I was at the pool. Yesterday I went to Brighton, and it was a gorgeous day, but I found myself not even wanting to get in. I told myself I would just swim a mile, but then ended up hesitating for ages in knee deep in the water, thinking “This is just too hard!” I finally forced myself in, but ended up swimming just half a mile—barely a dip.

Since a lack of enthusiasm about swimming at the beach is very uncharacteristic for me, I began to worry that I might have gotten myself into an overtrained state, not just from the AZ lake swims but maybe even before them. Many of the symptoms were there—feeling slow and sluggish in the water, lack of motivation, general fatigue, disturbed sleep. Although all these could be easily attributed to simple fatigue from the last weekend’s efforts plus a bit of lingering jetlag, once I lit upon this overtraining hypothesis my anxiety started running away with me—I have a travel meet in less than three weeks, what if I don’t recover, will I ever feel like myself again?

But that was yesterday. Today, with a good night’s sleep and a happy swim behind me things look totally different. I awoke this morning excited about the 2 Bridges test swim I was slated to be a part of. This swim is slated to take place in 3 weeks, and a few of us got together to swim the course ahead of time to test out the currents and river conditions. A pleasant ride upstate with my friend John got the morning off to a good start. We arrived to find Dave (with boat!), and soon were joined by the fellow test swimmers Willie, Hannah, Carolyn, Andrew, and Terry, Jonathan in his canoe, and Barbara, who stayed ashore and kept an eye on us and our stuff.

The 2.5K swim course went south, wrapped around the easternmost stanchion of the Mid-Hudson Bridge, the headed back north, around the eastern stanchion of the pedestrian bridge, then back to the dock. The 5K course included two such loops. I wasn’t sure when I splashed which distance I would go. I started the swim tentatively, but as I went along I started to feel good, began swimming a little stronger, and decided I wanted to swim the whole distance. Since we were circling bridge stanchions, sighting was extremely easy. The water was quite flat, and even just from goggle-height above it you could see the opposite shore mirrored in its rippling surface. It was a glorious morning to be out on the water.

We were soon done, and I stroked in the last length of the course with Hannah and Willie. It felt great to be back in the Hudson again. I feel lucky that I got to be in on the dress rehearsal for this new swim, and think that everyone who will not be in Iceland on June 2 should sign up for the main event. It’s gonna be great!

And me? I think I'm going to be ok too. My goal between now and Iceland is to make sure I stay healthy, get enough rest, and do things at the pool and in the open water that leave me feeling excited and energetic.

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  1. pwb's Avatar
    You seemed so mellow and unphased by your swims while you were here in AZ, I just assumed it was all in a day's work. Though I fully realize this is schadenfreude talking, I guess I feel a little better about my dis-animated state with diving in the pool having read your post. We'll get through it. Take it easy for a few more days, do some fast work after that, rest and enjoy the helvíti out of Iceland.
  2. swimsuit addict's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by pwb
    You seemed so mellow and unphased by your swims while you were here in AZ, I just assumed it was all in a day's work. Though I fully realize this is schadenfreude talking, I guess I feel a little better about my dis-animated state with diving in the pool having read your post. We'll get through it. Take it easy for a few more days, do some fast work after that, rest and enjoy the helvíti out of Iceland.
    Thanks Patrick! That's good advice and I'm going to take it!
  3. aztimm's Avatar
    Sounds like a wonderful swim!

    And I agree with Patrick on Iceland. You're going somewhere where few people ever go (but so many people fly over). I'd just go and have fun with it. And Bjork... I wonder if she'll do mostly solo stuff or maybe surprise the audience with some others from the Sugarcubes. Should be a great time!
  4. Sojerz's Avatar
    It seems sometimes after an event it's hard for me to find and return to high levels of motivation and enthusiasm - probably a pretty common and natural response, i think. The mind and the body just seem to want a break, which can conflict with expectations. In a little time, something pushes the enthusiasm/motivation button down again. Perhaps your Hudson swim was the trigger, or maybe as you begin some readying for Iceland and interact with teamates, or a few fast swims as Patrick suggested. Relax, don't worry about training, let it happen, you've trained plenty, sleep confident knowing this and how much fun this trip will be in only a few weeks.
  5. swimsuit addict's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by aztimm
    Sounds like a wonderful swim!

    And I agree with Patrick on Iceland. You're going somewhere where few people ever go (but so many people fly over). I'd just go and have fun with it. And Bjork... I wonder if she'll do mostly solo stuff or maybe surprise the audience with some others from the Sugarcubes. Should be a great time!
    Yeah, I'm not really expecting huge peak performances in Iceland, given my lack of training for pool events over the last year+. I just want to make sure I arrive in a state where doing a couple of races each morning before sight-seeing in the afternoon seems like good fun, and where doing the best I can with the preparation and fitness I bring to the pool on any particular day seems like an engaging, pleasureable challenge. I'm sure I'll get there!

    As for Bjork, I don't know her music that well, but I did read an interesting piece on her in the New Yorker recently--seems she's into interactive music and music education these days. I suppose if I really wanted to do my homework I could download some of her Biophilia project and play around with it before I go. But to tell the truth I'm really more drawn by the chance to visit the Blue Lagoon and hang out with my teammates. IGLA organizers tend to throw a good party!
  6. swimsuit addict's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sojerz
    It seems sometimes after an event it's hard for me to find and return to high levels of motivation and enthusiasm - probably a pretty common and natural response, i think. The mind and the body just seem to want a break, which can conflict with expectations. In a little time, something pushes the enthusiasm/motivation button down again. Perhaps your Hudson swim was the trigger, or maybe as you begin some readying for Iceland and interact with teamates, or a few fast swims as Patrick suggested. Relax, don't worry about training, let it happen, you've trained plenty, sleep confident knowing this and how much fun this trip will be in only a few weeks.
    I thought maybe I could short-circuit that process by having another super-cool event soon after--but I think you're right, it just takes a bit for body and spirit to be up to doing something challenging again. I think the timing will actually work out well, and that I just need to be patient with my body and myself, and confident in my ability to recover and take on new challenges. Thanks for the kind words and sage advice!