i laugh to think about my old swimming routine. back 3 years or so ago, i was in pretty good triathlon shape. i was placing in my age group and even in top 3 in a race or two. i felt fast in the water. i swam twice a week 3500-4000m per workout. 8000 a week tops. i am almost laughing aloud at the thought of 8000m a week. to put it in perspective i swam 24000 on sunday alone, and 57000 for the week. i swim 8000m or more workouts 2-3 times a week. i was talking to shelly the other day and i said that i did not know what i was going to do with myself after the swim. i dont know if i can go back to 8000m a week. i will proabably come up with another hairbrained idea (i already have one or to cooking). i am going to let my wife and kids get some time with me, work on putting on some races and race some short stuff....maybe. and by maybe i mean it may be short.
i swam in the lake in prairieville sunday. the aforementioned 24000m workout. i felt good until the last hour. then my arms were hurting. nutrition was pretty good. i fed every hour. i never got week, so i guess this will work. i will probably go every 45 minutes or so just to be safe. i had a lot of good support from Ed, Tom, Brandon and Heather. it was nice to see people from time to time. i actually got sunburned on my face from breathing. i was out there for 6 hours so i guess you get more sun than you think. funny.
i am a pace slave. i am obsessed with keeping my pace for this thing. i know that i should not care about how fast i do it, just as long as i complete it. i know this, yet i am a clock watcher and i will push to make sure i keep up. i am obsessed with 1:30 pace for this swim. i don't know why this is so significant a number, but i keep it in the front of my mind. IF i can keep this pace i will finish in the 13hour range IF i don't swim too side to side. i would love to finish under 13 hours, but don't know if it is attainable. i certainly want to finish in less than 16 as i think that may be the upper end of my endurance. not really sure though because i've never gone swimming for 16 hours. 18 days and counting.
going to the coast to shoot a spot for their news this weekend. another marathon trip. leave baton rouge at 3 there from 5-7 eat with my parents. drive back to btr.
big week for my daugther paige's athletic career. she had a bike a thon for st. jude on friday. i told her in the morning that "it is not a competition, so just find out from the teacher who has done the most laps, and then do one more than them so you win." she is four. my wife was unstoked. it appears paige did not need to find out who did the most as she was 3 laps ahead of the rest of her group anyhow. woohoo! then on saturday she had her third soccer game. they do not keep score for these games, but my wife did and our team the Cougars, got beat 8-1. paige scored the only goal for her team. pride baby pride.

keepin the dream alive,
rocketboy