Sink or Swim to 50 Miles
I might have gone off the deep end...of the pool, because I've committed to swim 50 miles in one month (the shortest month of the year no less).
This challenge has been in the making for some time. Rose, one of the Alga Norte master's swim regulars and most positive and motivating people you will ever meet, has been talking about it since December. I kept it in the back of my mind as I upped my swim mileage in January, but when February 1st hit, it was time to dive in, and I committed.
So what does 50 miles in one month (28 days) look like? Well, it's approximately 2 miles a day for at least 25 days out of the month (that would give you a total of 3 days off).
Day 1
Swimming 2.5 miles takes a long time!
How is mileage calculated? If you're swimming meters (the Alga Norte pool is set up this way Tuesday/Thursday/Friday/Sunday), then you're looking at 1600 meters in a mile. If you're swimming yards (short course), it's 1760.
To put it in layman's terms for non-swimmers, 1600 meters is 32 laps and 1760 yards is 70.4 laps. And that's for ONE mile. So 50 miles of swimming in one month will be a total of 1,600 laps in a meter pool or 3,520 laps in yards.
Holy. Cow. My arms are sore just thinking about it and I'm only on day three. I've already logged 7.5 miles...and I'm exhausted.
Since I'm starting a new job on Monday and life (including a trip to Mexico for my boyfriend's birthday and a wedding shower for my close friend) continues to be busy, I'm going to be realistic and try the best I can without injuring myself. However, I'm extremely excited to try and conquer this challenge.
I'll keep you updated when the month is over, as my January challenge was a bit tedious to write about every day!
Just keep swimming friends and pray I don't drown! #sinkorswimto50
Update: I did it!
This crew finished swimming 50+ miles each! Couldn't ask for better swimmates!
I'm not going to lie - completing this challenge was HARD. There was one point where I swam 13 straight days in a row, waking up at 5am each day to make sure I could make it to the pool by 5:30 to start my warm-up. In total, I took about 5 days off the entire month (more towards the end), when I hurt my shoulder (likely due to overuse and an improper stroke - I'm working on it!). But overall, having this goal was a great way to improve my fitness and lap times in the pool!
I'm going to take March to rehab my shoulder...and just when you thought I was done with challenges...my work started a step challenge for the month of March (and I'm totally competing). Until the next challenge - keep you eyes on the prize!
