Like Lightning

I really am getting faster, it's not all in my head. This morning I did 32 laps (800 yards) in 13-13:30 minutes.

Yeah, I know, that's kind of a wide range. But I actually got stopped at lap 26. They made me change lanes to make room for the water aerobics class only 6 laps before I was done. The aerobics class is supposed to start at 8:30, but the start time is pretty arbitrary and usually starts anywhere from 8:45-9. This morning, they started on time, cutting my 800 short by a couple minutes.

For any of you watching the Olympic trials, I freely admit that my pace is a snail's pace compared to them, but I never claimed to be anything like an Olympic swimmer. I am a casual swimmer who is happy when I shave a few seconds off my times.

I used to swim an 800 almost every workout and time myself so it's a good gauge for where I am, speed-wise. To give you an idea, a couple of months ago I was swimming 800's in 14:00 or so. Today I was supposed to swim 3 500's (20 laps). I decided to time my first one and then I figured out how fast the 800 would have been if I kept up that pace and was kind of shocked, so I decided to swim an 800 just to see. When I got stopped with 6 laps to go, I felt fine and definitely could have kept up that pace for 6 more laps. The problem is, I was kind of flustered and didn't get a good look at the clock until a little bit after I stopped. I'm pretty sure I did 26 laps somewhere between 10:30 and 11 minutes

So when I got home I had my math geek husband figure out the seconds per lap and then tacked on a couple more minutes to account for the 6 laps I missed.

Friday I'm going to swim a 800 for real and get a real time.