It's like riding a bike...in water

I went swimming this morning.  At 5:30 am.  Because in a little over 4 months, I will be doing the swim leg of a 1/2 Ironman.  That's a 1.2 mile swim in open water.  Oh, and did I mention that the last time I swam laps was 3 years ago?  I even blogged about it because I was 22 weeks pregnant at the time. 

I was pleasantly surprised again (like I was back then) at how things went in the pool.  I thought for sure I wouldn't even be able to make it one length of the pool before I tried to inhale while underwater or needed to hang onto the side of the pool.  But that didn't happen.  It really is like riding a bike, you don't really forget how.  It all came back to me and all the running has certainly helped my cardio because I was even able to do 200 yards before I needed a break.  Don't get me wrong, I was crazy winded and I definitely wasn't going fast.  I was even using my open water trick of rolling to look at the ceiling to take an extra second to inhale (that is much more calming in open water because looking at the sky has a different effect than looking up at an old natatorium ceiling).

Overall, it was a great swim.  I have the opportunity to swim with my team two days a week but because it's at 5:30 am, I'll only be able to attend when The Pilot is home.  I doubt I'll find a babysitter willing to come over at 5 am to stay with Megatron.  If only the baby monitor worked 18 miles away...I was back home before he even woke.   Hopefully I'll still be able to go a couple times a month until the weather warms up and we start doing more open water swims.  I know I won't win. I know I won't place.  I doubt I'll be the last one out of the water, but even if I am, that's ok.  My only two goals are to not drown and to finish the 1.2 mile course under one hour.  That's the time cut off.  If I don't finish, I'll be disqualified and my teammates can't even start their legs of the race.  And that's not gonna happen!