One for the Log book!

It was a marathon swim. A long long long waterlogged day. Swimming 1o, 000 yards at one time is a Rare occurrence. Even for those of us who swam competitely for 14 years. I swam double practices for years and years and for that reason we didn't need to squish so many yards into one workout. Yesterday was Hard!!!! But I'm proud to say, I did it. I did every single last yard of it.
I was so nervous before it started that once again, I thought I would throw up. I got there so early!! One of the first guys on deck was the fastest Triathlete in Maine. I know him a little bit. He isn't the best swimmer though so I was actually psyched to swim near him and see if I could keep up with him (or ahead of him? ) for at least 1 of these 3 sports we tackle. He declared that he was only doing 4500 yards and this and that and then he said something like, "But that's ok. Swimmers don't win triathlons." He is quite sure of himself (with good reason) and since we were in that type of mode, I reminded him in an oh-so-friendly way that, "yeah maybe, but I won one last year." :) He smiled and admitted defeat. I also reminded him of the speedy swimmer girl in ME who wins nearly every triathlon around. Again, he smiled and realized his error. Gotcha. Never underestimate a swimmer.
The deck filled with lots of big studly swimmer MEN!!! Where are the other women? Finally, there were 4 women and about 25 men. I chose to feel proud instead of intimidated. I tried anyway. Then they announced the first set.
It was:
8x100 on 1:25!!!!!!!!!!! Where the HELL is WARMUP???? I was completely expecting the first 10 or so to be SO slow!!! I was pissed to be honest. And I was psyching myself out. To continue with the first set (it gets better) it was the above 8x100-
6x100 on 1:20!!!
4x100 on 1:15 Holy crap!!! Touch and go from hell!!!! but wait...no break yet
5x100 on 1:25
5x100 on 1:20 I'm panicking now because I had NO idea how long we would keep going before a Break!
4x100 on 1:15 Not yet...
5x100 on 1:25
4x100 on 1:20
3x100 on 1:15

100 EASY!!! I skipped this. I needed air. I needed to regroup. I needed to eat a GU, some salt, some water, fix the goggles and to get my SH$^&$T together !!! Time to stop feeling frantic and time to swim. I wasn't even sure how many we'd done!! I am not even sure if all these I'm listing add up to 100! I'm not going to count again either. I did make that 100 easy up at the end of the workout. I promise. I wasn't about to do 9900 yards!
3 min break
Next set: let's see if I can remember. It was 30x100 as:
8x100 odd IM even Free on 1:30
7x100 kick,drill, moderate, pull 1:45 Ahhhhhhh!!! so nice!
6x100 75 free 25 stroke on 1:30
5x100 decend # breaths per 25
4x100 on 1:25
100 EASY
break!!
I was much happier now. Granted, my calves were threatening to lock up on nearly every push off the wall. Many of us were grabbing our legs throughout the workout. The 2nd set was a good confidence boost. I had really doubted myself during the first set and just felt like I thrashed around a lot. I was able to focus and really swim during this second group. I started as the 3rd swimmer in my lane but the guy ahead of me (another graduate from my H.S. I must add....there were 4 of us from Cape there....2 sets of siblings...) anyway, he was having some trouble and stopped a lot. Finally he moved to the lane next to me and I was 2nd in my lane. That went well for a while. Until the woman behind me decide to get speedy on the next set.
Last 24x100:
5x100 on 1:30
4x100 on 1:25
3x100 on 1:20
5x100 on 1:30
4x100 on 1:25
3x100 on 1:20
200 easy
DONE!!!!!!!
I was toast. I was Starving!!!! My feet were waterlogged for hours after !!! I kid you not. The group seems to be a nice bunch of people but there isn't a lot of chatting going on. I swam about 5000 yards before I had a second to say Hello to the woman behind me in the lane. (She ended up passing me for the last set. That's ok. We all took turns feeling strong and weak.) By the end, I was so happy to be done but I was feeling ok. I had been able to suck down about 4 salt tabs, 1/2 gatorade, about 30 oz of water and two gels! I felt strong for some of it and so very tired through a lot of it too. It was a tough day but a great day for my confidence.
I'm so glad I did it and I'm so very glad it's done!