3 loops!
lake nokomis open swim
81 degrees
AQI: 69
3 loops! Finally, I’m feeling better — less anxiety and crud on my chest and no shoulder pain. I was planning to only do 2 loops today, but when I felt good at the end of loop 2, I decided to do one more. Who knows when the smoke might come back and make it impossible to swim?
The water was wonderful. A little cooler, more buoyant. Talking with a woman after swimming, we agreed that the water was much nicer than on Friday, when it was choppy.
I felt very relaxed and powerful. Strong shoulders and back. Sometimes I breathed every 5 strokes, more often every 3 or 4 or 3 then 4. I had no problem staying on course, a combination of seeing the buoys more frequently, and straight, even strokes.
note: I’m trying to write this as I watch the final stage of the tour, which is not easy because Pogachar is going for it. As one of the announcers remarked, “He’s racing like it’s the end of days out there!”
11 Things
- as I started, near shore, the water was a dark green, almost the color of my olive oil bottle shards
- clear bubbles bursting from my hands as I pierced the water
- my sparkle friends! sediment being illuminated by the light, coming towards me
- bright pink buoys bobbing in the water, tethered to torsos
- 200 strokes from buoy 4 to buoy 5
- a few planes high in the air above me
- a glitter path and sparkles on the water’s surface
- some floating vine fragments getting tangled in my fingers as I stroked through the water
- the view below me: a deep green nothingness
- the view above me, from underwater: the surface, green then clear then bubbles
- a church service was happening near Painted Turtle; as I paused in the middle of the lake to enjoy
Wow! What a finish to the Tour. The most exciting one I think I’ve ever seen — a showdown between Matthew van der Poel and Pogachar. Then van der Poel hung on to win, as the sprinters were closing in.
Today’s colors: yellow, orange, lime green, blue-ish green, olive green, bright pink, bright blue
white water orange buoy
