Epic Swim: 100x100m

I don't use the word epic; it's overused and oversold.  I am using it in this case though, as our swim was a great achievement.  Things often start in the most innocent of ways, in this case a conversation on over-the-top workouts.  The fabled 100x100 - I emphatically declared to Jason and our friend Tim G. that I would never do it.  Somehow (ok, after a glass or two of wine) I had softened my stance on that, saying I would consider it if it was an outdoor pool, and in yards.  Then later, when Jason and I planned a trip to Maui for spring break, I somehow (another glass of wine?) agreed to do the swim during our vacation.  We set the date, and once it was set, there was no going back on my commitment.  


The day dawned, coach Noa had written the workout, and we assembled everything we needed.  The pool in Lahaina (near where we were staying) was set up to swim yards, and despite my earlier emphatic declaration that I would only do it in yards, I knew Jason and I would be disappointed if we wussed out with the shorter distance.  We are Canadian, and Canadians swim meters!  So we drove to the other side of the island, to the Kihei Aquatic Center, as it was set up in meters.

Kihei Aquatic Center

Getting ready

Blissfully, the day was overcast but we lathered up with enough sunscreen to supply a small nation anyway.  We knew we were in for a long one.  We unloaded our gear onto the pool deck; normally I am very anti-waterbottle at the pool while swimming, but this swim was different.  I had a bottle of Vega Pre-Workout Energizer (finished about half), a bottle of Gu Brew (finished about a quarter), one Gu gel, and two Gu Chomps (the 100 kick between each of the main set repeats was a great time to eat without stopping).

Our stuff needed for the 100x100m workout

Noa had come up with a great workout with lots of variation.  I can get bored quickly, so variety was the key for this one.  We pushed off and were underway!  The warmup went by pretty fast, and the 100's were just being ticked off, one after another.  I was doing around 10 seconds rest between each, sometimes a little less, and sometimes a little more if it involved being at the wall the same time as Jason and a little socialization.  I noted the two-hour mark on the clock, as that marked my longest swim workout I'd ever done to date.  

The workout!

We just kept swimming swimming swimming... and soon enough Jason was done - at pretty much exactly 3 hours.  I still had 17 to do and the sun was out in full force, so I thought I'd better get to it.  Things were getting tough; the first 7 kilometers didn't seem so bad, but it definitely got real after that.  I really noticed that I slowed down on my 10x100 steady in my last main set repeat (I was at 7700-8700 meters at that point).  The next 6x100 were tempo and I didn't want to keep slowing down, so I made it my goal to get those in at my regular "tempo" pace, and I'm happy to report that I succeeded!  Repeats 88-93 were all sub-1:45 per 100m.  That's my Ironman swim pace, so pretty pleased that I can do that after more than 2x an Ironman swim.  I'm not sure the next 3x100 fast were actually "fast" though!

Jason 3/4 of the way through

Three hour mark

Almost finished!

I finished #100 at 3:37 on the clock.  That is a looooong time to be in the water!  Next on the list was to get food, as we were both pretty hungry.  Ten kilometers is an epic swim for sure, and I'm one and done.  I am emphatically declaring that I am not doing that again.