Mental Workout

When my alarm went off this morning, I really did not want to get up.  I laid in bed for a while trying to think of a good excuse to sleep in, but couldn't find one.  Finally, I got out of bed and headed out to GSL.

I got to the marina a little later than usual and saw Gords' car in the parking lot.  I didn't see him inside so I figured he must have gone ahead (I was about 15 minutes late after all...).  When I got out of my car, I looked out to the furthest red buoy and saw him swimming towards it.

I got in the water and started swimming out of the marina.  I wanted to just take it easy this morning, but my arms felt like lead the whole way down to Black Rock and I couldn't get in a good rhythm.  I was already in kind of a bad mood because I wanted to sleep in and struggling on the first mile was not helping my attitude.

I got an email from Steve Spencer about a DVD of the Great Salt Lake Open Water Swim that his family had made.  On the way down to Black Rock, I was thinking that it would be cool if someone made a short documentary about swimming in the Great Salt Lake, kind of a "then and now" kind of thing.

I stopped for a drink at Black Rock.  There is a porta potty out there now!  I don't know if it will be permanent or if it was left over from an event, but it would be kind of cool if they left it out there.  As I looked back towards the marina, I saw Gords making his way down the Gridley Straight.  We crossed paths, but neither of us stopped.

They say that 80% of open water swimming is mental and only 20% is physical.  Today was definitely a mental workout.  I would have much rather been in bed and I struggled to find a good pace and relaxed stroke the whole time.  In the end, I'm glad that I went.  I didn't put up great times, but I accomplished what I set out to do and felt better once I had finished.