Hot Water Swimming

The pool at UA has been closed for 10 days for Spring Break. I went to one of the Para pools in town on Monday to get in some yardage. It was a nice pool but super warm. There is a time clock on the wall but the second hand is missing... ugh. There is a regular little clock on the wall with a second hand so I squinted and used it to time the intervals.

I wasn't planning to go back, but then Mary Jo messaged me and asked if I was swimming on Wednesday, so I agreed to swim again at the same pool. This time the water was even hotter! We ended up getting in 2500 yards, mostly by a big set of 50's doing IM change, then a kick set so we could keep our faces out of the water.

It got me thinking about racing in the summer in the South. The temperature of the water we race in is sometimes in the upper 80's. It never occurred to me until that morning about my slower swim times in those races.... hello..... Anyone else ever thought about that? I have always contributed my slower times at some races to poor navigation. But now I have a real excuse! Haha!

I know there is a chart for running that I've seen that tells you how much your times suffer with different air and humidity temperatures. I wonder if there is something like this for open water racing?

At any rate, I didn't go back on Friday to cook myself in that pool. Tomorrow the pool at the Aquatic Center on campus is back open! 

The University of Alabama triathletes are putting on a tri on April 10th. The BAMA TRI. It's a 400 meter pool swim (bleh), 12.4 mile bike, 5K run. I recruited a couple people that I've met here in Tuscaloosa to do a relay with me! Charlie Wolbach, one of the guys who rides with the Druid City Bike Club is going to be the cyclist, he is an fast cyclist and will be using my ITU clip on aerobars. Ann Besanceney, who I used to work with at the running store will be running - Ann was an All-American runner from Michigan State. This should be fun! My first relay - will let you know how it goes!