12 hour swim - and new PR for Longest Pool swim in one day

Will Reeves organized an online challenge to swim 12 hours in a pool.  I opted to swim it today.  I got up at 0440 and was at Steiner at 0630.  I warmed up in the 25 yard pool for 800 yards before they opened up the outdoor 50M pool at 0700. Then did the following:

Set 1 (2400 - Sue Frehse set):

1000 free easy

200 back

1000 - 5 x 200’s free on 3:40

200 back

Set 2 (6000 Coach Andy Ladder Set):

4 x (400 free, 200 free, 100 back, 50 breast, 50 back, 100 breast, 200 free, 400 free) Drink Gatorade halfway

Set 3 (3100 - Goody Tyler set):

2100 - 3 x (200 free, 100 back, 300 free, 100 free :10 ri between subsets)

1000 free

Set 4 (5200 Josh Green set):

2 x (50 breast, 100 back, 200 free, 5 x 100’s down hard, back easy

50 one arm fly, 100 breast, 200 back, 400 free, 10 x 100’s down hard, back easy)

During the second set of 10x100s Sue showed up and it was perfect timing cause I was really starting to hurt. Having her there made me "buck up" and quit whining mentally. It was great!

Set 5 (4300 - In Memory of the kids set):

April (Austin and Jonas): 2 x (4 x 100s strong :10 ri) May (Oliver): 500 straight, Gatorade drink June (Jacob and Sam): 2 x (6 x 100’s strong :15 ri) July (Lucy): 700 straight, Gatorade drink November (Isaac): 11 x 100’s moderate :05 ri

Only about 30 minutes after Sue left Josh showed up and we swam together.  I was still hurting pretty bad and he stayed with me for through all these until I got to November.  I sure am lucky to have such supportive friends!

Set 6 (4000 - In Memory of Dover):

3000 - 15 x 200’s free stroke rate @ 70 spm :15 ri

1000 - 5 x 200’s stroke rate @ 65 spm :15 ri

This was officially the hardest set of the entire swim. I was alone, the breeze picked up from the south and my shoulders were on fire!

Set 7 (3000 - Distance and mental stamina):

Really got a second wind when Will showed up.
He already swam with me for a while in the morning
and this was his second time supporting for the
day.  What a nice guy!

3000 free straight focus on form and efficient catch!  Count by 100’s (1 year) up to 30 yr old

At this point Will showed up and we split the above actually into 3 x 1000's with a quick stop for a drink.  Probably about a minute or less stop.  He kicked the second 2 sets with fins which was great cause it was much easier to keep up with him instead of feeling like I was really holding him back.

Set 8 (7,000  - Colm Breathnach set - Only set allowed to use equipment of any kind, so enjoy it!):

6 x 400’s pull (large paddles, NO buoy)

3 x 800’s pull (agility paddles, NO buoy)

2 x 1000’s (finger paddles, NO buoy)

1 x 200 (anti (PT) paddles NO buoy)

Jacob got his own PR for longest swim:  3600 M

Cathi, Jacob and Oliver showed up and at this point my shoulders finally weren't hurting and I had a couple Little Debbies at the last feed and that really got me pumped! I was able to get through this last set with some decent quality. I was torn between not using equipment on this last set in order to have the entire workout be swum "naked". But I said to myself. My last PR pool distance swim was with equipment and I was really looking forward to it, so I went for it. It was nice to have some decent power with those paddles. It sure made a huge difference in my sanity and joy level.

Frosting Set:
1400 - 14 x 100's free no equipment on 2:00

During the last 1000 or so Gary Shaw also swam in the next lane with me. Right to the bitter end of the 12 hours. I kept a close eye on my stopwatch so that on the last few sets I cut the rest to :15 instead of :20 in order to get a full 100 in within seconds of the 12 hour mark getting hit. It was perfect timing. I ended that last 100 with only 3 seconds to spare.

Total in 12 hours: 36,400 M (39,807 yards or 22.62 miles)  

Total for the day: 40,600 yards (23 miles) in 12:15

Thank you to Sue, Josh, Will, Gary, Jacob, Cathi and Oliver for the support. New PR! Yippeee!