Going Postal for Swimming

Being new to the swimming culture, specifically the master's swimming culture, I am not positive why they call the swim-as-far-as-you-can-in-one-hour the "Postal Swim" but I can take a guess. At any rate, I can honestly say it was far less painful and boring than I thought it would be. Less painful because I am comparing it to "Brute Squad" from the fall (200 Fly, 400 IM, and 1600 swim - all back to back) which is 300m straight of fly, mind you. And less boring because when you are still getting the hang of flip turns in a 25 yard pool, there is always something to think about. I felt like I was constantly either recovering or preparing for a flip turn. Still, I was pleased with myself that I made it the first 40-45 minutes with all flip turns. A feat for someone like me.

Here were my splits, courtesy of my swimming pal Tom's wife who did double duty in recording both my and Tom's splits with a fancy iPhone app.

Right when I stopped doing my flip turns at around 45 minutes, Tom started to pull ahead of me to a solid 50m (an entire down and back pool length) in the 15 minutes left of the timing. Though I simply couldn't have maintained what I needed to because I was dizzy and mixed up with flip turns, I have a renewed sense of motivation to get that quick turn down to absolute muscle memory. In the meantime, there is something so nice about doing a hard swim like this and not feeling like I took something from my cartilage or joints that I am not going to get back (I love running but this often seems the case after a long or hearty run). Still, I like the muscle confusion that comes with doing lots of sports. Right now my perfect mix is swimming, running and yoga - in that order.

Three cheers for trying new sports and partaking in a new culture! Everything feels fresh and motivating and all my times are a PR.