Wuhu!

Somebody said that if we're 70% water then only 30% of us is going to have to swim.

A good three months after I'd hoped for, and a series of bouts of ear infection later, I've finally completed my 10k swim. It took me 3:20 h on last Sunday. That's not a very good time, but that doesn't matter too much at the moment. I committed to it when I entered the water that day, I felt healthy and mildly enthusiastic about the swim. I still felt good for most of the swim. I had a short slump around 8 or 9k but it wasn't too bad. I had my waterproof mp3 player with me and got through the whole playlist from Neko Case, David Bowie to Coeur de pirate.

My longest swim up to then had been 2 hours. That had got me up to around the 7k mark. I had done that swim multiple times, but have usually had get out of the water because my tummy hurt and I'd felt sick. To get further than 7k this time, I planned my swimming session out a little different. On the swimming technique side, I emphasized my hip roll a lot more to ease the effort my arms and shoulders put into the stroke. I swallowed a lot less water that way, which was good, because there was a bit of surf and spray going around, so not perfect conditions. Not swallowing sea water meant my tummy didn't get upset.

I refueled with some water, juice and a Granola bar after 4k and again after 8k. I think that's what did the trick for me this time. I've never refueled during my swims before. I don't think the Granola bar helped much because it takes the body longer than 2 hours to break something solid down into energy but the water and juice were good.

Last Sunday's swim was a surprising result, in some ways at least. I haven't really been training much over the past weeks. Over Christmas and New Year's break, I only swam twice in the Berlin Velodrom pool. It was nice, but very crowded compared to my ocean swims here. Kept bumping into people in my lane there. Some guy doing a sloppy English backstroke even slapped my face.

One positive change in my life is better eating. I finally bought myself a stove, and so I've begun cooking for myself and been buying some more expensive foods. Enough cheap Nasi Gorengs.

I remember swimming around the little island of "Gilli Air" for the first time many months ago. It was a shorter swim, maybe 5k. But I wasn't ready for it then, and I really pushed myself hard to complete it. I didn't enjoy the experience. I didn't feel elated or have a sense of accomplishment afterwards. The 10k swim was so different. Most of all, my swim was enjoyable, it's really true. And afterwards I felt good, not exhilirated but not knackered either. I didn't have muscle ache, nor head ache, nor fatigue, just some sunburn.

I don't know what's next. I know I can still improve a lot but I don't know if i want to put the time and energy into it. We'll see. I'm taking some time off from swimming right now.