I did it!

Yesterday was my charity swim for Arthritis. 5000 meters straight swim. It took me 1h45 to complete it. Not bad, considering I haven't had time to train as seriously as I would have loved to. It was the first time I swam that far. Now I know I can do it!

The best thing about it, is that I was able to keep my pace the entire time. Some people passed me, and I ended up passing them towards the end. I suppose that my time is not really amazing, but it confirms that I have the endurance. I think I would have been able to continue for a longer time. The hardest part was not physical. It was challenging mentally.

In practice, the furthest I swam was 3500m, and I always had energy left after these. During my swim yesterday, past 3500m, it's not so much the lack of energy but rather the motivation that I had to fight for. The last 1000m was especially hard. I knew I would be able to complete it, but at the same time, I started to be more aware of what could go wrong. I was used to have cramps to the toes, or side stiches during training, and to get some arthritic pain in the finger (from keeping the hand in the same position for a long time) and in the ankles (from pushing the wall repeatedly). So I was expecting some or all of these during my long swim, but fortunately none of them happened!

Of course last night I had to take some antiinflamatories to make sure I wouldn't suffer too much today, but it's surprisingly good! I have some stiffness in the shoulders, but nothing joint related, it's muscular. I also have some finger pain, but nothing really out of the ordinary.

So yes, I'm going to do it again next year. Oh! and I was able to raise over $600 for the Arthritis Society. It was really worth it! For now, my next objective is to do open water swimming. As I didn't do any yet, I don't really know what to expect. But I would like to complete at least a 2000m open water swim before the end of the summer. I will continue swimming in the pool, and also biking outdoor! Spring is here now, and I'll be able to get out there more often! (even being busy shouldn't be an excuse, but sometimes reality and desires are two different things!)