In one week's time I will have finished my swim! YIPPEE!!!! I have little bits of nerves that hit me every now and then, and also some flashbacks to the "bad times" reel from previous swims. Interspersed between the nerves and fear are a few lovely moments of calm. As I get all of my final preparations squared away the moments of calm should increase. One of my favorite things about swimming, particularly open water swimming, is how as soon as your toes hit the water the nerves just wash away.
I struggle quite a bit with my emotions during my taper block. The gradual reduction of swim mileage puts my emotions in a tailspin....so I try not to talk too much or be too social during this time. Like many athletes, my body actually doesn't FEEL too great during the taper. But the point, if you time it right, is that your body will FEEL GREAT on the day of your big event. I had a VERY painful deep tissue massage today that hopefully got all my knots out (thanks Renee!).
Yesterday was my first sleep in to 7am in over two months. It felt amazing. The rest of my day was SUPER relaxed. I've been working on putting together all my crew paperwork today which will consist of my nutrition chart, emergency information and other tidbits to prepare my crew for any issues that might arise mid swim.
I had a short swim this morning and my little pal Mason was able to re-join me in the water. He had got a puncture wound two weeks ago that the vet said had to close up before he could swim. It's been a LONG two weeks with this little bundle of energy on the "injured" list, but he sure was happy today to be back in the water!
Today after my massage I had my long blonde locks chopped off by my dear friend Nikki. My hair had gotten SUPER long and at the race last weekend I was irritated by my swim cap continuing to fall off, which I decided was going to be FAR too irritating to deal with for 30 hours of swimming next weekend. I ended up having around 15 inches to cut off to get to shoulder length so I had Nikki cut it in such a way that I could donate my hair to Wigs for Kids. While some hair donation organizations charge the kiddos who get the wigs, Wigs for Kids provides kids with wigs for free. It feels SUPER weird to have such short hair, but it will be much more swim cap friendly!
Several of my family members will be arriving on Friday. My mom, my brother Paul, my sister Amanda and my nephew Lucas. I'm happy they are coming as this is a VERY busy time for my immediate family. Amanda and Lucas live in China and they have to travel back the first week in August. My other brother and his wife are expecting their first child (due date YESTERDAY) so my newest nephew could be arriving any day now!
I'm hoping with the number of crew members and with family and friends on shore that there will be a good amount of swim information shared during the event. The live track link will be on the Enduring Waves Foundation website. And there will be updates posted both to the Enduring Waves Foundation facebook page as well as my Athlete facebook page.
That's all for today, good night everyone! :)
~Emily
