Swim Across Ten Mile Lake

 So, I've been swimming across our beloved Ten Mile Lake, in Minnesota, for a number of years.  I have data on my Garmin for the last 7 times I did it.  I probably did it 3-7 times before that, but don't have the data anywhere that I can find.

The exact distance one swims is a function of how straight a line one swims (and I suppose any variation errors in the Garmin).  My database shows it ranges from 5,598-6,065 yards (3.18-3.45 miles).  It's OWS in a deep (208 feet) fresh water lake that is prone to choppiness out in the middle.

I did the swim again this year on 8/14 and here is the summary:

So I did under 1:51, which I was pleased with because two years ago I went over 2 hours for the first time.  You can see that I was cruising along until between 3,000 and 3,500 yards when I fatigued and my swim stroke began to shorten.  This isn't surprising because I typically only swim about 3,000 yards in any given session since I'm not doing an Ironman this year (more on that later!!!!!).

Here is how that compares to my Garmin swims:

You can see a number of things:

1. I'm slowing down as I get older (really old).

2. I was 12 minutes faster than in 2024, which was the first year I began to struggle with right shoulder problems.  Part of this was much better navigation--which I really focused on this year, and part because I was fitter and dropped 10 sec/100 vs. 2024.

3. Still, I was 17 minutes slower (despite better navigation) then I was 12 years ago when I recorded my best time I know of--1:33.

I'm quite happy with this as I'm still trying to recover from my shoulder issues and I've diverted a lot of my training energy towards 29029.  This is a difficult swim.  All good!