Late Tuesday

Whoa - apparently I forgot to publish this one the other day. This was meant for Tuesday lol.

I squeezed in between the Titanic and an Iceberg. Here we were again on a Monday night down to 4 lanes because the Master's swim was swimming in the main pool and taking most of the real estate up. I pick a 1/2 lane between H.M.S. and large chunk of frozen water. It was fine at first, but as time went on the Titanic started taking on water an increased in size. She literally took up 2 full lanes for herself. The 'breast stroke' had her arms flailing about as wide as she could reach. I thought I was going to get clawed. At this point I swear it was deliberate because who needs that much room??  Compound that with the fact the Titanic was drawn into that Iceberg and here was little old me being crushed in between two goliaths. As annoying as it was being sandwiched between the two, I know that a mini should never play chicken with a garbage truck, I would definitely lose. I just kept an eye on my lane and swerved around the traffic.
90% of the time, I'm a floater. I naturally float and streamline quite nicely through the water, but not tonight. I was a sinker. I don't know what it was, but I was dragging under water more than ever. This required alot more energy to overcome the drag and I thought about cutting my swim short at 2000m. Even at that distance it's more than enough for a maintenance phase of my training, perhaps too much. I had a goal of 3000m tonight though, no reason for it, just a number I made up on my own as part of the JPO program. Luckily, eventually the Titanic either got out of the water or sunk because she disappeared. Now I could have a full width of a lane to myself. At that point I figured I would just swim until 3000m or if I detect a cramp. I'm happy to say I came nowhere near cramping.
I'm not sure what it is, but my swim mask has been giving me a hard time. Slight leakage and to make the seal tight I practically have to suck my eyeballs out of there sockets. There is even popped blood vessels around my eyes like bruising from the swim mask. If anyone asks, I just tell them Mrs. LoTC told me to say I tripped and fell. I usually try to crack a tear and look submissive as if I'm covering up the abuse that she's been beating me. This mask used to be perfect. I suspect the silicone-like rubber is beginning to show its age. I did get the mask gently used from Training Payne  as he picked it up while at Clearwater 70.3 championship. I love this mask though, I will never buy a set of goggles ever again. I can see so clear without the light-bending effect that goggles have with the angles in the transparent plastic. Masks are far superior for my warped head.
The back pain from Saturday's mountain bike ride is still here. I thought the swim would help it, or even the 15 minutes in the sauna but this was to no avail. I should get on the bike and work my way through the pain. It's just like the spring time when my muscles are weak, I need to stay on it and eventually the pain goes away.