Getting Started

Let me begin by saying that I am a novice swimmer (and an even more novice blogger).

A few months ago I got crazy idea in my head to swim around the island of Key West, which is a 12.5 mile swim race, and which happens to be roughly 11 miles longer than any open water race I have ever attempted.

This blog will track my progress, provide details of my training and note the inevitable challenges I attempt to overcome.  While the prospect of swimming around the southernmost island of the keys seems daunting, the idea of recording my efforts through a blog intimidate me even more.  That said, I do have several reasons that inspire me to write this:

  1. ACCOUNTABILITY IS KEY. Because I am a victim of distraction and subsequent abandonment of my goals. In writing this, I hope this blog will keep me accountable for my day-by-day training and remind me of what I hope to accomplish.
  2. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. There is an astonishingly minimal amount of (free) information online that provide any true workout plans or schedules to prepare oneself for a race of this kind.  Selfishly, this can be a place for me to data dump all of the research I have been finding on proper swim techniques… swim schedules… best workouts… and other fun stuff.  While I in no way tout myself as an expert of any kind (or even as a particularly good swimmer) I hope that this helps serve as a guide for others hoping to accomplish a similar swim goal.
  3. STAYING FOCUSED. I am eager to talk about my training and anything else swim related.  I am a firm believer that the more you can dig into a topic, the more motivated you will be about said topic.   So while I am excited to start geeking out over all things swim-related, I respect that my friends and family are less eager to hear me drone on and on and on about yardage swum or my newest swim workout. This will serve, in no small form, as a tool to keep my loved ones from drowning me to stop having to hear me ramble about my swim progress.

I look forward to having you join me on this journey as I go from couch potato to long distance island swimmer!

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