40 for 40 Challenge by Anne Greenawalt
When I set the intention of swimming 40 miles in the month before my 40th birthday, my life situation was a little bit different. I was scheduled to teach one summer class at a local college, from 8 a.m. to 11:40 a.m. Monday through Thursday, affording me a lot of free time. I had been swimming 2-3,000 yards 1-2 times per week, plus running and boot camp classes each once a week. Swimming 40 pool miles, 66,000 yards or approximately 2,200 yards per day from July 4 to my birthday on August 3, seemed challenging but not insurmountable.
Then in June, less than a month before starting the 40 for 40 Challenge, I accepted a full-time job offer to work for a local nonprofit. Excellent news, but it threw a wrench into my plans to swim 5x the number of yards I had been swimming. I wouldn’t be able to swim before or after work or on the weekends that I had the kids. Even on days I didn’t have the kids, the lap lane availability at the Y was abysmal. It seemed like I might have to swim 4-5,000 yards at a time to meet the goal. I wasn’t confident that I could physically do that. I’ve had tendonitis in my shoulders come and go throughout my swimming career and adding that kind of distance so quickly seemed like a good formula to reactivate it. Maybe, I thought, if I could do more open water swimming at Pinchot, I could add more days of swimming and spread out the yardage.
On July 1st, three days before the start of the challenge, my son came home from a long weekend with his dad with an injured leg. I took him to the doctor to learn that he had a broken femur, and he had to be in a full-leg cast the rest of the month. I wondered if I was trying to do too much by swimming while starting a new job while also caring for an injured kid. Ultimately, I still decided to go for it, knowing there were no true consequences if I couldn’t meet the 40 for 40 goal.
On July 4th, I announced my 40 for 40 Challenge on Facebook and encouraged family and friends to send words of encouragement, swim with me, and donate to a local nonprofit that provides necessary and free services to the community. My heart burst from the kind words, shared experiences, pledges to swim with me and remotely, and donations I received within those first few hours! I can’t possibly thank everyone enough. I continue to feel so grateful to know so many generous and caring people. It motivated me to keep reaching for my goal.
I kicked off the 40 for 40 Challenge by swimming 5,000 yards at Pinchot on the morning of July 4, when none of the pools were open. Later that day, DCNR closed the lake due to “harmful algae conditions,” and it remained closed to swimming. (As of this post, it still hasn’t reopened.)
A few days later, I started my new job, which I love, but in that first week I was overwhelmed, not by the job itself, but by how many life changes I needed to make to acclimatize to full-time employment. Luckily, my new place of employment has a pool. The pool boasts of being one of the warmest pools in the area (excellent for swim lessons and water exercise but makes it hard to breathe for lap swimming), doesn’t have lane ropes or the T on the wall at the end of the lane, which makes it difficult to see the wall. But the lifeguards welcomed me warmly and I felt right at home. For the rest of the month, I spent most of my lunch breaks in that pool.
Some excerpts from my journal on the 40 for 40 Challenge:
July 14: 11 days. 17 miles. 5 pools. 2 lakes. 27 miles to go. Feeling very tired, a little sore, but uninjured. This is definitely not sustainable, but I'm curious what will come out of it.
July 17: That part behind my armpits are sore...are those my lats? Haven't felt them like this in a long time. I'm not even swimming fast!
July 19: I'm building endurance, but I'll be ready to start building speed after I reach this 40-mile goal. I want to be fast. Not sure if I'm building muscle or burning much fat. My nutrition has been...fine, but I haven't really prioritized it. It is mostly dictated by my CSA share each week. Oh, and ice cream because why not? Oh, and I still eat chocolate every day.
July 23: It was a slog today, didn't feel good, like the pool was too hot and I couldn't breathe well.
July 24: Very tired today.
July 26: Felt better today. I could have kept going if I had more time.
July 28: I swam with the team at the Friendship Y. I went a little early to get in extra yards then swam with them. They even swam a few hundred extra yards with me to help me reach my goal and gave me donations for [the nonprofit fundraiser]. Feeling grateful that I know many kind and generous people.
July 30: Very tired all day and in the water. I would not have swum today if not for this goal. Maybe I’m in the premenstrual/tired part of my cycle, which is usually rough. Also, this was my 5th day of swimming in a row, which is my longest streak. Three more days of 2,200 yards, and then I can take a break. [My son] got his cast off today and he screamed the whole time. I feel like my brain doesn't work right anymore. I'm slow. I can't find the right words.
August 1: Today I swam because I'm so close to this goal and I don't want to give up. It's so arbitrary, yet I've rearranged big pieces of my life to accommodate it. I will continue to swim after this challenge, but I'm looking forward to fewer yards at faster paces. Cross-training. More time to read and write.
I swam 1,600 yards on my lunch break on August 2, which brought me to 66,000 yards since July 4, meeting my 40 for 40 goal one day before my 40th birthday.
Several friends had been texting to ask if I was close to my goal, so I shared the news with them, and they celebrated with me remotely. And then, just like any other sport goal, it was over.
On my birthday, August 3, I swam the 500-yard+ swimming leg of a local triathlon (in a pool with no warmup, no lane ropes, no lane markings, no flip turns). I felt strong, but also like I could have gone faster. I love events like this and had the most pleasant morning hanging out with other athletes. It was a delightful way to conclude the 40 for 40 Challenge.
Leave a Comment: By telling you my goals, I’m making a commitment and creating a sense of accountability. Share your goal! What do you hope to accomplish this month? This week? This year?
