I've never done a Postal Swim before, but our Master's swimming club has gotten very active this year and they had a sign-up to do it. Ours was for a half-hour Postal Swim, though I guess there are also hour-long options. The half hour was surprisingly difficult as it was though! The idea is to swim as many laps as possible in the thirty minutes. Normally, as a triathlete, I'm not swimming at my top distance speed, since swimming is just the first event. So it felt really different to be swimming as fast as possible for that half hour. By comparison, a tri swim start will now feel downright leisurely!
We had all July to complete the swim (whenever you wanted to, on the honor system), but our pool has been way too hot lately (as high as 84 degrees - ugh!) and the first couple of times I tried it, I just overheated and had to stop. Third try was a charm though and I managed to fit in 85 lengths of our club's 25 yard pool in half an hour, for 2,125 yards. I think this is a great workout for a triathlete because it really pushes you past the normal comfort zone. Give it a try - go postal!
