Last night's swim... Well, I survived. It was a timed 3/4 mile swim. My goal going into the swim was to do it under 30 minutes. When we got into the water, I was hoping for a warm up. Instead we started the swim right after one of the coaches demonstrated putting on a wetsuit-- body glide is the key. The coaches had us all get into the far left lane of the pool. There must have been 100 of us crammed into the front- I started to get nervous. Coach J said GO and we filed down one 50 meter lane, under the rope and up the next. In a snake we moved across the pool and back again and again. Three times in all. My relaxed, strong stroke diminished after three full lengths. Swimming in the tight crowd felt claustrophobic. I got kicked and slapped. A tall man well over 6'6" swam near me in a spastic motion that made me stop, tread water and figure out how to maneuver around him. I swam under him, praying I wouldn't get punched by his uncontrollable arms and legs that moved in a sideways motion. My every third stroke breathing turned into breathing every other stroke. I felt like everything I learned over the course of training went out the window as I just tried to finish the swim. Towards the end my body started to relax and I found a rhythm. I thought my swim was terrible - but when I heard that I did it in 29 minutes I felt relieved! Most people I have talked to said the 1 mile swim on race day took them around 24 minutes because of the strong current. So the fact that I just swam for 29 minutes straight (and survived) makes me feel like I can do this. I wish I had been in town for the .5 mile swim. I think it would have helped had I gotten some practice in then and wasn't completely new to the snake last night. After the swim we did twenty push-ups. My body was so tired I walked to the locker room without my towel and flip flops! I just laughed- and I keep laughing at myself. This whole thing is so funny to me- I still can't believe I'm doing it but after each practice I believe in myself a bit more and know that I can. MS said she was one of only 3 people who finished the basic swim. I think everyone in intermediate finished- i admit i thought about stopping - but I wouldn't let myself. Now I have the 1 mile Snake Swim to look forward to -- and the open water swim in wet suits!
Happy Birthday Grandma Marjorie Jeanne!
1 comment:
Hopefully you won't run into any 6'6" men on race day, but 5'2" girls can be just as brutal (I had one put her hands on my shoulders and literally dunk me under at the start of last year's NYC Tri). So as scary as it is, any kind of practice you can get with "contact swimming" is really going to help you on July 20!
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