Swimming and another Date

August 5th, 2007 - i've registered to do the SheRox sprint distance triathlon in Philly. I'm excited to do an all female event. The dynamics completely change when taking so much testosterone out of the equation.

I had a surprisingly good swimming session this morning with my coach and training group. I believe there are only eight people registered for this 5 month program i'm in (I don't really know because not everyone has shown up at once for a session yet). Five were there today. The strengths of the majority of the group is with cycling. Myself and one other person consider ourselves runners more than anything. Not one person is comfortable with swimming - it's a new discipline for all of us.

We've only had one group swim before this one and the majority of that swim was a lecture from our coach. This time around, we jumped right in the pool and would be doing a number of drills and field tests. With the exception of training with a friend on occassions, i'm normally on my own in this training - and it's hard. I don't have the best technique and I struggle with my breathing while swimming. Overall, I just don't feel comfortable and get tired easily while swimming. I hadn't gone anymore than 8 laps in a 25 yard pool without needing a rest. All this said, you could imagine my anxiety when my coach told us one of our field tests today included a 400 yard continuous swim (that's 16 laps) to be timed in order to create individual training zones.

Before this test, we worked on a kick drill with a kickboard. Only 50 yards - one length of the pool and back - and our heads are above water the entire time so no problems with breathing. Easy enough I thought. I'm in the last lane - he tells us to go, and I start kicking - staring straight ahead. I get to the end, turn around, and to my surprise, everyone else was only halfway down the length of the pool. I keep going and finish my 50 yards when the rest of the class is only beginning the second length. Now, i'm not in competition with anyone else - we're all at our different places - most of them kick my butt in cycling - and we're here to learn and support each other. But i'd be lying if I said it didn't feel good.

Now was time for the field test - a timed 400 yards non-stop. We start and at the end of the first lap, we're all around the same place. At some point in the first 3 laps, I find that i'm pulling ahead a bit, with the exception of one guy who was two lanes over and a bit ahead of me. By the last 4 laps, I find that I was slightly ahead of that guy and much further than the rest of the field. Ok - so you can see I have a bit of a competitive side coming out. But beyond that, this is the first time I could really see where I stand with the training i've been doing on my own. I really tuckered out in the last lap and the guy finished 4 seconds ahead of me. 7:52 for 400 yards - it's definately nothing to brag about - but, it was a huge confidence booster for 1. being able to swim continuously for that amount of distance (the actually length in the philly tri will be equal to 66 laps in that pool - yikes!) and 2. realizing that i'm not further behind everyone else.

Considering how tough running has been (the last time was too painful to continue), i'm happy to focus my energy on this new sport to conquer. I don't want this post to get any longer - but two other topics I want to write about - therapists and gambling. To be posted at a later date!