A tri ... sort of

I swam this morning after my ride and run. That counts as a triathlon, right?!

Today's lesson was a dry run of the tri course next week. I have an awesome coach. We went through it step by step. We talked about where the buoys were going to be, and where I needed to go and so on. We talked about how to start. When we would get to certain points, Coach would stop me and point out things I needed to do differently.

We were at the turn to come back in to the shore when Coach told me I had to swim faster because the Portofino boat was coming back in to the dock (we were in the way). So I did my best to hustle out of there. When I got on shore I thought I was going to puke. Coach asked me about it and I said yes, I think I am going to. He said to have at it. Well, it never happened, but man, I sure felt sick.

We recapped the swim, talked about a few things that I needed to concentrate on, and then we did it again. This time for real. Coach started the clock and we went out. I almost missed swimming around him (he was the buoy). I tried not to have to roll on my back at all and I was successful at that. I did do some "side glides" though in order to catch my breath. But I did it! Shore to shore in 10:32! So what this tells me, is that I will complete this part of the triathlon.

What I haven't mentioned is that it was quite windy and the sound, which can be flat and glassy, had quite a bit of chop. We had to fight the current the entire way. I was swimming into the waves nearly the whole time, which was why I was taking in so much water. I tried to breathe to the left (shore side), but sometimes I'd feel like I had to breathe and it would be on the right and I'd get a huge mouthful of water.

What John told me afterwards, is that he knew the conditions were rough, and he considered not taking me out there. He was really proud of me today. He's hoping that the conditions are better next week, but at least I know I can do it if the water is as rough. Mark was sitting out at the pool when we came back up and he was thrilled to hear my progress.

We were chatting and he asked if I remembered telling him that I would never do a triathlon and I said yes. At the time it was 100% absolutely true. I would not do a triathlon. When I told them why, they didn't laugh. John mentioned that day that he could teach me to swim, and that had gotten the wheels turning. Even when I started the lessons, I didn't think that I would be competitively swimming. I just wanted to feel comfortable (or rather, less uncomfortable) in the water. I didn't want to look like an idiot in the pool or the lake, and I didn't want to sit on the sidelines.

Well, sometimes peer pressure is a good thing. Being around John and Mark and hearing their accomplishments and those of the other MPI athletes and hearing my friends Ken and Dan and Jenn talk about their tris, I started to wonder if I could ever do one. John was teaching me to swim as if I was going to compete, whether in a triathlon or in a swim meet. He wasn't teaching me just to swim, he was teaching me to swim in a race.

So I thought that maybe someday, I'd give a sprint triathlon a try. I did not expect that day to come as soon as it has, but that was the reason MPI set up this triathlon series. It is not for triathletes per se, it is for those who want to try it out and get a taste of the sport. Sprint tris can actually be quite long. I have seen them often as 1/2 mile swim/15 mile bike/5k run. I wouldn't have trouble with the bike or run, but a half mile swim is a lot. It would take me a loooooong time to swim 900 yards. So I figured that even a sprint tri was a year or so out. I had seen some that were 250 or 300 yard pool swims, which I thought I could do, but they are few and far between. So when John told me about this one, and that he and Mark truly believed that I could do it, it really boosted my confidence.

Mark asked if he could use my story (without using my name, of course) because it is inspiring. Absolutely! I lived with this fear for too long. I am so glad to have the opportunity to overcome it and go from not being able to put my face in the water without feeling abject terror to doing a triathlon with an open water swim in seven weeks. Six weeks, if you count today's swim. I'm even blown away by my progress!