I actually like swimming these days.  Contradictory to the title, I know, but as I mentioned in my last post this was the first week of my new “zero to swim a mile” plan.  Given my current circumstance (I’ll get into that more later), I figured I would document some details of my first week on this new plan.

Monday was day one.  I was supposed to swim 200 yards nonstop, then take 12 breaths.  Then I would do 4 x 100’s with 10 breaths in between, 4 x 50’s with 6 breaths and finally 4 x 25’s with 4 breaths.  I think my longest swim to this point has been 1,500 yards but I take a rest in between laps, and I certainly don’t count my breaths.  I was a little bit cocky in thinking that the 200 yards was going to be a piece of cake.  I didn’t give much thought to the fact that I don’t do flip turns, so I always pop up out of the water to turn around and go back after each 25.  I had to do 8 laps and the point is to do it as if it were the entire length, so no bigger breaths than if you were swimming.  No matter.  I was sure I’d be ok.

I wasn’t sure for very long.  I got to the end of the lane and popped up out of habit.  Dang!  Ok, I told myself to just make sure not to do it on the other end.  Alright, off I went again.  I did a little better on the next lap.  On it went, with sub par breathing technique and a turn at the wall that was hardly graceful.  Ah, finally!  Lap 8.  Right?  Oh crap.  What lap am I on?  UGH.  I lost count but at the end of the lap I looked at my time and it seemed accurate for 8 laps.  Oh well, hope it was.  I started to count my breaths.   I get 12, that should be plenty to catch my breath.  Ok, maybe I will take 1-2 extra cause I have no idea how I will do another 100 at this point.  I think I took nearly 20 breaths.  I did the first 100 and stole a few more breaths there too.  Dang, this is not going so well, I thought.  I gave myself a virtual slap in the face and pushed on.  I completed my hundreds and mentally I was relieved.  50’s, then 25’s.  I know I can do those.  I completed the set and was really thrilled that I pushed myself.  It was probably the hardest I have pushed myself in the pool, ever.  I had completed my 900 yards in about a half hour.  For a reference, I follow swimmers that do 4,000 in an hour, so I have a long way to go but it’s a record for me!

Tuesday came and I was excited to get to the pool.  I was going to push myself right away and not take more breaths than the plan stated.  I got in and went for it.  Sure enough I popped out a few times and stole an extra breath or two.  Sure enough, I freaking lost count of my laps maybe 4 in?  I’ll never know because I had to just call it a warm up and start over.  Silly me wasn’t using the fancy schmancy gadget on my wrist to count the laps for me.  I took a second to get that set up and headed off again.  I finished the 200 much better than I did the day before.  I took about 15 breaths when it should have been 12, but it was an improvement, so I was happy.

Wednesday was rest day, but I really wanted to go swim again!  I knew I should not, seeing as how sore I was and how hard I pushed the last two days, so I rested.  I was glad I did because my neck got really stiff.  Luckily, Darin has paid attention to how my sister works the muscles and helped me get the kinks out.  On Thursday evening we already planned to do the weekly Runner’s Depot 5k so I knew I would not get to swim.  Thursday night, I had a stiff neck, which Darin took care of again.  Friday morning came and I was stoked to get back to the pool!

All day, I thought about the swim.  I was sure that this time, I would be spot on.  The yardage, the tracking, the breaths.  I was going to nail this swim!  The problem was, that as the day progressed, my neck became stiff again.  I sit in front of a computer all day and by the time I realized how bad it had gotten, I could not turn my head completely to the right.  I tried to stretch it out slowly and calmly, but no luck.  I took some Motrin around 4pm hoping that it would settle in and help me get the swim done.  Part of me knew that it probably wasn’t the best idea to swim, but part of me thought it might work out the kinks, so I headed to the pool when I got off work.  This was it, I was going to do this 100% to the plan.  I set my watch and started off.  Right away, I had a hard time getting air.  I just couldn’t get my head in the right position.  I trudged on, thinking that eventually it would loosen up.  No such luck.  I finished the 200 in a lot of pain.  How was I going to get to 900?

I took extra breaths, I had no choice at that point.  I stretched and pressed on my neck at the wall of the pool.  I was almost in tears but pulled it together as to not scare the children’s class that was taking place in the lane next to me.  It’s often the case that I am swimming right along side a group of 7-14 year olds that could kick my butt all day in swimming.  It’s humbling, but not nearly as humbling as whaling in front of them would be.  I pulled myself together and squeezed out another hundred.   I took my breaths and headed out for the next hundred.  Part way through one of the laps I felt so much pain that I let out a sound under water and had to stop a second.  I don’t recall if I doggy paddled, swam on my side or what but I somehow got back to the wall.  I was in a lot of pain and thought it better to stop.  I got out and headed back to the locker room, all the while holding back tears.  It wasn’t just the pain, which was pretty bad, it was the fact that I wanted so badly to finish the plan as it was intended this week.  I headed home.

I thought about all our weekend plans.  On Saturday we were going to get up early and head to the beach for some more open water practice.  That would be followed up by a nice 8 mile run.   That didn’t happen.  I took an 800mg ibuprofen and was still in pain.  Thankfully, Darin went against my wishes and called my sister to come to the rescue.  She gave up her Saturday night to save me from my anguish.  After she worked on me for over an hour, I was able to finally move my head.  She warned me that I would be tender.  The knots didn’t get there in an hour, but she sure cleaned most of them out in that time.  I was hopeful that I could at least do some training Sunday.

Sunday morning, my right side was a little stiff and definitely tender, but I felt way better than I had the night before.  I was able to do an hour on the trainer followed by a quick mile run.  I was finally back on schedule!  The brick went well and I spent time icing and stretching my neck throughout the day.   I also spent a lot of the time researching the cause of my pain.  I am quite the qualified internet medical professional in diagnosing myself.  I have come to the conclusion that my pain was the result of three things.  The first, not taking my swimming serious enough this entire time.  This week I really pushed myself and my neck and back muscles are in shock.  This brings me to the second cause.  I don’t stretch enough.  This is also probably a result of not having taking the swim training as serious as I should.  I learned the stretch lesson the hard way for running and have now done the same for swimming.  The third, final and most difficult cause, is my swimming form.  I am way over cranking my neck to get a breath.  Breathing has always been a challenge for me.

Sunday afternoon I headed over to the pool.  My goal was go real easy and do my best to correct my breathing form.  I took real easy strokes and really focused on keeping one goggle in the water.  I screwed up here and there, which was to be expected but I did ok.  I was nervous that any minute I would end up cramping up again but thankfully that was not the case.  I still have a lot of work to do in these last 4 weeks before the triathlon.  When I hit the pool hard for my workout Monday, I will hopefully leave with a smile on my face rather than a crick in the neck.

I did my first open water swim in the wetsuit this weekend.  I was excited to go to the beach but as we left, my mind filled with dread.  I was scared that if the experience wasn’t good, it would ruin all the positive self talk I have been doing.  It’s strange because I grew up on the beach.  I spent countless hours in the water, swimming and surfing (well, trying to anyway).  We went out on the boat often and we would jump into the ocean for a swim.  I used to love the water.  What happened?  I have no idea, I can guess that it’s just years of always trying to protect myself by thinking of all the things that could go wrong and how to avoid or remedy them.

I got to the shore line and immediately thought: There is no way I can do this.  I may as well quit now and save the effort.  I tried to stop the negative thoughts and focus on one thing I could do to move forward.  Just get into the water and wade around.  Yes, that would work.  I have no obligation to whip out some performance swim.  I told myself to just play in the water.  Try to enjoy myself.  I headed out to past where the waves were breaking and to my surprise, I could stand there.  The water was pretty shallow at that point, which made me feel a little better.

I started off and quickly realized how much better it felt to swim with the wetsuit on.  The buoyancy is amazing!  I also realized that my form went to crap.  I tried to focus on my stroke and as I watched the bottom beneath me move, I thought I must be making some great progress!  I stopped to check my trusty Garmin….. What the hell?  Only 62 meters?!  UGH.  I was totally bummed.  I thought for sure I was swimming like mad and should have gotten way farther.  Then I thought back to what an experienced athlete told me.  He stated that while the wetsuit is great for keeping you afloat, when in the ocean you don’t realize the distance or direction you are going.  It feels like you are getting nowhere.  That was exactly what was happening.  I decided to stop worrying about distance and try to focus on how I was breathing, how much I kept my face in the water, etc.  That helped.  I practiced flipping to my back, then over again, sighting, and on my technique.

Part of me was having such a great time.  I felt fantastic about how safe I felt and started to slowly get used to it and wasn’t  as panic filled anymore.  The other part of me was horrified.  I was feeling rather exhausted, and I was not sure how in the world I could crank out 1,000 meters.  This was going to be rough.  I did check the watch again and soon it became 200 meters, and eventually 500.  I decided that was enough for the day and headed in.

I practiced taking my wetsuit off as if I was in the triathlon.  While I’m not really worried about transition, it’s helpful to give it a try.  As I got to the shoreline to greet my boys, a man and his wife were walking on the sand.  He said “You’re an inspiration!….. I always get inspired when I see people doing what you are doing, cause I don’t do it.”   I thanked him and as he walked away, Darin said to me “see, you are an inspiration.”  That comment from a total stranger made my day.  He didn’t know if I was a noob or seasoned triathlete.  To him, the fact that I was out there practicing was inspirational and that was enough to inspire me to try again Sunday.

I didn’t want to go Sunday, but I told myself that I would go as many times as I could before I decided if I needed to change to the sprint distance or even just call it a loss.  We headed to the beach and once again I jammed myself into the wetsuit and headed to the shoreline.  Today, I told myself I would do more of the same.  Feel the water practice breathing and start to pay attention to how it felt to swim with or against the flow.  I got out to where I wanted to swim and stuck my head in.  To my surprise, there was a sting ray right under me!  I freaked out for half a second, not so much in a bad way but I squealed like a kid and giggled to myself as I scrambled to get away from it.  I walked back towards the shore to tell Darin what happened before heading back out.  Once again, I put my head in the water and sure enough I saw it again.  I quickly went in the opposite direction it was moving to try to make sure not to step on it by accident somehow.  I was still a little freaked out but tried to think that maybe it was a good sign and forced myself to swim on.

I really hoped that I would magically just swim along and look down at my watch to see that I had gone even further than the distance for the race, but that was not the case.  Open water swimming is challenging and I found myself out of breath quicker than expected.  I did some swimming with and against the current.  The race course states they could go either direction depending on current.  I can only hope that means they will put the swimmers with the current and not against it.  I stopped tracking yardage and just spent time feeling the water.  I also swam a bit without the wetsuit because although it has been wetsuit legal every year, there is a first time for everything – and it could be just my luck!

I wrapped up by playing in the waves with D2 and his giggling when he’d get carried closer to shore.  We packed up and headed home.  Once I got home, I searched for videos of the race start in years past.  It was very helpful to see how the racers enter the water.  It was also helpful to get an idea of how far out the buoy is placed so I can practice fighting the waves to get out that far before the turn to go parallel with the shoreline.  This weekend made me realize how unprepared I was for the swim.  I mean, I knew I felt unprepared, but these two swims really solidified that.  I realized that I had a few choices.  I could completely quit.  I checked and I could change my distance to sprint or even just change to a duathlon.   Or, I could get off my butt and figure out how the heck I could accomplish the race I intended to do.

I decided on the latter.  I started researching plans to take someone from zero to swimming a mile.  I just so happened to find a plan online that theoretically could have me swim a mile in six weeks.  Well, I don’t have six weeks, but I do have five and I need to swim about .65-.75 miles (depending how straight I swim).  I am more determined than ever.  I’m still looking forward to it.  I want to at least know that I did everything I possibly could at this point to succeed.

On Monday, I packed my swim bag and headed to work.  All day, I thought about the new plan I had.  All day, I pictured myself in the pool and swimming according to the plan.  I actually couldn’t wait to get to the pool!  I got in and did my best to swim according to the plan.  Unfortunately, it didn’t go as well as I had hoped, but I think most important of all, I stuck with it.  I didn’t let the negative thoughts in.  On Tuesday, I went in with the same enthusiasm and could honestly say I loved it.  It was hard, and as I sit here typing this, my shoulders hurt, but I have learned so much in the last few days.  I learned for certain that until this week, I never really pushed myself in swimming like I did this week.  I learned that if I practice anything enough, I can see progress.  While I haven’t quite yet seen the progress in swimming, I have seen it in how my outlook of things and that alone is a major accomplishment!