Swim

After my last swim debacle, I decided to go ahead and find a swim coach.  This is something that really puts me out of my comfort zone.  I really don’t know why, but it makes me uncomfortable.  If I am really honest with myself, I think I am scared.  I think I’m scared that I’ll be told to just give it up.  I think I’m scared of the thought that I can’t do it, or shouldn’t do it because I am too old, or not fit enough.

I made the call and met with a great lady by the name of Kristie.  I told her that when I swim, I feel like I start out great, and then the moment I try to breathe in, I get water with my air.  It freaks me out and then I have a hard time recovering.  For the first time, I told a total stranger that I was afraid.  I told her I was afraid that my fear would take over and I would not finish.  A crash, a flat, an injury even, would be ok reasons to not finish but the thought that my own mind would get in the way and cause me not to finish was terrifying.

We went to the end of the pool and she asked me do some bobs up and down just breathing out while under and in when I came up (obviously).   She told me to make sure I take it slow and breathe out with both my nose and mouth.  I had been breathing out of my nose the whole time, afraid if I didn’t let it all out there I would get water up my nose.  (I am also terrified I could contract a brain eating amoeba during the open water swim, but that is a story for another time.)  I finished the 5th bob and came up to discuss it with her.  She immediately told me that I got water up my nose on the 4th bob.  How did she know that?!  I immediately assumed she was made of magic.  She informed me that while I made the motion of coming up and breathing in, I did not actually take a breath.  Because of that, I had less air to let out and water went up my nose.

I tried again, this time she asked that I focus on going slower and making sure I did not let out all my air when I was under and to take a nice full breath when I was out of the water.  I did it again and it was like a light bulb went off.  I didn’t get any water and took full breaths.  She asked that I swim a bit so she could watch how I take my breaths while actually swimming.  I headed off and told myself not to worry about my form since I could get the most information from her on what to improve upon if I just did what came naturally.

After a couple strokes I went to take a breath and got water.  I tried to get it out but ended up having to stop.  “What did you do?” she asked.  I took a moment and knew exactly what I did wrong.  I let out all my air and then I went to take a breath I just opened my mouth and only water went in.  How could I not realize I was letting out all my air?  How could I not realize I was coming up for air and not really taking an in?  I felt so dumb but so happy all at once.  Knowing the issue leads to solving the issue and I was half way there.

Kristie suggested that I try to breath between fewer strokes and suggested I practice just finding a rhythm of my own.  I took her advice and successfully swam while taking my breaths.  I was ecstatic!  It was a major breakthrough for me, but now I was open to having her tell me what I can work on as far as technique.

I was pleasantly surprised when she said that I had the general idea down and that it would not make sense to spend a bunch of money on fine tuning my technique right now.  She said I needed to focus on making my kicks more “fluttery” because every so often, I am doing a bicycle kick.  I knew this already, but was glad she concurred.  She said my arms were fine and I had the general stroke down so there is little to work on there unless I was really going for perfection.  I told her I was not looking for perfection, I just wanted to finish.

She had me do a few more drills and let me know what I could do both in my home pool and in the city pool when I was able to go.  My biggest challenge is slowing down.  She said I should not be concerned with how quickly I get to the end of the lap, but with how much energy I have left when I get there.  That first swim left me rattled, so much so that I skipped swimming in the city pool this week, aside from this lesson.  It rained the day I was scheduled to swim, so that was as good an excuse as any but it was an excuse none the less.

This 30 minute lesson changed my outlook on so many things today.  It helped ease my mind, not only in being able to finish the swim by the time the triathlon is here, but it also helped me feel just a little more comfortable with talking to someone with expertise in things I am struggling with.  I left that lesson hopeful.  Hopeful that I would not only finish, but be able to do so with energy left to hit the bike and run hard and finish my first triathlon.  I am eager to do something I have not been eager to do since I started training…. get back in the pool.

What rattles you?  Have you ever had one on one expert advice?

Bike, Run

Building it brick by brick!

I did my first brick workout today!  For those that haven’t tried a tri (see what I did there?), a brick workout is when you do two of the disciplines back to back in training, mostly the bike then the run.  The reason they call it a brick, is that it is said that your legs feel like bricks when you hit the run portion.  Today I did a 40 minute bike ride followed immediately by a 20 minute run.  I was so excited to do this workout!  I’ve heard and read so much about brick training and was eager to practice the mini transition between the two to se how long it would take.

I headed out very eager to try my best to maintain cadence on the bike.  I have been practicing on the stationary trainer to try to get myself used to knowing when I am at the right cadence and riding for increasing periods of time at that cadence.  For me, that is a cadence in the high 80’s to mid 90’s.  That might be low for some, but since I started in the low 60’s I think I’m improving nicely.  Do you know what doesn’t happen on the indoor trainer?  The wind!  Man, I felt at times like I was just spinning my pedals and not getting anywhere.  It was a challenge but I was pretty happy with the cadence I maintained and for how long.  I remember when I started I would let the bike coast very often because my legs just needed a rest.  Now I am able to maintain for much longer.

I hit the local road that leads to a greenway where I knew I could get some speed without concern for traffic.  I rode that out and then the roads back.  The race will be on a standard paved road, so too much training on the greenway would not be like the real thing.  The 40 minutes wasn’t bad.  I had to tell myself a couple times to relax my quads.  For some reason, they have been seizing up during my swim attempts and I almost felt like they were going to go any minute.  Thankfully, I was able to focus on relaxing them while still pedaling away.  I went fairly hard on purpose because I was not tracking my miles in real time, but was more concerned that I was sure my legs would be nice and tired so I could experience the brick for all its glory.  I also read that it’s a good idea to stand on your pedals as you are approaching the dismount area to get the blood flowing differently in the legs.

I got to the house and dismounted as quickly as I could.  I wasn’t thinking about the things that had to happen here at the house with my bike that would not be a consideration at the triathlon.  Since I was riding on the road I needed my lights, so I had to take a second to turn those off.  I ran the bike up the driveway and into the front door where I had my bike stand set up and my running shoes waiting.  I sat on the floor and quickly started removing my cycling shoes.  I chuckled to myself that I was trying to do it quickly as if i was in the race and felt silly.  Then my husband came out, realizing what I was doing, and started to pretend cheer me on.  I just cracked up as I laced up my running shoes and set my helmet down to head out the door.

As I walked out of the living room, I thought to myself “I don’t get the whole brick thing, my legs feel great!”  I started my Garmin and began to trot down the street.  The moment I took my first stride, or rather attempted to take my first stride, I knew exactly what everyone means when they call it a brick.  I felt like I had elephant feet.  My legs felt heavy, like I was wearing the bottom half of the iron man suit with no power and all the weight.  I have no idea why, but it made me smile.  I guess I really felt like I was officially training for a triathlon now.  The feeling took some time to wear off and about ten minutes in I would say I felt normal.  A little tired, but not so heavy.  I was surprised with my time.  I covered two miles in the 20 minutes I had.  Generally in my training runs, my pace is more like an 11-12 and change mile, especially with as hot as it has been.  I expected far worse after coming off the bike.

I returned home super happy with how I felt.  I check my stats and had ridden 8.5 miles and ran 2 miles.  Not bad for my first brick, and way beyond my expectations!!  What an exciting feeling!  The upcoming race is 10 miles on the bike and a 5k, so I feel very confident I can finish those without issue.  Now….if only I could figure out how to get the swim done……