If you remember, I've pretty much decided that I'm going to attempt a triathlon this summer. The biggest impediment to this, though, is my swimming—or rather, the lack thereof. Well, I figured it was time to remedy this. So, I got a real swimsuit and goggles, and headed to the pool this morning. I got in the water, and felt like this:
I didn't have a tweed swimsuit. (I actually think my new jammer is quite stylish, but I digress…) I did feel horribly out of place though, because, well, this is the first time I've ever gone to the pool with the intent of swimming laps. Maybe it was an omen that the lifeguard was late, so we were standing outside the door to the pool for a few minutes wondering if we'll be able to get in.
I didn't have any particular goals (other than staying alive), but figured that I would try and swim for half an hour. Katie was there, and has provided valuable advice all along, and I was grateful that she was in the lane next to me so I could ask her the dumb questions like "how do you work the pull buoy?"
I was also grateful that the pool was fairly empty, so I had a lane all to myself. (This was good, because I wasn't swimming in a straight line at all. In fact, at one point, my lower half crossed over into Katie's lane. How? I don't know. But it happened.) I just started swimming, trying to remember things from the youtube videos I watched. My biggest problem was breathing. I couldn't quite coordinate myself to turn my head and breathe. On certain occasions, I got confused and exhaled above water and inhaled underwater (it doesn't work, btw). After 2 laps, I told myself I would do 4 laps and call it a day (4 laps being half the distance I'll need to do in the triathlon).
Most of the time, I used the pull buoy. I kick a lot, and this keeps me from focusing on breathing, so I figured that I should get breathing down first. The pull buoy helped even though I still tried to kick with it. It did feel like I was starting to get the hang of breathing, but I still have a long way to go.
I finished 4 laps, and was ready to leave, but decided that I should do 8 laps. I've been focusing a lot on mental toughness lately with my running, so I tried to apply some of that to swimming. (On a related note, Katie and I had a discussion this weekend on the vomit threshold, but I'll regale you with that some other time.)
Well, I finished all 8 laps. I had to stop and rest every 25 yards, so I've still got a long way to go before I can swim the ¼ mile for the triathlon, but its 3 months away. Here are some random thoughts on my swimming now that I can reflect on my first swim
- Unlike running, swimming is not a natural act for humans. People can just run. They may not enjoy it, but the principle of running is fairly simple. This is not the case with swimming. Every time I would try and focus on a particular part of my form (breathing, arms, legs, etc), everything I wasn't focusing on would just go to hell.
- I am not exceptionally buoyant. Even with kicking, the lower half of my body has a strong tendency to drop in the water. My kicking probably isn't any good—I feel like I'm kicking like mad, but my body still drops. They say that for open water swimming, a wetsuit provides a great deal of buoyancy, so that my help in this department, but I still need to get my form correct before relying on tools like that.
- Right now, a half hour of swimming for me is akin to probably 90 to 120 minutes of running. What I mean is that I feel as tired right now after the short swim as I would running 12 − 15 miles. I must improve on this. I know I have the cardio endurance, but I'm wasting so much of it with my bad form.
- I'm going to take swim lessons. I'm glad the U doesn't classify the adults with fish categories because I don't want to be stuck as a guppy again.
- The best part about the swim: using a centrifuge. (aka, the "suit spinner" in the locker room)
- Swimming is tough!
Was it pleasant? Not really. But, I'll be back in the pool on Thursday, then Monday, then Thursday...
4 comments:
I know you can do it!! Just keep it up, dude, and I think you'll get the hang of it in time.
Which tri are you doing? I can probably pull off 8 laps... if I train hard enough! :)
Lakefront Days Tri at Cleary Lake: http://www.dakotahsport.com/triathlon/index.html
August 7
And don't worry, 8 laps is easy. Particularly when you get to hold onto the ladder every 25 meters. Wait. The tri is in a lake? Doh. :)
Your body is a seesaw. If your head goes up, your legs are going to go down, no matter how hard you kick. And it's instinctual to swim with your head high. Trying thinking about pointing your head down into the pool. It will make your legs come up.
And when you turn to breath, make sure you keep the top of your head in the water. It's instinctual to bring your whole head up when you breath, which pushes your legs down into the water and kills all your momentum.
Generally for a triathlon, you want to kick as little as possible. Just enough to keep yourself balanced in the water.
Post a Comment