I am not the next Michael Phelps, that was a lie. Just to let everybody know, I am really struggling on the swimming. The first triathlon is in roughly 5 weeks. I have to be able to swim 400 yards, bike 12 miles, and run 3 miles. I’m not worried about the bike or the run. A couple of years ago I ran the Music City Half Marathon, even though I dry heaved at mile 11 and a 93 year old man sprinted past me at the finish line, I still finished it. The swimming portion is another issue. You can see the determination and the drive in this picture of Phelps. He is probably grinding away mentally, preparing for the final 200 meters and another medal. I actually look the same way that he does in this picture when I swim, the difference is that I swam 15 meters and during each stroke I am saying “I am going to die, oh my gosh I am going to die.” At this point I’m not sure how I will swim 400 meters without passing out. I guess I have 5 more weeks to figure that out.
Story time, I was swimming at the YMCA yesterday and as I was resting in between laps I saw the most amazing thing. There was a woman in her mid 40′s swimming by herself. She was really fired up about swimming, she had flippers on and was just going nuts. I figured she had just learned how to swim because of her enthusiasm for just taking off through the pool. I actually thought it was a pretty cool thing to see, it reminded me of a kid just learning to swim and all the excitement that comes with it. In between my laps I saw her take off, hands by her side, head down, and flippers just flying. She started out straight, but all of a sudden she took the sharpest right turn I have ever seen. I assumed she saw something and by the intensity she was turning and swimming it must of been a treasure chest. The truth is the woman did not a treasure chest, she actually didn’t see anything because she swam straight into the wall. I was concerned like everybody else when she hit, but she was ok. In fact she ripped off a 20 word sentence that had 18 cuss words in it. Because she was ok I felt like I had the go ahead to enjoy this experience and of course I busted out laughing. I actually couldn’t stop laughing, the combination of the woman trying to swim through the wall and the drunken sailor sentence she gave us was to much for me. Good times at the YMCA.
I seriously need help swimming, let me know if you have any tips.
Thanks, Pat, i have now fully embarrassed myself. I am sitting alone in a coffee shop and laughing uncontrollably. People are staring and i can’t bring myself to look up at them.
Jared and I laughed so hard….I hope the lady didn’t break her nose or anything. If so, at least she has a good story to tell. Hopefully her passion will inspire you. Good luck on the swimming. And somewhere I heard that it’s easier to swim in Birmingham – something about how the water pressure is better and you can hold your breath longer?? Who knows. Guess you and Skirby should come check it out.
I have no advice for you on the swimming part except that hopefully the water is only about seven feet deep. I did one at Callaway a year ago…thought the swimming would be simple. I started off strong for the first 5 min and then my body just let go of life. Luckily the water was only 7 feet deep where I was. So like any creative individually, I pretty much did like a frog and bounced my way off of the bottom of the lake for the remainder of the time. There were way too many other “competitors” for anyone to notice. But like you said, the biking and running were not that bad. I got a swimming workout from active.com to prepare after that experience.
Patty,
My mom and I almost barfed our guts up on the post before this one. Then we laughed really hard about the 95 year old man running past you at the finish line. Then we REALLY laughed at you laughing at the woman running into the wall.I can only imagine this, old Patty. Wish I was there to see it!
This is awesome…wish so badly that I could have been there.
this is awesome, and what is funny is that I can actually picture you telling it. Gosh I miss you guys. and on the swimming. They make these flipper things for your hands, you can get them at any sporting good store or target and they increase resistence. I know that seems stupid to you at this point since you are already gasping for air without them but they will make you stronger in the water and make the swimming during the triathalon seem easier. We used them during training for softball and when they weren’t on it was so easy. Hope this helps.