Don't Curse the Darkness - Light a Candle

I am STILL in my prerequisite sprint triathlon training.  As a neophyte in the water portion, swimming is my biggest concern.  I've going to the YMCA on Mondays and Wednesdays and swimming about 500 yards during open swim time (9:10 - 9:40 PM).  Lap swim is early in the A.M. and I still don't feel sufficiently confident to swim during that time.  Moreover, I am still resting between 50 yard sets so I don't want to be a pain to real swimmers.  Typically during late evening open swim time there are 2-3 of us doing laps.  At times there will be a few others but not usually. Until last night!

The pool was set up last night with one large lane (actually 3 lanes) and there were people doing laps there.  There were 3 young kids (ages 9-11) on the other side and they were swimming the width rather than the length (sigh) plus occasionally jumping off the diving board. 

FURTHERMORE there was a young couple with a friend and a baby playing in the water.  You know how that is, right? The baby is having a blast in the water and they are spinning around cooing and giggling.  I remember those times and it's a blast but do you really need to spin across 3 lanes? 

So here I am attempting to dodge kids swimming the width and circumventing parents playing ring-around-the-rosy with their infant! The lifeguard was new (my first time seeing her) and she didn't really intervene sufficiently to help.  The issue with the 3 kids was that their parents were the ones swimming on the "reserved lanes"!  REALLY?? Get control of your kids!

I was home early but finished my laps in record time. I probably could have gone longer but wanted to get out of the pool and get relief from the chaos.  When I arrived home my wife asked, "How did your swimming go?"

I replied, "It was the best of times and the worst of times."

"Why so," she pried.

I explained the chaotic pool mess but mentioned I was able to get my laps done in my best time yet.

Her reply as only a wife can do, "Well what do you think it's going to be like during your sprint triathlon?  Probably chaotic, right?"

Instead of allowing me to curse the darkness she simply lit the candle for me.  Hopefully those kids will be in bed on Wednesday night though!

Music Monday

Training for my first-annual-sprint-triathlon begins April 1, 2013.  I am currently in my prerequisite training stage which consists of the following: Monday - P90X; Tuesday - Insanity; Wednesday - P90X; Thursday - Insanity; Friday - P90X; Saturday - running, and Sunday - Yoga X.  On Monday and Wednesday evenings I swim.  I'm still building my swim endurance and working on form but I am improving each week.

I like P90X but at times it goes way too long, unnecessarily.  Tony Horton loves to talk (dude should have a radio talk show!).  I'm often complete with my sets before he finishes talking about the set.  I don't like to dilly-dally and can't do 15 pullups yet.  So, I do my 5-6 and FF the disc to the next set. I can usually do the entire workout and knock of 10 minutes.

Insanity is the polar opposite.  Shaun T is always pushing people to speed up and get into place.  "Hurry up people we gotta stretch!"  The cardio is phenomenal and I love his pace.  The cardio in P90X.. not so much.  I don't like Cardio X, Ken Po, or Plyo X so I mix-n-match with Insanity. Insanity for cardio and P90X for strength.

I've never really enjoyed running but I am determined to pull this Sprint triathlon off successfully.  As I've mentioned before I prefer to listen to music when running. Probably won't be able to during the race but for now I'll use whatever I can to keep my motivation level high.  Here is another song I've added to my running playlist.

Don't let the "strange" cover fool you.  Solid band with a great message.

Fast, Faster, Fastest and Crash and Burn

"Are you okay?" 

"Yes, just hurt a little bit of pride," was my reply.

It's been awhile since I've been skiing and we had a nice storm a few days ago.  My son loves to ski and I wanted to get outside in the fresh air and enjoy a sunny 20 degree day on the slopes. He heads to the  black diamond and I find the green circle.

Like many things in my life I am a neophyte skier.  I really don't go often enough to build on what I've learned but I aim to correct that. My problem seems to be that I go too fast!  I see others smoothly gliding down the hills and here I go and I say, "oh crap, oh crap not again!" BAM, ROLL, then came the nice lady to me, "are you okay?"

Speed is not always good.  As I was flying down the mountain and losing control I thought of my swimming difficulties.  I go too fast and become fatigued while swimming.  I go to fast and crash while skiing.  Going slowly isn't always easy though. 

I'm still new at swimming so placing my face in the water and blowing out and turning my head for a quick breath seems unnatural.  I believe my "survival" instincts take over and my brain tells my body to speed it up to get back to the edge of the pool - STAT.  Then I am tired, however. 

I still have a lot to learn but thankfully I have time to learn it.  Trying new things for me is scary but in a fun way.  I'm not the quickest learner (repetition is my buddy!) but I have bull-dog like intensity and patience.  This week I work on swimming as slowly as possible.  Next time I ski I work on slowly gliding down the hill without someone looking down on me to make sure I am still alive!

Selah

Frustration!

I am a new swimmer.  I've known how to doggie paddle and tread water for most of my life.  Only recently did I learn to do the front crawl in preparation for a sprint triathlon I am completing in July.  I've been swimming 2 times per week at the local Y during upon swim time.  I still am not confident enough to go during lap time.  I don't want to inconvenience people that are serious and good.  I'm serious just not good, yet.

So the sprint triathlon swim distance is 500 yards or meters or something like that.  The plan I am following indicates a person should be able to swim 50 yards without stopping.  Okay, I can do that.  However, the first day of training (which doesn't start for me until April) has a 1,550 yard swimming total!  Do you think it might be a typo and the prereq should be 500 yards?

I still am getting winded and only swimming between 250-300 yards per session.  That takes me about 15 minutes.  I can't go non-stop 250 yards!  I am frustrated and not sure what to do.  I can continue going twice per week and push my distances but will I ever be able to swim for 1,500 yards??? I realize that I am new at this but why is it so difficult.

Okay, I am done sucking my thumb and will get back to working and finding a way to make this work!