All you can do is tri

Today I conquered my issues involving my wetsuit. I got in, breathed every other stroke and did really well. No hyperventilation. No swallowing water. No swimming with my head above water, except to sight. It felt good. The swim area I went to was 60 yards wide. I probably swam 50 yards each way since I didn’t go all the way to the logs. Then again, there were a lot of waves from boats so maybe I swam more?

For a couple weeks now, I’ve been telling myself I should run down to the local park, swim for a while and then run back. Rather than continue to talk the talk, I chose to walk the walk. Gotta start some time, right? AND I really needed to deal with my wetsuit issues. See if it was the wetsuit itself (too constricting?), the excitement of the race start, or the fact that I really did need to put my head under water to get past not wanting to put my face in.

I ran about 1 mile to the park down the road where there would be less people to gawk at the wetsuit girl.   I live across from a large park where there are tons of people walking, sunning, playing volleyball, BBQ’ing, etc.  I’m not courageous enough for that yet. Took it slow on the way there, since it was my first run in two weeks. Then began the wetsuit tango. Made extra sure I had the wetsuit up enough in the legs, then the torso and finally the arms. I think this was the best suit up I’ve done so far. All the other times have been moderately rushed and I probably didn’t pull everything up enough.

Turns out the wetsuit is fine. Limits my range of motion in my arms, as expected, but that was the only thing I could find.

I think the adrenaline of the start does get to me. Everyone around me jumps in, starts thrashing for space in their quest to find their groove and I guess I get caught up in it and take on that energy to be my own. Maybe it’s the word “race” too. What do you think of when you hear the word race? I think - fast, speed, quickness, run for you lives! Gets my heart beating too rapidly to be endurable. At least with a wetsuit on. Today was the opposite. Calm (except for the water), serene and MY pace. And to test the face in the water theory, I dove right in to get past that part.

All in all, today was a confidence builder. I didn’t swim for long since the swim area was only open for 30 more mins once I got my wetsuit on. I’m pretty sure I got laughed at by some young guys, but I wasn’t out there for them and they don’t know what I’m all about. One of them did ask what I was training for, so at least one of them had a clue. Another asked if I was going to go scuba diving. “No I’m practicing swimming in my wetsuit.” No pressure now!

Afterwards, I ran the mile back home, nice and easy.

Little steps is what it takes. Just gotta keep putting one foot in front of the other and it will all come together eventually.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 9th, 2007 at 8:03 pm and is filed under Training, Running, Swimming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.