My Next Tri

This past Saturday, I completed my next tri at lake lanier. This is the first time I've looked at a tri as a training, how much progress have you made outing. I'm working on my mental strength. This has proved to be more of a challenge than expected. The swim wasn't as easy as expected but a lot easier than Irongirl. I had butterflies while waiting on the shore and a couple times even found myself not wanting to start. But I did. I'm learning to push through. This was the first tri where I had to swim alone and push myself to keep going. No friends or coaches next to me to encourage and I pushed through. Honestly, it felt good to swim around yet another houseboat. I wish they wouldn't anchor them on race day. Swimming under a bridge, walk way for use by the temporary boat dock users. Listening to the crowd encourage me. It is true that people really do want you to succeed.

The 1/4 mile transition run/walk seemed doable. I didn't worry on stepping on anything or slipping. My sole focus was to get to transition as quickly as I could.  Upon arriving in transition, I found my bike [racked on the last rack] slipped on the necessary equipment and patiently walk/jogged the bike to the mount line. I clipped in and was on my way.  The transition is coming natural to me.  I guess the key is learning how to approach it and practice.

The bike ride went well. My primary focus was to have a good ride [first with clips] and try not to fall. The key I realized is being in the right gear, continuing to pedal, and keeping a watchful eye on the road and other cyclists. Sounds simple enough. About 3 miles away from transition, a car and other cyclists was in front of me.  I clipped out with my left foot and prepared to stop. Only then did I realize I was in the wrong gear for a hill, got a little disoriented tried to downshift while breaking and the next thing I knew, realized I was gonna fall. I should say tip over because that's what it seemed like. all I could do was unclip my right foot, lie back onto the grass a few seconds, laugh and then get up to continue.  I clipped back in and road the rest of the way in.

T2 was much easier. I removed the necessary gear, slipped on my shoes, and was on my way.

The run is becoming a feeling of, you've got this for me.  I guess at this point, I realize the hardest part is over.  I ran/walked the course and made it in. During the course I thought, this is the 3rd Lake Lanier run in as many months.  I'm not going to run Lake Lanier three times next year.  The downhill leading toward the finish was wonderful as always.  It was so nice to hear the announcer say my name and to receive the medal.

Crossing the finish line makes all the practice, early rising, anxiety and wondering how things will go worth it. It's a wonderful and addicting sense of accomplishment. I learned a few lessons and have some things to practice on.  Sunday, albeit tired, I found myself thinking of goals for the next 1, 3, 6 and 12 months. I'm hooked on trying to improve including riding and running with more advanced friends to improve.

I'm on the fence about Acworth. Funny, as much as I want to do it, I don't feel that I have to. If my swim is not up to speed, I won't register. I'll continue to practice, practice, practice until it's better. I think this is why I like triathlon, there is so much opportunity to improve.

Keep moving forward

Practice makes permanent

....or so I’ve been told. I hope that is the case with my swim skills. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve improved a lot since this time last year. With a few improvements, I expect to see BIG BIG BIG gains. Those improvements involve my catch and pull, so that I’m actually pulling the water and not so relaxed when I pull.  Pulling with a forced intensity so the resistance is noticeable and I move forward with efficiency. Also, getting into a rhythm with my breathing. Swimming four strokes before breathing so that I don’t start to feel like I’m not getting enough breath. I’m going to work on that this week and test it during My Next Tri this coming weekend.  The benefit of that tri is I actually can swim freestyle and sidestroke or limited backstroke if I tire. But the goal is to freestyle it.  Lastly, I want to become a little more intense. :-)  I have to chuckle because my nature is so laid back. However, I need to turn it up a notch and get fired up a little when I participate in these events.

I’ve been practicing with my clips. Yikes! I can’t believe I’m actually riding with them. I will ride MNT with them. The course is 10 miles with some hills. I’m going to practice a couple times this week.  I'm reminded of the mental aspect of trying something new. I have to focus on shifting to the right gear, keeping my cadence, and not thinking so much about my feet being clipped in. If I do that, I’ll get through the race.

Keep moving forward…

One last long swim practice

This will be the Irongirl teams' last long swim.  I can’t believe it!  Our training season is almost over and we are less than 2 weeks out from Irongirl.  Todays practice will involve swimming further than race distance.  We will swim 600 meters. I’ve been reading a lot on staying present and not worrying about what other athletes are doing around me.  A key tenant of the book is to have fun while swimming and go at my own pace. So, instead of panicking, I decide to swim the entire distance backstroke. I don’t want to stress. I figure worse case scenario—if I have to backstroke the entire 500 meters at Irongirl, it would be nice to know how long it might take. Would I be able to complete it before the cutoff time?  This would be my chance to see. 

So, we get in the lane and I start.  Of course, the faster swimmers head out but I’m not going to panic. Oh, I forgot to mention, the swimmers training for the Oconee Olympic would be swimming 1300 meters. I knew some if not all would catch and pass me. Again, I didn’t panic and figured I could use this to simulate later waves where swimmers would catch and pass me.  On, I go, settling myself down..singing ‘Expect a Miracle’ by the Clark Sisters, ‘Control’ by Janet Jackson, ‘Lose Yourself by Eminem and I’m chugging along. After 450 meters or so, I get a bit distracted and remind myself, I can do all things through Jesus Christ..by now, the Oconee swimmers are passing me.  A couple times I swallow water or get water in my nose and choke up. I hate that choking feeling. It's so unnatural to feel my body seize up like that. I eventually regroup and keep going. Tuning out others and not worrying about being the last person. The goal is to finish before the cutoff and have fun.

Finally, I’m in the last 50 meters. Out of my peripheral vision, I see Cameron and a few others cheering me on. I make it to the end of the lane, climb the ladder out and hear Coach Beth say 30 minutes.  Whoo hoo!! I’ll take that. 600 meters backstroke in 30 minutes. That’s better than 40 or 50 minutes! Better yet, I accept that I’m much calmer on my back and will no doubt swim some of Irongirl on it. I know that due to limited visibility I don’t want to swim the entire thing on my back but I’m willing to swim some or most of it.  The goal is to finish the swim way before the cutoff and have fun doing it!

A takeway from this practice is to work on swimming 100-200 meters continuously over the next week. Not sure if I’ll reach that goal but I’m going to try.

Keep moving forward…

Major breakthrough at swim practice

Last night's practice involved all participants swimming their race distances. For me, that meant 500 meters, continuous and timed.  I’d downloaded a copy of Conquer your fear of water and spent a few hours reading it.  A few things stood out to me including:

1. the importance of remaining in control to prevent panic
2. staying present to the situation and aware of my feelings
3. follow any instructions that are revealed to me
4. have fun
5. don’t do anything I didn’t want to do.

I decided to do this all day and at practice.

I have to say it worked for me.  By staying present, I had no opportunity to build anxiety about practice.  Last week, Coach Mike, told me I’d swim 500 meters and be timed, but I had no idea how this would occur.  This was probably the first time during the pre-meeting I didn’t have anxiety about the pending workout.  Stay present.  After the meeting, we head over to the pool and our designated lanes.  Those swimming 500 meters would start in lane 7, then swim back in lane 8, exit the pool and get into lane 1. We’d then swim up/down lanes 1-8 to complete the distance. 

I swam a 200m warm-up then headed to lane 7.  Coach Beth gave us the pre-swim spiel, confirming how much fun this would be [yeah right].  She blew the whistle and off we went. I decided, to let everyone start and then jump in.  I swam freestyle maybe 30 meters and felt myself began to panic. Then decided to switch to side stroke for a bit.  Eventually, sidestroke became backstroke.  I know, backstroke of all things. I just happened to have watched a few videos of it and it’s supposed to be good for imprinting freestyle body position.  So backstroke it was. To my surprise, it felt GREAT!  I’d forgotten how relaxed I am on my back.  I could count, sing, and remind myself ‘I’m in Control’ while singing a la Janet Jackson.  That would become a new mantra.  It wasn’t the fastest backstroke but it allowed me to swim the 500m distance in 25minutes and 4 seconds.  Who Knew!!

The more important things were:

1. I stayed present and listened to that voice whispering, “try the backstroke”;
2. I completed the race distance—that was huge for me
3. I did it in less than my target time <30 minutes
4. I wasn’t exhausted afterward, since I stayed calm
5. I didn’t worry about other swimmers that are faster than me. 

So I’ve decided to continue practicing and improving in the coming weeks.  Who knows, I might be able to get my time under 20 minutes. I’ll continue to stay present and not worry about anyone else’s race but my own.  Oh, and I’ll have fun while doing it!!

Remember to keep moving forward...