Swimming – it’s a skill.

The post below is going to talk about some of my swim doubts.

In honor of learning something new, here’s a special link to a post I wrote about running my first 5k. As I’m training for my 7th half marathon and my first triathlon, reading this post gives me more than enough courage to throw on my swimsuit, grab my goggles, and jump right in.

Today’s Post:

After over a month of swim lessons, I’m starting to really appreciate how much skill is involved in swimming.

With running, and even biking, sheer persistence will get you to the finish line. Sure, there are ways to train smarter, shift gears better, and improve your form… but you can finish the bike or run section of a triathlon without having to learn much.

Not so with swimming.

I could show up to the pool, practice for 45 minutes, and make no progress if I’m not doing the drills right.

I have to pay attention to where my legs are in the water, how high my head is, how much I’m bending my knees, if I’m bringing my head up too far out of the water.

It’s not just one foot in front of the other anymore. No more “just keep spinning, just keep spinning”.

I’ve got to make sure I understand my swim instructor’s directions before I go practice on my own in between lessons, so I don’t form bad habits. I have to make sure when I’m doing something better, I know why and how so I can replicate it again.

It’s exciting, but it’s also a bit scary. When I was training for my first half marathon, it was pretty easy to see how things were progressing. One week, I was running 6 miles as my longest run. A month later I had managed a 9 mile run. I was steadily getting closer to the 13.1 mile distance. I was doing it half asleep. (Literally, for some of those 5 a.m. runs.)

Suddenly, how mentally focused I am makes a big difference on how quickly I make progress with my training. The better I pay attention, the more mindful I am of exactly what I’m doing in the water, the better I communicate with my instructor, the faster I’ll make progress.

I have an extra swim lesson today. My instructor had a cancellation and offered me the slot. After I accepted, she texted me back saying that was great, she thinks an extra session will really help, and to double check just how long the triathlon swim is in July. Ummm…. you’re not worried, are you?! Please tell me you’re not worried. As long as she keeps faith in me I feel like I’m making sufficient progress and things will be fine.

I swam the entire length of the pool last week. That’s 25 yards. I only need to make it 586.7 yards.  I’m like almost there.

I had a dream last night that Greg’s grandmother was at the pool and I showed her what I’d learned, and I was flying down the pool, breathing perfectly, pulling the water, and swam so hard I ran into the other end of the pool because it came so fast. She was really proud.

Then I woke up.

I want to be clear here – I’m not worried. I’m learning. Once I get the stroke down, I’ll use the endurance I’ve been building for the past couple years to build up distance quickly. It’s going to be like a switch; things will click, and I’ll keep adding and adding pool lengths until I get there. I’m used to working hard for extended periods of time; long runs, endurance spin classes. It’ll translate to the pool.

And I can’t wait until it does.

In the meantime – THANK YOU to everyone who has donated to my Tri for a Cure fundraising page. I love seeing messages from readers, friends and family. You can donate as little as $5.00 and leave a message on my fundraising page, and I hope you will! It helps fight cancer, and it brightens my day 🙂 I feel so happy when I get a new donation; it’s amazing to feel someone believes in me and this journey, and cares about this important cause.

If I reach the $1,500 fundraising mark, I get an automatic slot in next year’s race!

And by then… I’ll DEFINITELY know how to swim 😉