Training Day 24 – Small(Yet big) Victory

To most anyone with any type of experience in the pool (including my 12 year old son Isaac) today’s Victory will seem simplistic and mundane but, for me – TODAY ROCKED! Today was another swim day in my triathlon training. Last night I had told Issac how excited I was about the progress I was seeing each time I swam with Coach Marci from Elevate Fitness. Today was no different. I told Isaac that I was going to make it 4 full lengths across the pool. Coach Marci started me out by just swimming down and back. It felt relaxed and easy. Easier than I was expecting. We then did some drills that included:

• Reaching out – Make sure not to cross the body with my arms when I am diving each hand into the water above my head.
• Zip the Zipper – This is all about keeping my elbow high and out of the water while dragging my thumb up my side like I am wearing my ski jacket. This is one of my favorite drills. I feel like a real swimmer with good form when doing this drill.
• Fists of Fury – This drill gets it’s name because I use only fists and it is infuriating. It is swimming without the use of those lovely paddles we can hands. It really does help me appreciate all the digits on the old right and left.
• One Handed – This drill could also be called “Remember What it Feels like Drowning”
• Counting strokes – This was a new one. I like this drill a lot. It seems to have serious merit. Understanding how efficient I am is key to knowing how well I can swim.

So after we finished the drills Marci challenged me to swim three lengths of the pool. I felt confident that I could do it. I swam down, had good form and was sure I could make it without problem until on my third length… I swallowed a couple of gallons of water. Yes once again, Curtis the Humpback Whale emerged from the water spouting from my blow hole and gasping for air. Not my greatest moment. We took a minute to breath and then we watched Ashley effortlessly glide across the surface of the water to help visualize what good form looked like. Once I regained my breath Marci took a slightly different approach with me. She told me to relax and instead of focusing on getting to the other side as fast as possible, focus on taking things nice and slow and concentrate at my form. She gave some sage advice saying, “When you are out in open-water you want to go the pace that is going to get you back to shore rather than going out as fast as you can and burning all your energy in the first 100 meters.
I took a few more deep breaths, slowed my heart rate, then slowly and carefully glided out across the water. I focused on the slow steady rhythm of reaching out above my head, flipping my wrist down, pulling until I hit my hip then pushing and making sure to flip my wrist as my hand comes out of the water and I Zip the Zipper with my elbow in the shape of a shark fin and then shoot my hand back into the water above my head, breathing on my left side each time I turn. I made it to the other side flipped around and started coming back. Again, the second leghth of the pool was slow and steady and without anxiety. The Third lap was the same and I made a startling realization – I forgot I was swimming. I was so focused on the slow steady rhythm instead of “self preservation” that I actually forgot I was swimming. A squirt of endorphins shot into my prefontal cortex as I finished the fourth length and I decided I was going for #5. More than I have ever done. I hit the goal and then blew past it. Maybe this “Sinker” can become a “Swimmer” after all.