My Triathlon Adventure

Went swimming with my sister-in-law. I was doing my Easy Freestyle drills, skating, and the life guard came up to me and said, “what are you doing?” I was taken a bit off guard, and I wasn’t sure if he was reprimanding me or what, so I just looked at him and said, “Um, I’m swimming.” Suddenly I realized he was just curious about my drills. I corrected myself and told him about the Total Immersion drills I was doing. He had heard about them but didn’t know much more than that. Anyway, I swam for about an hour and I started feeling really sick. I’m not sure if it was the bobbing in the pool, or the blur from the goggles, but I felt pretty sick by the time it was all done. The drive home was miserable. I need to figure out how to prevent this or my triathlon career is going to be cut really short.

The drills themselves didn’t go too bad, but I just want to be able to swim. Apparently I have very little patience for swimming, who knew?

I’ve been watching the drills in the Easy Freestyle DVD.  So far the drills seem more straightforward than the ones in the book, and it actually looks like swimming the crawl stroke.  I’ve tried a few drills and they feel really good.  Can’t wait until I am swimming.

Freestyle vs. Crawl Stroke

A word on terminology.  I keep hearing the terms Freestyle and Crawl Stroke thrown around and I wasn’t really sure what they meant.  After some quick research, here is what I’ve found.  Crawl stroke is the name of the actual stroke.  Apparently the crawl stroke is the fastest and most efficient stroke in swimming.

The term Freestyle is actually an event, or a segment of an event, in which there is no required stroke, like the breast stroke or the butterfly.  Swimmers can choose any of a number of strokes.  Since the crawl stroke is the fastest and most efficient, it is almost exclusively what is used in the freestyle event.  As a result the two terms have become synonymous in common conversation.

My Easy Freestyle DVD arrived today. The drills seem more focused, I’m really excited to get out to the pool and put these drills to the test.

I had another swim clinic session, I don’t feel like I got very far.  The people in the class are all at varying levels, all of which are above the cluelessness that I seem to be exhibiting.  It is tough to get enough attention so I tried to just do my thing.  It is so tough to think about all these things I have to do.  I can’t kick correctly, and I can’t move my arms right.  So all I have to do is figure out how to move my arms and legs correctly and I’m good to go.   I’m so screwed.

On a bright note, I didn’t get sick today!  Maybe it was a fluke.

I found a series of videos of a conference speech by Terry Laughlin the developer of Total Immersion.  The video was great, and I’ve decided to buy the “Easy Freestyle Swimming” DVD which has newer techniques and hopefully will be easier to follow.

Here is the clip on YouTube, you can watch the rest of them by following the links that come up once this one ends.  There are 9 videos total.

I have been sick all day today, I looked up some sites on motion sickness while swimming.  One post mentioned physical therapy helped with motion sickness.  I didn’t even know they could do that.  I’ll have to look into it one day.  I hate motion sickness, and I really want to enjoy swimming.   I hear ginger helps with nausea, I’ll look for some ginger chews or maybe I’ll buy some fresh ginger to eat when I get home.  Ugh.

Literally.

I had a practice session today.  I tried doing some of the drills from the Swimming Made Easy Total Immersion book.  Things went ok, I guess.  I really don’t feel like I am making much progress because the drills seem to be baby steps.  They are also designed for a shallow pool.  As a result, I found myself struggling to breath at times when the water was too deep to stand in.  I did learn to roll on my back whenever things got too intense and I needed a breather.   I just roll over and float there.  I can even get some forward progress by doing a backstroke.  I’m thinking that this will be useful in a triathlon if I get into trouble.  I read recently in the USA Triathlon’s rules that you can rest while swimming (Rule 4.1) , however if you use anything like a boat or another person to give you forward momentum you will be disqualified(Rules 4.2 and 4.3).  What?  I’m a lawyer, let me geek out.

Now, about the sickness.  I am really, really, sensitive to motion sickness.  In fact, I am so sensitive, that I have periodically gotten motion sickness while driving my own car.  Today I got nauseous while swimming.   It really upset me.  I don’t want to have to take Dramamine every time I want to swim.  I felt terrible too, I barely made it home without throwing up.  In fact, I had to drive with the window down in freezing cold weather just to keep from losing it.  I am still feeling sick as I write this in fact.  Hopefully it was a one time thing. Ugh!

OK, I’m not sure the swim instructor got the memo that I DON”T KNOW HOW TO SWIM!!!

We started in the deep lap pool, it goes down to 9′ at the deep end.  We were supposed to do some warmup laps.  I did my best, and I didn’t drown, but I was really uncomfortable.  I struggled just to get to the other end of the pool.

We did a few drills during the session.  She had us use a kickboard to practice kicking.  I felt like I was kicking like a maniac but wasn’t getting anywhere.  My wife and sister-in-law were nearly up and back before I got to the other side of the pool.  My legs were burning and I was really really tired.

Next we did drills with a pull buoy just to work on the arms.  I felt completely lost.  I wasn’t discouraged though.  It was my first time in water over my head, and I didn’t drown.  Maybe next time will be better.

Just received the schedule for the triathlon training club at the YMCA so the first bunch of events are at the Y.

Updates:

2/13 Canceled Cupid Run and Added O’Hartford 5K

I’ll update as the season goes on. (Planned) Indicates events I would like to do but have not registered for at this point.

Update: I have registered for the Hartford Half Marathon and Reality called and reminded me to cancel the glory that is the Hartford Full Marathon and the Half in Virginia Beach.  A good plan because, as Reality clearly explained on the phone, I haven’t run more than the 50 yards required to catch the closing doors of elevator in years, and even then most days I say, buh, I’ll get the next one.  You didn’t have to be so flippant Reality, give me a break.

Update 2 (4/22/2010): I missed the March YMCA Triathlon because I was away in training.  I am also going to bow out of the April one because I injured my knee.  The doctor says I need to take a full week off from running.  Bummer.

One of the great things about the triathlon training program at the YMCA is that they have a beginner’s swim clinic.  That way, hopefully, I can get some help on swimming.  My hope is that I get comfortable enough that I can swim in the deep lap pool at the Y instead of the shallow, but more crowded general purpose pool.  I can’t help but see images of myself getting dragged out of the pool by a life guard, now that would be embarrassing.

So here is my plan, I have a book called Swimming Made Easy.   It is a book with drills using the Total Immersion method of swimming.  I have had it for about 2 years, and have done a few drills, but never dedicated enough time to get to anything that even looked like swimming.  I plan on getting some tips from the swim instructor for the basics, and then running through the TI drills to get more proficient.  That’s the plan anyway.  The first swim clinic is on December 15th, I’m excited.