Life's a beach!

Over a month ago, I left off talking about the choice: group or solo training.

Today I reaped the benefits of group.

When I joined Vision Quest coaching, one of the available activities was a coached swim practice.

I had been swimming on my own, attempting to learn Total Immersion swimming from the book, Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way To Swim Better, Faster, and Easier.

I thought I was doing...swimmingly...well.

ehhh...no.

The coach, Marcia Cleveland, was fantastic. I was quickly overwhelmed by the practice pace...

WAIT - maybe I should mention here that I had at least 7-10 years of swimming lessons as a kid. The YMCA was a reasonable investment for my limited-income family. So I do cope with water without fear.

...and Marcia carefully, week by week, corrected my stroke, starting with "you are all crunched up."

No, I was sleek as a dolphin, stretching and reaching...crunched up? Really?

Yes, really. Turns out what was in my head was not translating to the reality of my body.

So I stretched out...and she said "nope, not yet!" and stretched, and stretched...and then got to work on not crossing my arms over the center line.

REALLY - I'm shooting them straight ahead!

Ah, No.

And so on...and today, in the Clearwater gulf waters, I reaped the reward of all of Marcia's work. I swam two miles, in relative comfort, understanding my body position and working FAR less hard than I did in the past.

If you are thinking triathlon, unless you were a swim team swimmer, swimming lessons are probably an essential.

Open water swimming in water similar to your triathlon is essential as well. I say similar water because swimming in Lake James, where my brother has a cottage, is harder than the pool; and the ocean, although not choppy this morning, is harder than Lake James.

Swimming in the gulf:

1. Is noisier. It's weird, but I put my head in and there is all sorts of noise, distracting and overwhelming my technique focus.
2. Is salty (duh). BUT this is something to get used to - it burns the back of my throat and does not taste so good. My stomach is more upset after a gulf than lake swim (I can't swim without swallowing some water, can you?)
3. Is fishier. Smells fishier, feels fishier, and appears fishier (see more fish!). I touched a few - eep!

Today there were quite a few gulf swimmmers using the long "lane" formed by the protected swimming area posts. It's just over a half mile long - perfect for my Ironman training. I decided to go for it, and swam my farthest - two miles - ish (hard to tell exactly).

I felt great - sleek and fast like a dolphin - and this time, I don't think I'm too far off!

Thanks to all who have contributed to my Ironman Foundation effort for Cystic Fibrosis, in particular the Boomer Esiason Foundation. I am incredibly grateful!