Swimming is my weakness in the sport of triathlon. I was a lifequard in the Chesapeake Bay in High School, but never swam competitively. I've got the open water piece down pretty well, but not the speed piece. I don't do flip turns (my lack of coordination and the fact that most tris are open water swims led me to decide not to waste time learning them and flailing like a crazy fish). I swam about five times leading up to my first tri last year.
My goal for 2010 was to work on the swim over the offseason. I got a coach, who has developed "the plan" for me. My need to meet my goals and not fail is great motivation for those 6am swims when it is 27 degress (11 with wind chill this morning). Some people love to swim in the pool. I have always loved the water, but don't loooooooove the swim workouts. I feel good once I'm in the pool, but get lapped by so many people that I have to tune it all out.
A lot of my workouts this month have involved paddles and pull buoys. I did not have a pull buoy, and used a kickboard between my legs the first couple of workouts. This is NOT an advisable way to do this. Maybe for those more coordinated, but after getting popped once in the chin by the kickboard I realized I needed a pull buoy STAT!!!! It is amazing how much smoother (not necessarily easier, but smoother) the workouts are now. I still don't love the swim, and I am still sloooow, but I've already been in the pool more times this month than I was for all of last winter, so that is progress!
Way to keep at the swim. It took me a long time to fall in love with it...
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