Am I serious or delusional?

[keaveny]

Okay, so I have already mentioned I have not swum in about 20 years. Aside from splashing around with my kids on vacation; water has not been a part of my life (even my preferred method of hydrating is Stella Artois).

So, I thought yesterday was the perfect opportunity to swim at a friend's large pond and just see how deficient I am.

After about 50m, I was thinking, "Now I remember...swimming sucks!"

So, any same such horror stories you might have will help me push on.

I couldn't seem to get enough breath after the third stroke to sustain me, I wasn't blowing the air out...It was generally a disaster.

[sarajean]

keaveny said:

So, any same such horror stories you might have will help me push on.

When I started triathlon in 2001, I hadn't done any real swimming since the summer of 1989. Front crawl was out of the question, so I started with lap after lap of relaxed breastroke. Getting comfortable exhaling during the "glide" helped me remember how to breathe. Then, I added slow front crawl, sidestroke, and butterfly into the mix.

Then, I did the Cleveland Triathlon's "Super Sprint" distance (300 yard swim) for my first open-water experience. It was awful -- the muddy water was so disorienting that I couldn't put my face in it. I ended up trying lifesaving (face out of water) breastroke, accidentally tapping someone with my foot, and finishing the swim doing a hybrid stroke with breastroke arms and flutter kick. (I wasn't the slowest swimmer. That was the people doggy paddling from one rescue kayak to the next.)

Then, I took off a few years because of family issues. When I returned (in January 2006), swimming was once again exhausting. I got myself the "Total Immersion" book and learned to swim front crawl properly. For that first season back, I focused on using the minimum amount of energy possible while swimming. I also did CTC open-water workouts and got accustomed to the muddy lake water.

At my second race, I passed a whole bunch of people, caught the end of the previous wave, and finished in the 50th percentile overall for the swim. I was particuarly surprised at this because at the CTC open-water workouts, I was always the slowest swimmer.

[corybarrett]

i used to swim in high school... for 11 years straight... i swam a mile in the pool in 16:30, 500 yards in 4:45, junior national cuts... i was a great swimmer. This is my first time swimming in 10 years, i thought no problem i have this under my belt, i was winded after 100 yards, and had to stop at 250. Swimming is most defiantly the most jealous of the three disciplines. If you don't practice and give the water a good effort, it will get you in the race.

[Brent]

My first race had a 500yd swim, I managed to "swim" about 100. The rest was all side stroke. I think I was actually the last person out of the water.

I have made it to my third season racing and my last race had a 750m swim and I had the 3rd fastest swim split out of 130 people. So don't be discouraged. You can and will improve with some work.

Find a swimmer and have them coach you up a little. Most importantly, get in the pool and swim. A lot. Good luck.

[michaelfenoff]

i never swam competitively before and when I went to go and swim in High School, I finished off the season an all conference swimmer in the 200 and 500 freestyle. I never could swim very fast before it, but I put the time in and got a lot out of it. Just work hard and it will come fast.

[keaveny]

Now, that is what I needed! Nothing like all you experienced triathletes' personal failures to give me hope.

I got to thinking about this the other day; I haven't swum in 20 years; until a month ago I hadn't biked since I was a kid; I started running a few years back

And now I want to do it consecutively...and competitively!

I must be insane.

Seriously, though, it helps sustain me when I know many of you started with these same sorts of challenges, and overcame them.

Just persevere, eh?

Anybody else have any nightmares they'd like to share with me?
I think I'll print them all out and leave them in conspicuous places to remind me.

[sarajean]

keaveny said:

I got to thinking about this the other day; I haven't swum in 20 years; until a month ago I hadn't biked since I was a kid; I started running a few years back

And now I want to do it consecutively...and competitively!

I must be insane.

You didn't ask for biking or running horror stories!

The first time I did a race, I had to find a bike because the 3-speed I'd had in high school broke and I didn't bother to replace it. I hadn't been on a bike in 11 years. I didn't have money to buy a road bike. My landlord offered me a bike a tenant had left behind when the tenant moved out in the middle of the night the previous year. It was a men's road bike that was a bit too tall for me, and it had drop handlebars. I'd never ridden my sister's 10-speed because drop handlebars scared me. I took this road bike onto Fairmount, went about 30 yards, and fell off of it. As I was patching up my leg, my husband offered to let me use his ancient 18-speed mountain bike. I didn't know anything about bikes with multiple speeds, but I went ahead and rode it, including on Race Day. My average speed was 11 mph.

I started running around the same time I decided to attempt a triathlon. I didn't put much time into my running because I figured I could "power walk" the last leg if running didn't work. Due to a stupid newbie mistake (I didn't drink enough before the race), by the time I got to the run, I was not feeling well, so I found a group of women who'd wandered off course and were walking around trying to find the course. Since I'd walked the course twice before Race Day, I was able to tell them I knew where I was going and suggest they walk with me. We all ambled towards the finish line. Just before it came into view, I said, "My husband is waiting at the finish line and I want him to think I was running the whole time, so I'll see you later." I barely had enough energy in my legs to get across the finish line.

[JenCollister]

When I trained for my first triathlon, I didn't know how to swim at all (at least not correctly). So, I practiced using the side stroke, back stroke and breast stroke (with my head out of the water). I thought 5 laps in a 20-yard pool was ridiculously far, but I kept at it until I was successfully completing 1/2 mile (22 laps). On race day, I wore aqua shoes and got so far off course (even with just doing side stroke and head out of the water breast stroke) that I think I went the Olympic distance. I was almost the last person out of the water, but it made the rest of the triathlon easy in comparison (I was just glad to be alive).

Now, after many swim lessons and thousands of yards of (correct) swim practice, I'm about to embark on my first Ironman swim. The distance doesn't seem so far anymore, but the 2,000+ bodies thrashing around me should prove to be interesting.

Good luck and don't stress! You will get there with time, patience and practice.

[Charlie]

endurance sports take patience. You have to build up to distances. I ran 4 marathons, Took some time off, and I had to start back with a run walk program.
With swimming we start from scratch. With a run/walk program, we already have the walking part covered. It will come to you soon.
Rob Reddy told me over the winter to take :05 recovery breaks every 50 yards. This helped me immensely while working on mechanics. My long swims are now very easy.....Still slow, but much more efficient.

[MattCollister]

The first time I swam as an adult I swam about 3/4 of a length at the John Carroll University pool.

About couple years elapsed before the second time I tried swimming as an adult. The result wasn't much better. Little by little, though, it came together. One day shortly threrafter it "clicked" and I was able to at least swim some laps semi-competently. Two years later I was swimming in an Ironman.

You can get by with brute force in cycling and running (and a lot of other things), but swimming is technique, control and patience. It's frustrating to pick up as an adult, but it can be done.

[keaveny]

Really, everybody, thanks for the pick me up. I know reliving your "worst moments" isn't exactly something you relish, but it helps. Well, it helps me, that is.

A newbie comes on a board like this and assumes everyone hear has a background in some related sport.

Like I said earlier, I have a football, basketball, and baseball background and I am doing a good deal of this for the first time.

It is nice to hear that several of you were not in cross country, swimming, etc. and have had the same struggles.

Maybe it is your struggles that motivated me but I did run 3 miles this morning 2.5 minutes faster than Tuesday. So I got that going for me.

Keep the horror stories coming; at this rate I'll be in an Ironman in no time.

[Jack Carney]

I had run three marathons and done several century bike rides so I decided it was time to take on triathlon. I went to the Mayfield coach and asked if he could help me with some lessons. He told me to get in the pool and come back to see him when I could swim for twenty minutes without stopping. I was thinking he was nuts as I had been doing endurance events for a few years now. After ten laps I grabbed the end of the pool and gasped for breath. I thought maybe duathlon was my sport. Thankfully like others have done I stuck with it and got pointers as I went along. The Tri swimming this winter helped me a lot and I too am not sweating the distance of the ironman as much as the mass of bodies flailing around me. I have come to enjoy my swimming workouts and feel they help me with recovery from the bike and run and help keep my joints loose.