Day #4 – Swimming For My Triathlon (Cloudy Water)

We’re in February and the snow we received within the last few weeks (20-30 inches), forced the college to cancel class the week before last. So once I got in the water, I was feeling like a kid with ADHD. I put the goggles on and I have a habit of putting my head in the water and just scanning the bottom. Not sure why, but I always have this thing about cloudy water. When my triathlon rolls around, not seeing the bottom will be interesting, but I hope the adrenaline rush chills me out. So, the water was kind of cloudy and the first thing I think of…”did someone crap in the water and poop remnants are messing it up?”. I know, I have a crazy imagination. But after scanning the water as if I lost my wedding ring, no poop was found, loll

We started with our normal routine, front stroke down and fundamental back stroke to the start. After about 10 laps, the old man said it was time to learn the breast stroke. So we went through the details, which was quite a change from the typical stroke. The breast stroke is all about resting, but since I have this aggressive stroke that sometimes gets in the way, I have to tone it down a bit. I actually like the breast stroke. I was getting feedback from the lifeguard on duty and decided to continue my laps. What makes me a bit nervous is transitioning from front stroke to breast, then flipping to the fundamental if I get tired. So I practiced the combination and it wasn’t bad at all.

I found this video of Jimmy Dshea going over the breast stroke. It’s much more than the instructors from the class, so I’ll definitely implement these fundamentals to make the stroke a power stroke if I ever want to mix it up during game day.

Goals accomplished this week: (1) learned the breast stroke; (2) the fear of deep water is pretty much gone; (3) tread water much longer.

Goals for next week: (1) Stay within 22-26 laps (which equals about 3/4 mile); (2) Work on stroke transitions; (3) work on not using the wall to push off. It’s almost like cheating and I don’t think there will be random walls in the middle of the lake during the tri.

Week #1: 15 laps

Week #2: 26 laps

Week #3: 22 laps

Week #4: 22 laps

Thanks for following my journey everyone:) Any tips you may have, please share them (videos, books, etc.) I would appreciate it.