Ok, I could have EASILY said, “No, I’m not going to join the IronTeam because I don’t know how to swim yet.”
I didn’t.
Crazy as it may sound, I never really had a doubt in my mind that I’ll eventually learn how to swim during this whole adventure. I was just a matter of WHEN. I’ve never been so determined to do this, and it’s such a rush because of it! I’ve taken my marathon training mentality to the swim, and just told myself I have to be patient, and trust that my coaches will get me through the finish line because four years ago, the TNT coaches made me from a video gaming couch potato to an addicted marathon runner.
Tonight was the first coached swim session with the IronTeam, and boy it was so humbling (and quite embarassing). First, I thought we would get into the pool right away so I came out of the men’s locker room with just my jammers and a towel. What are jammers? It’s the swim tights we wear. No, not the tiny speedo looking ones, but the leg part goes mid-thigh. Still a bit uncomfortable at first, but since everyone else is wearing it, it didn’t matter anyway. Anyways, out I was in the cold with no warm up clothes. Coach tells me to go back and get something warm because we’ll go over the drills out of the water on yoga mats. After the out of water drills, it was into the pool we go! Shallow side please! I even tried to go into a somewhat comfortable depth at 6.5 feet, but I still freaked out my feet couldn’t touch the floor.
Let’s backtrack a bit here. Prior to this meeting, I talked to several people that I couldn’t swim. People replied back saying they also can’t swim, or they suck at it. Even coaches were saying I’ll be fine, and I’ll learn along the way. I don’t think they really know the severity of my swim skills. Once it was time to swim, the same people who said they couldn’t swim were actually moving in the water. That’s swimming! As for me, I was hanging on to the edge, or the lane lines. Coaches had a surprised look. I was immediately moved to the super shallow lanes, much like the bunny slopes in the mountains.
Ok, time for drills. Umm… I couldn’t even balance on my back in the water without having to stand a few seconds later! Back balance? Nope. Front balance? Nope. Flutter kick? More like running water kicks. I pretty much sucked at everything. Holding my breath underwater? Umm.. not so much. I was a total disaster. Hey, I’ll probably win the “Most Improved” award because I’m pretty much at a negative 10 in terms of swim skill right now. It took a few more tries until I somewhat moved satisfactorily in the water. Coach said I needed to work on my kicks outside of practice, and that’s what I’ll do! I at least know what I need to be working on, and I pretty much just have to get used to getting in the water. I think the last time I went into a pool was only in vacation at a cruise ship in the Caribbean. Slowly but surely… slowly but surely. I just gotta keep telling myself that.
“There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home…”
So, what do you think ?