Humbling experience

I made it down to the pool again today (at 6:00 AM, mind you). This has been such an unusual experience for me that I feel the need to write about it! I've been running for 20-some years and it doesn't even enter my mind to mention that I ran today, yet I want to shout to the entire world that I actually swam AGAIN today. Must be love? No, it must be paranoia about swimming 2.4 miles in the ocean come November.

Anyway, I had a decent swim and the water wasn't cold like it was a few years ago. They say it's 84 degrees but whatever it is, I like it. But it was one of the most humbling experiences I've ever had.

There are 8-10 regular swimmers there, about half of which are triathletes who have done an Ironman (guys I know very well). My husband, Kurt, and a few women I haven't met are also there. Richard Hess is the coach and he has a workout for the group when we get there. I usually do my own thing because I could never keep up with everyone else.

Well, today I thought I might be able to keep up. I wore my fins which I thought would even things out. Wrong! I was still way behind everyone else. Plus, I couldn't seem to get my left arm to do what I wanted it to do. I ended up leaving on a sour note, feeling very frustrated and wondering if I'll ever be able to swim a mile.

I feel like I don't belong there. But I'm determined to keep trying. Kurt keeps telling me "it's only a matter of time before you will swim well". Everyone tells me I'm "doing fine", yet why I am so incredibly slow??? It's because I'm incredibly inefficient!

I'm going to keep trying.

I rode my bike trainer for 50 mins at noon. My house stays so cool that I didn't even consider riding outside because I was so cold in the house. Later, when I picked up my kids and we played outside for awhile, I saw how warm it was and kicked myself for not getting out for a ride. But at least I got a ride in.

For my ride, instead of using my Spinervals tape, I turned the channel to HGTV (which I love but never have time to watch) and decided to ride for the length of the show, increasing the pace during the commercials. It worked like a charm. I kept up a good pace during the show but then hit it hard during the commercials. Had a great workout that way!