I went swimming again this morning and once again I LOVED IT.
Swimming slowly has reopened the possibilities of swimming for me. Instead of needing a rest every 50 meters and being dead tired after 300 meters I swam and swam and swam without feeling tired at all. After I got out of the pool I still felt good. The short bike ride after swimming felt fine after instead of being extremely difficult. My confidence for completing the swim portion of the tri this weekend is quite high now.
(Like my swim clothes? That’s my tri outfit for the swim! Tri shorts, sports bra, and swim rash guard.)
When I say I swim slowly, I mean it. My time for 300 m (both times I swam it straight) was 10 minutes. I’m not fast by any means but I can definitely finish it.
Yes, I have terrible form when swimming. I try to work on it occasionally and when I’m thinking I can actually do all the things you are supposed to do, but when my mind wanders or I’m just trying to breathe a lot of it goes out the window. After the first tri and before the next one I want to in some way get a coach to help me improve.
Oh! I almost forgot to tell you about my awesome swim cap. If you can tell it says “TWITTER #SWIM” on it. I’ve been wearing it for the past few swims after Donna sent it to me. She created the twitter swim caps for a bunch of her triathlete friends who were meeting for a swim and has also sent them out to hundreds of people along with information about Charcot Marie Tooth disease, a common nerve disease she suffers from. You can read more about the caps here.
So basically if you ever need to find me in the pool or ocean just look for the swim cap. No one else around here has one. ;)
Today I did two short workouts. I swam for 25 minutes and then went to the gym and biked 10 minutes and walk/ran for 15. I didn’t really have any goals other than to not do too much and the second workout was short but intense. It felt so good!
I’m loving exercise lately. It’s fun to focus on the workout at hand and finish it feeling accomplished rather than worry about this weekend. Since I really enjoyed the swim and felt good afterwards I might repeat it tomorrow. What will you be doing?
Swimming is the only aerobic exercise I don’t absolutely hate — probably because I can’t feel myself sweating and getting hot! (I don’t mind weight lifting but I worry about incorrect form.) I don’t do it often, though, because I get bored. Maybe I’ll use my tax return to get waterproof headphones and a waterproof mp3 player to cure that. :)
Mary, I am inspired dang it! You are really doing this! I am working on my 5k dream, but I would ultimately love to do a triathalon too!! Thanks to you, I will be looking into the possibility of doing that in my area now!
Do it Shane! Really! You can probably find a super sprint/try-a-tri distance that is similar to the one I’m doing. It’s shorter than a regular sprint distance triathlon that you can do to wet your feet so to speak. I’m glad I took this route because I think a bigger distance would have overwhelmed me while this distance seems very doable.
What a great job your doing Mary! I love the dedication you have it is inspiring and it rubs off on others!
I’ve been combining cardio workouts, I am teaching myself how to run and I ride my road bike. I love it and I love all the adrenaline the workouts give me.
I’m very inspired by your swimming! I just started taking lessons in July and I still can’t swim 300 without rest. I’m putting tris off the table until I manage to string together at least 400 without rest in the pool and at the rate I’m progressing, this means I won’t be doing a tri until next fall at the very soonest. I’m totally excited for you and your first tri! Can’t wait to read all about it.
I couldn’t do 300 without rest up until this week actually. And then I went to the pool without expectations and all the sudden I could do 400 without rest. And then more. It was kind of crazy how it just clicked when I took my time and enjoyed it. :)
WOW girl you are amazing!! You are tackling this like a champ and I am having a hard time just trying to ride my spin bike. Your determination is inspiring! I think I should just tell myself to suck it up and do it! I wonder how i would do in the pool..hmm. Nice job Mary!
Thank you Nicole! You could always give the pool a go… you might find out that you like it. :)
At my gym in Mississippi, we have a “Water Running” class that I have done a few times.
Basically, you strap these floaty things on your feet (or, if you want you can wear a flotation belt) and RUN in the water. The teacher says that the water puts up so much resistance that it is like you are getting a much better work-out than running on dry land. Sounds plausible to me, however, I don’t sweat and I don’t feel so worn out after “water running”. Maybe that is a good thing.
See if they have a class.
Thanks,
Rob
Great work! I remember getting up to 300m straight for my first tri. I’d been swimming a bit for AGES, and it was still incredibly satisfying. Don’t be ashamed of your speed- 10 mins isn’t bad at all!
It really is satisfying, isn’t it? I felt so happy the first time I did it! :)
(by don’t be ashamed, I really mean “you don’t need to apologise for…”)
Hmm, what WILL I be doing? Tomorrow I’ve got my first faster paced run of my training season. We have 3 miles easy, 5 miles at a slightly higher heart rate, then 2 miles easy. This is going to be the first year where I have to run 10 miles before work at least one day every week (and tomorrow is my first day of it), so it’s going to be an adjustment to see how I feel tomorrow. So I’ve also got something intense on the calendar, but there’s no way I could swim. My form is horrible and I think it would take me more like 45 minutes to go 300 meters. If I didn’t drown first. I’m so impressed by people who can swim and undertake to do a tri. Completely out of my league! I usually try to stay offline on the weekends just for a break, but I’m going to be checking in with you to hear all about it. Can’t wait and very excited for you!
Oooh, sounds like a cool run! And long too! Good for you! :)
I want to complete a Tri this year…its the fear of the swim portion that holds me back. I can swim,…I’m just so darn inefficient
I’ve heard from a lot of people that the swim portion is what stops them from doing a tri. That’s understandable because even if you can swim it’s a bit scary. You could always get lessons if you really wanted to do it.
It cracks me up when people say, “Oh, I’m such a SLOW swimmer” and they’re faster than me. ;-) I’ve done tris with open water and pool swims, and it seemed to me like the hardest ones involved a pool swim, because I felt like there was pressure to swim faster than I felt comfortable going! (Especially the one where I had to share a lane, and I had a brand new-to-swimming person close on my heels!) Luckily, my “recovery stroke” (breaststroke) is as fast as my front crawl.
Haha. I honestly don’t know how fast other people swim. I just know that at my pool the legit looking swimmers are WAY faster than me. So that’s my incredibly scientific frame of reference. ;)
I have to be honest – I can’t do breaststroke. If I needed to do that for the swim my time would be like an hour.
Great stuff! I’m trying to get back into a regular workout routine as well and I think I’ll incorporate swimming as well. It’s good that you’re swimming slowly to begin with, remember in no time you’ll get faster and faster! Just keep going and focus on your breathe during the swim, breathe slow and deep and you’ll be good to go. Best of luck! By the way, after you’ve tackled swimming and you build up your stamina, you should totally try yoga!
We are kindred spirits. I also am trying to lose 100 pounds through tri training. Have you gone to Junonia for tri clothes. They have great workout wear for us plus sized girls.
What tri will you be doing in a few weeks? I am signed up to do my 3rd tri – Sylvania, OH in late July, 2011. I am from the cold land of Michigan so no outdoor swimming for us right now!
Good luck – keep it up – more plus sized athenas need to get out and tri a tri!
Thanks for commenting Mary Beth! I can’t wait to read through your blog. It’s encouraging to see other people training and doing tris despite being overweight.
I’m doing the first of the Contact Tri Series here in New Zealand. It’s this Sunday and I’m very excited! :)
Good luck this weekend. Slow and steady – you are out there doing it! New Zealand – mmmmm- summer in the winter!
Have fun and I will be looking forward to your race report!
Hehe. Yep, we have summer right now! Which is fun, but then when everyone in the US has summer we have winter. :( LOL
I love swimming. It’s my first love!! When I got back to it after a long break I was slow and tired easily. It took a few years but now I’m really fast.
Hi Mary, I have an award for you. Come andpick it up from my blog. Keep up the awesome work!
Alex
Thanks for the award Alex! :)
I love your tri outfit! I am so unsure of what to wear in the pool! I want to be as covered as possible. Without looking like a nun!
Haha. Thanks! I’m the same way. Like, I’m cool with my body and all I just dislike being all out there in public. Modesty is my thing. So the shorts + rash guard is my current fav option.
Good luck this weekend Mary – and way to rock #swim cap :-)