REALLY "TRI" ING


are floaties allowed?

Saturday, June 11, 2011

T minus 36 days.   I am ready to talk about it.
I don't know if anyone has picked up on this little tidbit or not, but I am a wee bit apprehensive about the swimming part of this triathlon.  Surprise!  So it took a lot for me to psych myself up enough for my first swimming day.  An actual swimming day, not a pretend swimming day.  But I did do it, I did psych myself up. I  packed my suit, my towel and my hot pink bathing cap (did you expect anything less) into my big "peach" tote bag and brought it to work.  I heard tell of a gym and pool across the street that we are allowed to use so the plan was to head there after work. I decided it would be helpful to check it out first so on my lunch break I went in search of my not-enemy pool.  I found the gym no problem.  I walked further to find the pool.  And walked.  And walked.  And walked. In the hundred degree noontime heat.  Well, guess what?  Yes, there was a pool.  Ten years ago.  It is now the basement of some random building in lovely downtown Hartford.
And that, my friend, was my first swimming day.
Today was my second swimming day.  I am happy to report that I finally did get wet (from actual pool water this time, not sweat).  I am also happy to report that I did not drown.  I'm a little bit happier about that latter part.
I am not a member of the "Y" but last week I found two day passes stuffed deep in a junk drawer  (in my opinion where they rightly belong)  and remembered they have a real pool.  So this rainy Saturday morning I head out.  Rain / water / wet = fitting.   I fumble my way through the locker room / shower area and find the pool.  As some kind of cruel joke they have the entire pool area surrounded by glass walls so you are on display to every single person in the place in all your jiggly glory.  I figure out which end of the pool I am supposed to enter and make my way down the ladder.  "Oh, hello, dear!  Welcome to our class!"  an elderly bathing beauty greets me.   Er, um.....noooo!!   I smile awkwardly and somehow make it past the noodle wielding ladies to find an empty lane.
Well, here it is. Swimming time.  No more excuses.  Me vs. water.   I take a deep breath, try to calm my already racing heart and kick off.  And.......
Alright.  A few things.
Number 1.  the lifeguards get surprisingly concerned if you develop a teensy-weensy little cough from a tickle in your throat, not because you have swallowed buckets of water and are in danger of not breathing in the very near future.
Number 2.  you get very thirsty while swimming.  I didn't know this and I found it slightly ironic, what with being surrounded by all that water.  Water, water everywhere.....
Number 3.  Scrawny little old men in the lane next to you can lap you (literally) about a gajillion times.  And they are swimming in slow motion.

Me vs. water. All in all ...a tie.  Which I will gladly take for my first swimming training day.

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