Survival Mode

Yesterday I was supposed to head to the Y to swim, but around 4 pm I realized that I had forgotten my contacts. (I've been wearing my glasses all week, because my right eye has been bothering me.) I am blind as a bat. Seriously. There is no way I would feel comfortable swimming without my contacts, so I headed home after work and decided to check out the neighborhood pool so that I didn't have to drive all the way to the Y. I swear I seem to be having issues every time I've gone to the pool lately - the closed pool last Friday, the closed pool on Tuesday and then the contacts.

I won't lie, the pool was chilly. I dipped my foot in and started to question my sanity. Then I just said screw it and jumped in. Honestly, it wasn't too bad once you got going. After a very kind e-mail from someone who shall remain nameless (you know who you are) about my swimming woes, I decided that I would be shifting into "survival mode" for the race on May 10. By survival mode, I mean that from now on when swimming I would still work on my freestyle stroke and drills, but I would do make sure that I could do 400 - 500 yds non-stop and get it done with whatever stroke necessary - freestyle, sidestroke, backstroke, whatever. I know there may be some hard core tri folks who would not like this, but for now it's gonna hafta do.

So that's what I did yesterday.

First, I did a few drills to warm-up. Then I told myself - 400 yds with no stopping at the wall. I was surprised that I did do mostly freestyle, but I did mix in some sidestroke and even a few strokes of backstroke to catch my breath. Once I was finished, I worked on freestyle again. It's weird - some laps I feel great. Very relaxed, easy breathing - I can get from one end of the pool to the other and immediately start heading the other direction. Then some laps, I am winded and need to stop at the wall. I'll get there dammit, I just may not get all the way there before May 10.

The hubby has to work late tonight, but fortunately my parents are going to watch the kiddos so I can get in a quick 30 minutes at the pool again today. I watched the TI video last night and started reading the book, so I am anxious to work the drills some more!

Tomorrow is the OWS practice in Lake Woodlands and I won't lie - I am skeered!