Swimming for Triathlon

Last night, I went to swimming. Just as I pulled up, I realized I’d forgotten my pool gear. Grrr.

Oh, well–it probably wouldn’t make much difference….

We did some endurance stuff. A 900 set, with the first 300 WITH FINS and board, kicking; the second 300, swimming WITH FINS; the last 300, pulling with PADDLES and BOUY.

Extreme frustration as I love to swim with fins and I love to do pull sets. I was able to borrow a board, bouy and paddles from Coach Lisa, but no fins. Which meant it took me longer than everybody else, which meant I didn’t get to do all the other fun stuff after that. Waah.

I will never forget my swim bag again.

We’re in the final countdown to Danskin Women’s Triathlon. It seems to be everywhere I go. Our Tri Zones group workout Wednesday morning was simply some running with intervals and A LOT of talk about the event. I’ve signed up to work the information booth on Saturday, and we’re helping out with some online question answering with that duty. At swimming, there was a young woman there getting some last minute tips, and Coach Lisa steered her to me after the session to help with nerves and answer any other types of questions she might have.

The young lady made a comment I get often: “Oh, you must have done lots of triathlons!”  I have weird feelings about how to respond to that.

Part of me wants to (and often does say), “No, I haven’t done all that many.”

I think the actual answer is three sprints, one quarter Ironman, two half IM, and the big enchilada, IM Coeur d’Alene. On the other hand, those big, bad long distance tris count for a lot of training time and intense triathlon experience. With running, I know I have experience that no one can debate–I’ve done every distance race (except the mile, blech) multiple times over many years. I’ve coached many groups, I’ve written a jillion training programs, I’ve read a gazillion books.

Triathlon, hmmm…it’s just all to a lesser degree (though anybody who knows me knows I’m an avid preparer). I’m glad to have been the assistance coach with the Danskin group under a real pro like Coach Jen. Lots to learn–I may even go get certified sometime.

And being around the beginners has made me think of triathlon as fun and exciting again. Maybe I’ll put a sprint or two into the mix towards the end of the season. I do have a score to settle with the Burnet TriHard….