MY LOVE / HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH
SWIMMING
SWIMMING
It's no secret that swimming is my biggest weakness when it
comes to triathlons. Even though I have lived in Arizona most
of my life the only swimming I did was in a backyard pool.
To my surprise and great disappointment that doesn't cut it
when it comes to swimming in a lap pool or In the open water
of a lake or ocean. Ironman 70.3 in Boise, ID is only 10 months
away and if I am going to survive a 1.2 mile swim in the 'Lucky
Peak Reservoir' I need to focus on my swimming. This means
reading more books and spending more time in the pool than on
the bike or running my beloved trails. So with a new found sense
of commitment I picked up a book and immediately came across
this quote by Paul Valery - "To plunge into water, to move one's
whole body, from head to toe, in its wild and graceful beauty; to
twist about in its pure depth, this is for me a delight only
comparable to love." Seriously, who is he trying to kid? He needs
to get a life. The author of this particular book says that people
who hate swimming ( that would be me ) say that decoding the
swim stroke can be as confusing as unraveling the Gordian knot,
and that staring at the torturous black line at the bottom of the
pool will put you directly into a straight jacket. AMEN! I couldn't
of said it better. But regardless of how I feel about swimming I do
acknowledge that it is a very important part of the sport and one
that I must conquer if I ever want to be successful in completing a
full Ironman one day. I believe the saying goes something like this-
You will never win a race with the swim but you can lose
the race in the swim.
comes to triathlons. Even though I have lived in Arizona most
of my life the only swimming I did was in a backyard pool.
To my surprise and great disappointment that doesn't cut it
when it comes to swimming in a lap pool or In the open water
of a lake or ocean. Ironman 70.3 in Boise, ID is only 10 months
away and if I am going to survive a 1.2 mile swim in the 'Lucky
Peak Reservoir' I need to focus on my swimming. This means
reading more books and spending more time in the pool than on
the bike or running my beloved trails. So with a new found sense
of commitment I picked up a book and immediately came across
this quote by Paul Valery - "To plunge into water, to move one's
whole body, from head to toe, in its wild and graceful beauty; to
twist about in its pure depth, this is for me a delight only
comparable to love." Seriously, who is he trying to kid? He needs
to get a life. The author of this particular book says that people
who hate swimming ( that would be me ) say that decoding the
swim stroke can be as confusing as unraveling the Gordian knot,
and that staring at the torturous black line at the bottom of the
pool will put you directly into a straight jacket. AMEN! I couldn't
of said it better. But regardless of how I feel about swimming I do
acknowledge that it is a very important part of the sport and one
that I must conquer if I ever want to be successful in completing a
full Ironman one day. I believe the saying goes something like this-
You will never win a race with the swim but you can lose
the race in the swim.
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