Well after the complete meltdown of my last post and feeling extremely sorry for myself all day and night Wednesday, Yesterday I decided that I either had to get through the swim or I was done with triathlons for awhile. I have already had 1 DNS this year at the Irongirl because of swimming and if I had another, well I just would have to find something else to do.
Guess what? I don't want to find something else to do. It pisses me off that I have such a mental block and I WANT to get over it.
So with the help of a half of an anxiety pill (yes, I resorted to drugging myself) to take the edge off the panic and the help of my wonderful, wonderful husband we set off to Lake Mead last night for an OWS without the wetsuit and out to the buoy line (just over 100 M offshore)
I wish we had a camera :-). I had on my swim safety belt. If you're not familiar, it's is this thing you wear around your waist and if you're in distress you yank on the cord and poof...out comes a blown up floaty: http://www.triaids.com/SwimSafe.htm. Then Form, again being the wonderful husband that he is, puts on fins and grabs not one but TWO swim noodles and a life jacket and putters along beside me. "Just in Case"
And guess what! I made it to the first buoy!! No panic, but I did stop and rest with my good friend the buoy. Then I went another 200M, rest, then I turned around and reversed the course. Yay for me!! It was probably around 700M and i even resisted the urge to stand up early. I swam until my hands were hitting the ground. Then I gave my honey the biggest hug! I finally did it :-)
Then my slave driving husband (no longer wonderful ;-) made me go out to the buoy and back again, one last time, just because.
Here's to a great race this weekend for Izaac and myself!! And yes, I will be wearing the swim belt since it is USAT approved...still got to have some sort of safety blanket. Hmm...Do you think they'll let Izaac follow me with a swim noodle!!
About Me
- Kelly
- Henderson, NV
- I am a beginning triathlete that has learned over and over again that the hardest part of this sport is training the mind.
3 comments:
YES! Just wait till you get out of the water and start passing people on the bike and the run!
Glad that you are GOING FOR IT!
I'm just catching up. Can't wait to hear how the race went - but first - YAY KELLY for breaking through that mental barrier. I know the sweet Mr. was a huge help but you are the one who did the work to push through that mental/emotional/physical barrier. A pebble for the confidence jar if ever there was one. Hope with all my heart that you were able to draw on that in your race!
Maybe next time izaac will be able to do the swim without the noodles as well! ;-)
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