I didn't drown.

But it was touch and go there for a while.

Last night was my first swim class in my GCC Triathlon Training Class. And it was U-G-L-Y...and I ain't talkin' about how I looked in a bathing suit.

You could have calf tied Michael Phelps, put duct tape over his mouth and blind-folded him and he still would have beat me at the 100 M. Aggghh!!!

I knew I was in trouble when my coach yells first thing, "Everybody in the pool and do FOUR laps for warm up." Four. Warm up. Who was he kidding?!? And that's how it went for 2 hours. We did drill, after drill, after drill. Some I was able to complete, others found me hanging on the edge of the pool trying to aspirate water. fun.

Nevertheless, I persevered and learned several things.

1) Breathing is important. During my first 4 laps, my coach was standing on the edge of the pool yelling at me "Put your head in the water. You're supposed to put your head in the water." I'm thinking "I Know!" and at one point I even yelled back (I could do this cuz my head was above water at the time) "I Know, thanks!" It's just harder to breath underwater. So I'm still working on the breathing-while-swimming thing.

2) The harder you work the more exhausted you are at the end. I've got to learn the basics better. I know that I'm flailing around entirely too much, thus exhausting myself. As I figure it, I expand as much energy in one lap as everyone else spends in 3 laps. You do the math and figure out who will win this race, hmmm...

3) Food is good. After barely dragging myself out of the pool, and pert-near crawling my way to my car all I could think about was FOOD. I didn't eat before hand and after that kind of work out I definitely deserved a drive thru Carl's Jr.

Pretty much defeated the purpose of the work out, hmmmm. But boy did it taste good!

Got home took a hot shower, cuz I could already feel my shoulder muscles stiffening up, downed an Aleve and then crawled into bed where I remained unconscious until 4AM when my alarm went off and I headed to the gym to bike 10 miles and "run" 2 miles.

Are we having fun yet?

6 comments:

Donna said...

Megan,
I am so impressed! Boy, even if you aren't getting the gold for first place you should for hanging in there and just doing it! That is great!
I'll be cheering for you!
Love,
Auntie Donna

Natalie said...

Congrats girl! The first swim is always the worst, trust me. That's the best thing about swimming, is that you can improve quickly. Once you get the hang of your breathing rhythm....it will start flowing smoothly.

I am helping a girl swim right now. She finally figured out at the end of practice that she was actually holding her breath {and not realizing it}. So when she'd turn her head to the side for air, she was needing to exhale AND inhale. Obviously there isn't enough time to exhale and inhale...which messed her whole rhythm and pattern up. So she finally started exhaling while her face was IN the water. She clarified it by saying "so, you blow real bubbles? Actual-out-the mouth bubbles??" YES!

Keep up the good work girl! And keep up the posts on it too!

Jessica said...

Oh my goodness! HATS OFF TO YOU!!! I was thinking of a triathlon last month but decided against it because I am afraid of deep/dark water. So i signed up for a Duathlon in Sept. It's just running and biking then running but this one is a cheater's duathlon...just run then bike! ha ha. I figured, well this will be my first and I'll work up to a true duathlon later. Maybe I'll follow in your footsteps and someday do a triathlon! Oh and Carl's Jr. was a smart choice! I'm sure you know that Michael Phelps consumes 12,000 calories a day and they're not healthy! I think he would have done the same thing!!!! Just nickname yourself "phelps!" cause I see you as Michael Phelps! Amazing!! : )

wix said...

Way to go, Megs!

Merfy said...

WOW! Yo are Wonder woman!

Rushton's said...

you are so awesome. I think I will just live this one through you. You are wonder woman! Go Megan.