I am the most nervous about the swimming portion of the triathlon. On a bike, you can coast if you get tired; and you can walk instead of run if you have to. But in the middle of a pool, you have to at least keep yourself afloat, not to mention getting to the other side.<\/p>\n
Like most kids, summer always brought swimming lessons for me, so I know how to swim. I was even certified as a lifeguard once (when I was a camp counselor). All the same, I don’t swim very much, because it’s so tiring. My asthma plays a part in this, I think, because swimming requires very regulated breathing that is different than how I usually breathe when exercising. I also find myself very tempted to hold my breath when swimming because I simply don’t float well. Having air in my lungs keeps me afloat, but is (obviously) not a good way to exercise.<\/p>\n
With all these concerns in my mind, I arrived at the pool armed with my new goggles and ear plugs. Since I have a very specific goal (.75K), I asked the lifeguard how long the pool was, so I could figure out how many laps I’d need. “75 feet,” the lifeguard replied. I then tried to perform the following calculation, relatively quickly, without scrunching up my face:<\/p>\n
.75K = .47 miles = 2461 feet.
\n2461 feet \/ 75 feet = 32.8 lengths of the pool. <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nRather tricky numbers to juggle without even a pen. I ended up making a mistake somewhere, and concluding that I only needed to swim 14 lengths. (I didn’t realize my error until I got home.)<\/p>\n
The swimming was not too bad, although I rested between most laps. I stuck to the crawl stroke because it’s my fastest. When I finished swimming 14 lengths, in about 15-20 minutes, I thought that it wasn’t so bad. I could practice, and be able to complete it without resting by August. Later, after I realized my calculation error, my confidence level sank. This part of the triathlon will take a lot of work, and I’m less sure I can do it.<\/p>\n
Equipment-wise, I was pleased to find that I had, for the first time in my life, gotten good goggles. I marveled at the visibility they afforded, and the seal that successfully kept water from my eyes. When shopping for the goggles, I chose the most expensive pair ($15.00) because they had the US Aquatic Team seal. Good choice. However, I realized that I need more things: a swim cap and nose plug. Not having them is affecting how I raise my head to breathe, and making me slower, I think. I have to raise my head on the side, then turn it so I’m facing front, before I put it back in the water. Otherwise, I get water in my nose, and my hair sticks to my face.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The first swim I am the most nervous about the swimming portion of the triathlon. On a bike, you can coast if you get tired; and you can walk instead of run if you have to. But in the middle of a pool, you have to at least keep yourself afloat, not to mention getting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-triathlon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mynameiskate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mynameiskate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mynameiskate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mynameiskate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mynameiskate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mynameiskate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mynameiskate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mynameiskate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mynameiskate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}