Run, swim, ouch!!

I began my run training on May 28th. I was demoralized! I had lost all run conditioning that I had in 2005 and early 2006. I had completed a tough Duathlon in 2005 (Run, bike, run) down at Clemson, SC and my running was getting decent. I learned how quickly it could all go away. I literally had to walk/run and I felt like my heart was going to explode. I would have to work on my run training. It’s now the first of July… my runs are improving. I feel better with each run. I feel very confident that I can get up to the half-marathon distance by the end of this year easily. Just takes time. I have 321 days as of today before the gun fires in Orlando.
My first swim workout was on June 5th and I was more inept swimming than running! I know the mechanics of running… so I knew it would just take time out on the road. However, swimming was a completely different ballgame. I sank like a freakin stone… and was wiped out after only a couple laps. Back to the drawing board. I bought some books, read every article I could find, and started over. I made some slight progress, but knew if I was going to be able to swim a mile and a half in open water with a thousand other swimmers… I would have to know what the heck I was doing. I hired a coach. I literally put up a sign on the bulletin board of the health club seeking a swim coach. About a week later, a very nice member of the gym popped his head into my office and offered his assistance. His name is Phil and he swam competitively in college and swims 1500 meters daily. We started the following Saturday. Coach Phil evaluated my stroke… tore it apart, and began the task of making me a swimmer. After one hour with him, I saw noticeable improvement. He wrote down several drills that I would work on through the week. He wanted me to swim as much as possible. With each workout, I’m getting better, and better. I would guess that hiring a coach has taken months of my learning curve for swimming. If you are looking into triathlon… please take my advice… hire a coach!
Lessons learned: Just because I can ride a bike well… does not mean that it will spill over to running and swimming. I will have to work twice as hard on the swim and the run. So be it.