The boards are a little slow so I am mixing things up a little.
After about 20 years of biking and 11 years of running I decided in May 2011 to do a local ladies only
Sprint tri. It was something I was always interested in and at age 49 time was ticking away . We had been
Racing duathlons since 2008 had done 8 up to this point and while they were fun I always felt like I was
being left out of the real fun when i watched the triathletes jump into the water. I dont ever want to have
any regrets in life about not trying something I had an interest in so i decided to finally "just do it".
Plus after road racing and my first half in 2003 and every distance including the full and the duathlons
I was looking for a new challenge.
The tri i chose was RD by good friends and geared to first timers in early June, an outdoor pool swim of 500
yards. I went swimming in the local river a few times and thought "hmmm i am a good runner and a decent
Cyclist, I can do this easy peasy"
Yeah not so much. The race environment was of course a lot different than a leisurely swim for a few minutes
By myself. The churning water, sharing a lane and getting elbowed in the head and swallowing lots of water,
the fact that I really couldn't swim and after 25 yards had already switched to breast stroke made for a less than
enjoyable experience and taking 19xx minutes to do a 500 yard swim was just plain embarrassing. Came 90/100
in the swim but 60th overall which told me if I could actually swim I could get fairly decent placements.
However marathon training ( 2 PR fulls, one wogged vacation full and major surgery over the next 18 months plus
about 20 other races) didn't leave any time for learning to swim. Or in fact I didn't make time.
But the fire for triathlon had been ignited despite my miserable showing that day.
So exactly one year ago today I made good on my 2013 resolution and hubby and I joined the local pool and did our
first group swim with the local tri club. With some excellent swimmers that was more than a little intimidating.
Hubby could keep himself afloat but that was about it. I swam a lot growing up but hadn't done anything close to
real swimming in 30 years. I could barely get down the 50 meter length of the pool doing something resembling
freestyle without feeling like my lungs were going to explode. It was hard, damn hard, and the early hours
Required to get a 50 yard lane required early mornings including group swim at 7:15 am Saturday on cold dark winter
Mornings were not always fun.
It was very humbling and damn hard work but we kept at it 3, 4 and a few times even 5 times a week, a few times.
Not easy considering we were both also training for a May full marathon. By end of March I was swimming
400 yards continuous. Within a week after that had a huge breakthrough with my breathing and
Swam 1,000 yards continuous for the first time. It was a great feeling of accomplishment.
Ran the May marathon with a 9 + minute PR (4:10) which i totally
attribute to the swimming as i was still running my normal 35 mpw for marathon training, continued
swimming and in June 2013 ( by this time i am 51) two years after my "first"tri I did the same one
and kicked its ass.
Well not really because I am still very slow at this point but I did the 500 m a full 5 minutes faster
than the first time at under 15 minutes. Went on to do 3 more sprint tris over the summer, hubby
did these also, 2 lake swims and an ocean swim. Then on Aug 31 st we travelled 12 hours to
Ottawa to visit our son and signed up for our first Oly tri (1,500 yard swim, 45 km bike,
10 k run). I came 5/5 out of the water in my 50-55 AG but ended up 2 nd in AG because the other
3 faded so much on the run and I gradually picked them off.
Hubby did fantastically well coming in 4 th in his AG 45-50. 3 rd place came in less than a minute
Prior but hubby had a 7 minute delay because the crank fell off his bike and he repaired it mid race.
So here we are exactly one year later to the day. A 2,000 yard non stop swim is considered normal
And we are signed up for our first Half Iron distance on July 6/2014.
First we have another marathon in May.
I can honestly say I am more proud of learning to swim and doing my tris than my marathons because
It was a much greater challenge for me.
Long term goal for us is Full Iron August 2015.
Lesson to myself. Never stop trying and don't be afraid of trying things you never dreamt you could,
Even if you are getting older, just makes it more fun
And for those of you interested in adding swimming to your workouts it is a great cardio and
Stretching tool.
Lesson to myself. Never stop trying and don't be afraid of trying things you never dreamt you could, Even if you are getting older, just makes it more fun
Congratulations on your swimiversary! I love this approach to life.
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” - T.S. Eliot
Very very cool, Beth, You are one heck of a special lady and you and your DH make a terrific couple. I'm glad that you are living all those extraordinary moments together. Thank you for keeping me inspired.
PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013
Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013
18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010
Beth you are all kinds of awesomeness! I love that you are so active and I look up to your talent.
Running is my mental-Ctrl-Alt-Del.
Thanks for sharing. I added swimming to my routine at the end ofNovember, with the thought of trying a sprint tri next summer. I never had any formal swim training-- I just swam around with some funky form as a kid.
Boy, it's hard! I'm struggling to do more than 25 yards of "freestyle". But hearing that you eventually "got it" gives me hope; I'll keep at it. I think it would benefit me to take some lessons, but they will have to wait. I'm battling a bout of frozen shoulder so my ROM is not good , and it's silly to pay someone to help me improve my technique when it's physically impossible.
Congrats to you and to DH, Beth! You are inspiring in so many ways, and your enthusiasm for swimming and for life in general is contagious! I'm looking forward to hearing about your adventures this year, and I wish you the BEST of luck in everything that you do!
But The Smile That I Sent Out Returned With You.
Congrats Beth!! You both are incredible as far as what you have accomplished.
Congratulations to you and DH. You've worked hard and your results show it. Maybe some day ill be brave enough to try real swimming.
Thank you for posting this. I had been meaning to ask you if you and hubby knew how to swim or were swimmers before venturing into the tri world. I took a couple lessons last year, and joined a gym with a pool, but I still really suck at swimming and struggle to get through one lap of the pool, which makes it hard for me to get motivated to keep trying. And then when I got a job with a longer commute I couldn't seem to find the time at all to get to the gym.
I'm signed up for a couple of duathlons this year, but I really want to get to the point where I can do at least a sprint tri. Reading about how you did it, you've given this old lady some motivation to get back in the pool and keep working at it!
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wow, what a great story B.S., that's amazing progress! Congrats to you both on all your hard work & well earned results...just wondering if you could share your breathing breakthrough in words, or was it an indescribable "aha" moment? so far, I've only been able to cover 800 and;... out of gas! 2,000 is fantastic & inspiring. Good luck to you both in '14.
Congrats!
Damaris
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That's great, Beth. You are totally awesome. I'm a complete non swimmer, but I've been thinking for a while about getting lessons. I would need to have one on one teaching as I hate putting my head under. There are so many good, cheap pools where I live so I really have no excuse.
It's great to remember the anniversaries and to appreciate what they mean. And to share them with others so they can be inspired as well... Thanks!
Julie
"It's not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves."
~ Sir Edmund Hillary
That's great, Beth. You are totally awesome. I'm a complete non swimmer, but I've been thinking for a while about getting lessons. I would need to have one on one teaching as I hate putting my head under. There are so many good, cheap pools where I live so I really have no excuse. It's great to remember the anniversaries and to appreciate what they mean. And to share them with others so they can be inspired as well... Thanks!
You should totally do it! I took lessons last winter for two sessions and I'm up to swimming 350 yards. I'm no pro at swimming, but at least I know the technique of the stroke and breathing. Its a bit intimidating for awhile, but the more you do it and get in the pool, the more comfortable you begin to feel at it.
Thanks guys. I didn't participate in any of the year end review or 2014 goal threads and since it was our
'Swimiversary" I felt like reflecting on the past year in that regard. We also ran 3 marathons, 2 halfs and a
total of 13 races last year while tackling this swimming thing
Also I have seen a lot of folks talk about the idea of beginning to swim and thought our story might help them make
the decision to start.I was actually a little disappointed that we only signed up for the OLY tri last August because the swim for the
1/2 Iron is only 400 yards more and we could have done it easily (and of course the run/bike wasn't an issue) but
when we signed up we were still adding distance and didn't want to over reach our abilities.
HIl, you are sweet but I literally have no talent in athletics which is why I sometimes share my story. What I
do have is grit and determination and sometimes that is just as good as talent (at least in the beginning)
Lily, thanks. I do think it is pretty special that hubby and I have shared this marathon/triathlon journey all these
years and hopefully for many into the future.
Phillefan/AnonyGuest, yes it is hard to learn to swim as an adult, very hard. Which is why I am really happy I t
ook on that challenge and conquered it (or at least a little). Again if I can do it, and especially hubby who never really
swam at all growing up and didn't like to put his head under water, anyone can do it.
It does however take a LOT of time and dedication to improve that much in such a short time. Looking back we swam
approximately 80 times (minimum one hour) from Jan 5 to my first tri in early June. Lots of early early mornings
and drill sessions with the tri-club. But it was 100% worth it.
Runwell, my "ahah" moment came when I was able to find the right rhytmn and timing for my breathing, which mostly
takes a lot of practice. I started immediately with bilateral breathing and didn't let myself breathe one side only. Our
group swim coach insisted on it for the beginners am I glad he did. It was a real struggle to get used to but after you
do and it clicks it makes the swimming so much easier.
After my breathing clicked because I was pretty fit and had good aerobic capacity anyway the distance (done at
equivalent to slow run pace) was no longer an issue and I can go as long as I need to now.
Hubby and I also did a lot of reading and research and watching videos. Our tri club put on little technique clinics as
well and we attended a few of those. Having our swimming video done under water to be able to see exactly what
we were doing wrong was a huge help in being able to progress. I am still slow (hubby is not) but I know I will now be
a swimmer for life and look forward to lots more improvement over the next few years. And I don't care what anyone says I know my running and swimming contribute to making me a better/faster
runner and staying injury free (almost 9 years now) so there's always that benefit to regular cross training too. We use swimsmooth.com a lot and still do it's an excellent resources.Anyway, if you are thinking about swimming try it, after you get through the initial struggle its a lot of fun and Icrave my swims now as much as my runs