The air will always be there,

Swimming is fun.

I swam for about an hour Friday night, and loved it. Absolutely loved it. I was intimidated- I didn't know how to get to the pool from inside the locker room, and if I really needed to shower before I went in the pool, if I really needed a swim cap, etc... but I am doing a lot of "getting over myself" when it comes to this triathlon stuff. I found the pool, and spent an hour reteaching myself the front stroke.

It went like this- first I swam the length of the pool, remembered to relax and breathe (the air will always be there! we were told this in training), and then I slowly recalled the videos we watched last week, and all their tips. First I remembered to rotate my body with each stroke, so that my body cut the water on its side, rather than flat on- I reduced my surface drag, is another way to think about it. Then, once I had that mastered and felt comfortable with it, I remembered to make sure my eyes were looking directly down, and to bring my head to the side for a breath without bringing it up out of the water. A few laps and when I had that down, I thought about the videos again, and remembered when bringing your arms out of the water, to make sure the elbows are always higher than your hands. After that was mastered, I perfected my breathing, and so on, until I was feeling very comfortable with the front stroke. It reminded me a lot of learning piano when I was young- slowly, surely, never moving on until I was comfortable with what I had just learned.

It takes time, these things. Learning to swim, learning ballet steps, learning guitar, learning new software (Z brush), learning about circuits and how to use a saw, and learning about finance and investing... sometimes I get overwhelmed at all the new things I am learning right now, but then I remind myself, that slowly, gradually, if I just do a little each day, I will eventually just be able to sit down and play a few songs on the guitar, do a couple laps without thinking about it, whip out an awesome art project... over time, this will all become second nature, like piano is for me now. Patience... another lesson taught by this triathlon.

Went for a long, long run today since I didn't get up for the group run this morning (the guilt! the guilt!) and my calves are so tight. I am certain it's from ballet, because when I go up on my toes my gastrocs are killing me. Working out this much is really giving me a lot of time to think, another thing that is keeping me more relaxed and calm in all this training. In some ways I wish I could just skip ahead to when I'll be in shape and have all this learned, but in others, I am having quite a bit of fun seeing my small successes (I can run much further now, and swim! my front stroke has never been better!) and just learning about my limits.

As always, the support is inspiring too. Knowing I am doing all this for a good cause is making it so much more rewarding.

35 minute bike tomorrow- I intend to do it outside, and see how far along the lakefront I can go. I might bring my camera, so stay tuned for photos.