After an eventful weekend of training which featured my first open water swim, I'm down to two more workouts before Irongirl Atlanta 2012. Not even a rainy Sunday which forced me to miss my last 20-mile bike ride could put a damper on my spirits as I was flying high from not drowning at Red Top Mountain!
Saturday morning greeted us with gray skies and less than ideal temps as we journeyed up I-75 to Cartersville for a supported open water swim at Red Top Mountain. I'd been veritably dreading this day for, oh, about all my life. I am 100% certain that swimming in a pool is something I'm pretty good at, finally, after all those semi-embarrassing swimming lessons. However swimming in a lake? With 75 other people? In the cold? In a wetsuit? Not so much. Unfortunately, putting it off was no longer an option because panicking BEFORE race day is 100 times better than doing it ON race day. Right?
I was excited that The Husband was there to give me all sorts of encouragement. And pointers. Lots of those. From how to put on my wetsuit to the fact that it is perfectly acceptable to pee in said wetsuit (ewwwww...no way!), I was especially glad that he didn't swim off and leave me as we got into the water, embarrassed to be with the girl shaking and biting her nails in fright. Truly, he was super helpful, keeping me calm while we waited in the water and listening to the master swim instructor's suggestion to, "...sight every 10 strokes if you're a weak swimmer." Every 10? Hah! If I'd have waited 10 strokes I'd have been so far off course they would have had to send out a search party! Ask The Husband. He was there to direct me back toward the buoys when I chose a more, let's say, circuitous route?
Luckily, after a lot of fear and fright and worry, once I was in the water and realized I could see my hands, and my feet, and other people's appendages, too (not THOSE...sicko!), I was all right. It took me a bit to figure out the whole wetsuit thing (getting THAT puppy on is a completely different post one day), but once I did, I was swimming like a fish...or at least a turtle. I managed to circle the buoys 2 1/2 times, for approximately 1,000 meters give or take. Was it fast? No. Was it pretty? HECK NO. But I did it. I did not panic. And, thank God above, I did not drown. And I think I'll do it all again...this Sunday!
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| Before the great adventure....gotta pee already! |
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