Full Contact Swimming
John Hirsch told me I need to get in the pool 4 days a week if I wanna be a triathlete by summertime. Lucky for me, my hip, ITB, piriformis, sartorius, and iliopsoas are still at war with each other (or maybe they finally joined forces and decided to gang up on me), thus running was not an option today. Nothing says “Screw it all” like heading out for a run and turning around precisely 40 seconds later because the pain is too great and there is a weakness in your leg that prevents you from going through full hip flexion or external rotation (not that I typically externally rotate my hip while running, but a range of motion evaluation revealed that the particular movement I just mentioned is nearly impossible right now).
So, this all leads me to where I ended up today, which was the pool. Andy and I headed over to the YMCA for some lap swimming. Note: I am not a very good swimmer, and Andy claims to have grown up with sufficient swim lessons, indicating that he was a better swimmer than me. That combined with his career in competitive water skiing led me to believe that he would indeed slaughter me in the pool.
The one slight issue, however, was that Andy had not swam, and I mean really swam, in years. I have been doing so regularly since September, although not as often as I would like. I can, however, swim continuously for 30 minutes or so without a break and not drown. For me, that is like winning a stage of the Tour. It is a HUGE accomplishment in and of itself.
We were fortunate enough to be able to share our own lane. Rather than draft off each other and head down on the right and back on the left, we decided to just each claim our own side of the lane. That was where the trouble began.
Andy is a faster swimmer than me. Andy is a guy, he is taller than me, is bigger, and has significantly more upper body strength. He was outpacing me every lap. He also splashes a lot. This was a bit unnerving, but I got over it. Several times I found us swimming fairly close in terms of pace, and he would inevitable drift towards my side of the lane and then the fun would begin.
Nothing says I Love You like a swift kick to the thigh, shoulder, arm, face, etc. Ah yes…full contact swimming. The result would be me messing up my stroke, swallowing water, sputtering, inhaling some more chlorinated 82degree goodness into my sinuses, coughing, then settling back into my stroke.
Normally I would have gotten angry at his flagrant misdirection of various limbs, but instead I just went with it. I mean..if I am going to start racing triathlons, I suppose I need to get used to the mass start swims at some point, right?
I thought you wanted the experience of swimming with other people so that you could prepare yourself for the triathlon. I was just providing a simulated environment whereby you’d start to feel more comfortable swimming with other people; I was intentionally swimming into you and kicking you. It absolutely wasn’t because I was incompetent, gasping for air, barely surviving the experience or anything like that.
its true, I said that.
Most athletes getting into multisports suck at swimming. Its a right of passage, spending your first winter getting your swimming to be respectable. Its not hard, as the swim, by a matter of historical accent (ironman and thus half ironmans, were formed by three guys drinking and shit talking, so the distances are not rational) is very short, only 10% of the race. But people have fears of water, and since its form over fitness, there is a learning curve to it Add a wetsuit that can make you feel like you are in an iron-maiden (or, if your German, dressed to go out to the disco-tech), and open water with all its primal fears of monsters and sharks and a few 100 fists flying around and people get down right freaked out. But truthfully, its 1/100 as dangerous as the last lap of any given crit. And 1/1000 as danerous as any given crit with me in. So stop being a baby and go swim, then conquer the tri world.
As an example, I have no reason to think i would be above average at swimming. Yet, I went from 47 minutes in my first year to sub 30 in my second at the half ironman distance. With the exception of a few fish-human-former swimmers out there, we are all just waiting to get on our bikes.
Oh and here is the bonus, its the least injury causing of any exercise out there. Thats why I just got back from swim here i was the only person in the pool under 60. And for a bonus bonus, its totally inside, so you don’t have to deal with weather, making it a lovely workout this time of year.
Andy, good job “keeping it real”, next time, knock her goggles off, putting your goggles back on in the middle of the water if the last step in being completely ok in the water. I like to think of it as water ninja training. But thats only because I like to think of ninjas. Ninjas fucking rule.
Next time, the kid gloves are off; next time I’ll be kicking and splashing for all I’m worth, not to mention that I’ll be throwing the occasional punch in Kerry’s direction while I’m lapping her in the pool. Hill repeats, huh …
Andy “The Pool” Ninja-in-training …
Yeah and the best thing about swimming is going to work all goggly eyed….. ie looking even more old and haggard then I already do? am?
Yeah, I too ONLY swim when I am too injured and otherwise F’ed up to run or ride…I’m much to vain to ever be a good swimmer!
I couldn’t agree more with everything John and Andy said, but moreso. I was very fortunate to grow up in the water. Literally, I would swim up to 6-10 hours a day in the canals of Freeport or the nearby ocean. I am as comfortable in the water as I am walking down the street. Yet in my first triathlon, as I struggled to put my goggles back on after being kicked off twice, my only thought was “what the FUCK is wrong with all these maniacs?!? They’re gonna kill me out here in 6 feet of water!”
Ahh. Good times.
I remember going swimming once…but I don’t think anyone punched me…
You know if you need some good swimming tips, you could always get them from Byles…LOL