swim lessons - everybody's doing it

after a fantastic morning junket, a small timeout and recovery assemblage at the beach, a near miss trip to the restroom that i will not be sharing details about suffice to say Sarah and Dana were highly amused...it was time to make my way to the pool for my swim lesson. this is a HUGE step for me because i find it sort of silly to pay to workout. i try to solicit those who don't cost any money because, well let's face, i have none. in this particular instance, in this particular aspect of my sport - i need help. not help as in, "oh, there's a little old lady crossing the street and she probably needs a hand" - no. this is the, "oh shit! there's a little old lady who has fallen and can't get up, her little beeper has been crushed by her ass and she can't reach the phone, i must call 9-1-1!" everyone kept telling me to just go see someone. someone who could help my poor pathetic ass move through the water instead of against it - i mean every body's doing it, so i did some research on coaches, talked to 3 possible candidates and finally decided on Luke Walton, former Olympic Athlete and Breakaway Training Coach Extraordinaire.

i again prefaced my horrible technique so poor unsuspecting Luke knew what he was working with right up front - "i look like i am having a seizure in the water instead of actually swimming." okay, so that's a slight exaggeration - i am a little hard on my abilities sometimes - but i wanted to prepare him for the worst, just in case it was as bad as i thought it was in my head, i could say i had warned him of the spectacle he was about to witness.



luckily i wasn't all that bad, or at least he was nice enough to hide his amusement - well, that is until he told me to do this one drill where i absolutely made myself nauseous. i was literally turning every which way possible in the water, looking like a very irritated amoebae roistering through the likes of the most tumultuous sea. i stuck my head out of the water after one length, laughing so hard that i snorted the last of the gallon of water i had just guzzled in my attempt to stay afloat during the 'drill of rotating death' he had just assigned. i looked at him from across the pool hoping to find solace and an encouraging smile, but alas, i received none of the kind. he was laughing just as hard as i was. really?! as a coach, are you really supposed to laugh at your students?! the unequivocal answer to that is - ABSOLUTELY! especially when they look like floundering idiots. when i finally made it back to the edge where he sat, i had to steady myself to make sure i didn't barf up my breakfast in the pool's gutter. we did work on some very basic techniques throughout the hour session and i left the pool feeling like i had learned exactly what i needed in order to do this thing they call swimming in this first event they call triathlon which i happen to be doing in less than 2 months in front of all of my family and friends...

in the end, i realized that not only is he an amazing athlete himself, he is able to relay that athleticism and wisdom into easy terms and drills in order to project their effectiveness onto the person he is coaching. in other words - a real coach, the kind you always hope your kids will have when they start sports because you know they will be taught instead of told. they will learn instead of mimic. anyway, it was a great session and i highly recommend going to see this guy if you have any questions at all about any aspect of triathlon. i know i have to utilize the drills and the message he imparted to be a better swimmer, but now that i know what to do and how to do it - the hard part is over and the easy part is just around the corner.

as i have already said, i am not thrilled to pay for things that any normal human should be able to do - for instance swim, bike or run - AND although he is a little pricey, as are all great things that are worth anything - i can honestly say, without a doubt - especially after yesterday's performance in my debut 2 mile ocean swim (more on that here) - that i have no qualms about spending the money i did to get the result i was after and would do it again - too bad i'm pretty damn good now and won't be needing to go back any time soon - well, until i decide to go pro that is ;) and that kids, says a lot!

go get your swim on :)