I was asked today by one of my kids' coaches to join her in a triathlon team on the swimming leg. I'm trying to work up the guts to say yes. :blush:
They Hyvee triathlon, held here in Des Moines, is in September. I've never been a distance swimmer, but have been working lately on improving my endurance. I've been swimming 500s (technically 600m as it's a 30m pool) during my workouts and doing all my flip turns on them. Don't laugh, it's a big accomplishment for me. :p
Anywho, I know I'd need to do some OW training as well as increasing my distance endurance. I'm going to look into the local training groups for the tri around here - I know there are plenty. Does anyone have any tips on preparing? Or am I crazy for considering it? :D
Ok. I accepted her invitation (and another girl she's friends with said she'd run). Waiting to hear back from her if she really wants me to do it.
As far as swimming in open water, it doesn't spook me, so that's good. I swam in lakes and such quite a bit as a kid. I swam in the ocean too, growing up in CA. We lived close to Folsom Lake for a long time and I swam there now and then. Now we're in Des Moines and I've been in the Raccoon River. I haven't had any long OW swims or anything, but the 'ick' factor doesn't really get to me. I always joke that swimming in our local public pool (my only place to swim currently) would be good open water training, so that helps. No lane ropes and often lots of lessons and water aerobics going on in other parts of the same pool during lap swim. Plus it gets very crowded and people are more likely to continue splitting lanes rather than circle swim. So I've gotten some practice with sighting and dodging and what not.
I think pacing really will be key. I'm naturally a sprinter and always tend to go out too fast.
Ok. I accepted her invitation (and another girl she's friends with said she'd run). Waiting to hear back from her if she really wants me to do it.
As far as swimming in open water, it doesn't spook me, so that's good. I swam in lakes and such quite a bit as a kid. I swam in the ocean too, growing up in CA. We lived close to Folsom Lake for a long time and I swam there now and then. Now we're in Des Moines and I've been in the Raccoon River. I haven't had any long OW swims or anything, but the 'ick' factor doesn't really get to me. I always joke that swimming in our local public pool (my only place to swim currently) would be good open water training, so that helps. No lane ropes and often lots of lessons and water aerobics going on in other parts of the same pool during lap swim. Plus it gets very crowded and people are more likely to continue splitting lanes rather than circle swim. So I've gotten some practice with sighting and dodging and what not.
I think pacing really will be key. I'm naturally a sprinter and always tend to go out too fast.
