July 8, 2008

Fire Drill

My plan for the day was to swim in the morning and then bike in the afternoon. I even got to the pool on time for once and was really looking forward to my first swim in three days. But I was soon greeted with an unpleasant surprise. The pool was closed. In fact, the entire athletic floor was closed. Not good. I immediately started thinking about Plan B, moving up my ride and hopefully swimming later.

I had a mid-day appointment so I didn't have a lot of time. I had originally hoped to do around 25 miles today, but had to cut back to 20 to keep it quick. It was good motivation to ride faster despite the heat and usual NYC obstacles. This also counted as my second stage of the Tour de France Challenge I joined on Beginner Triathlete. I committed to riding 10 stages and 300 miles from July 5-27 so I have just 8 more stages and 213.75 miles.

I called the community college where I swim to make sure the pool would be open tonight. They didn't offer an explanation for the closure, but assured me it would be. Once there, I learned there was a small fire in one of the locker rooms earlier. This little fire drill caused the pool to be much more crowded than usual.

I shared a lane with a woman I know from the mornings who is nice and leisurely. When she left, another woman joined while I was mid-lap, and gave me a leg tap as she passed so I'd know she was there. Most people don't bother to do this so I figured she was a pool veteran. Boy was I wrong. First, she was a breaststroker and I hate sharing a lane with a breaststroker. I got kicked on every single length because she was unable to keep herself on her side of the lane. I tolerated this and kept swimming. Then she started backstroking and drifting all over the lane. I had to practically swim under the lane divider to avoid her. But I kept tolerating it. Then finally, on the 30th length of my set of 36, she backstroked right over me and ended up in front of me. I lost it. I stood up and tapped her shoulder, which freaked her out - apparently she didn't feel the human body that she had just swam over - and prompted her to mumble something about not touching her. As politely as possible, I pointed out that she was on my side and said I wouldn't touch her if she would stop swimming all over the lane including on top of me, in front of me and kicking me. I wasted about 8 seconds on this and got back to my set. Thankfully, someone left a few lanes over so I was able to move.

I covered a mile in three sets - 18 lengths, 36 lengths and another 18. But my shoulder was still achy and I felt it on every stroke. I have a session with a new coach tomorrow to see if I can figure out what's causing this. I hope he goes easy on me, my fragile ego isn't ready to hear that I'm doing it all wrong. But if I am I have to remind myself that right or wrong, I can cover a mile comfortably, which will get me through my race. And for now, that's all that really matters.

Biking
Distance - 20.25 miles
Time - 1:19:04

Swimming
Distance - 1800 yards (1 mile)
Time - 45:00

1 comment:

  1. This is good stuff! I stumbled upon it while pretending to be busy at work=)

    Keep it up! Now, I can't wait for the next installment...refresh(click)....refresh(click)!

    -Roberto

    ReplyDelete

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