Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Zipper de do BLAH

I warmed up with the swim fins in today. I did a couple hundred yards of drills to remind myself how to swim this new fangled way. Then, I took the fins off and tried to swim the new and improved TI way.

I suck. (That's not a typo for I sunk...)

I didn’t move forward in the water without the swim fins. I couldn’t find a rhythm for breathing. It was MORE work swimming a length, A LENGTH!, than it was before I started this TI stuff.

I didn’t have any trouble balancing. I was skimming right along the surface, my hand was down in front of my head, I could roll and breath in my sweet spot, I just didn’t go anywhere.

I have gone backwards as a swimmer.

So…just out of spite I said a naughty word and swam a length without caring how balanced I was or that other stuff. Here’s what I noticed:

-I rolled naturally and easily to breath.
-I had rhythm (but I still can’t dance…)
-I didn’t exactly have the balance that I would have liked.
-I got from one end of the pool to the other with less effort and much more quickly than before.

So…what’s the point of TI?
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I did 9 miles on my bike last night. My butt is sore.
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I had a very nice weekend in Traverse City with my family. My kids had blast swimming in the hotel pool. I, however, could barely stand being in that pool. That water felt absolutely disgusting to me. Yuck. It felt slimy. It was so nice to get back to the high school pool this morning.
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We toured a vineyard this weekend and had the opportunity to taste a few of the local wines. I tried a Cherry Port. The wine taster guy handed me a piece of dark chocolate with the glass. Hallelujah! I have seen the light. It was absolutely incredible. What a fantastic treat for the taste buds. And….a glass of red wine and a little bit if dark chocolate once in while is good for you too!
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There’s nothing better in this world than coming home to your own bathroom.
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It was really hard to watch people run and finish the marathon I was supposed to run this weekend. I remember getting all bundled up and running in subzero temps this past January. I ran 7 miles that day. Why? To earn another stress fracture?

I was really jealous of the people I saw wearing their medals around town the rest of the day. I wanted that medal. I would have earned that medal.
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Now that the weather is warming up my oldest daughter, Emma, keeps reminding me that I promised to run a 5k with her sometime this summer. My seven year old wants to run with us. I guess we get to go shoe shopping!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bummer that you didn't get to do the marathon! Hang in there. Your time is coming. At least you discovered red wine and chocolate, which I have been a fan of for a long time. (except I usually have a cabernet).
M

Tea said...

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow.

~Mary Anne Radmacher
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About swimming:
You can only go forward. Even when it feels like you're not making progress you are. Think about bad runs that you've had. In every sport you will run into a wall that seems insurmountable. But it's your willingness to find your way through to those challenges that makes you the stronger person.
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About Running:
Your limits are being tested right now. Very soon you'll be running again and on your own revenge tour, but you will forever be changed as a runner. You will run better and smarter than before. You only need to continue to tap into your true strength...the strength that has gotten you this far and the one that you will be carrying across the finish line.
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I believe in you.

todd said...

Don't think I'm a quitter Tea. I'm just venting.

Us Finnish folk have a term for what I'm doing. It's called Sisu. It doesn't translate well into English because it's more of an attitude than anything else. We bear down and find a way. We go over the wall, through the wall, beneath the wall, grind the wall to dust, chew our way through the wall and do not quit until we're past the wall.

Remember, I'm only venting. Wait until you see me celebrate!