Hey Snowtulip,

Hang in there and it will get easier! I was in the same position just a few years ago. I had just moved to Texas and wanted to start cycling but didn't want to go on the big bad road alone so I looked at the bio's of the trainers at my local club and found a trainer that was also a certified bike coach.

I asked him if he could train me and he said sure for $5O an hour...or you could join our tri group and cycle twice a week along with two other group workouts in the week for only $150. a month. Hmmmm, that was a no brainer. However, I didn't even own a suit and had a life long fear of water.

I must admit that it was very slow in the beginning and I kept having dreams (some would call them nightmares, but they were dreams to me) at night where I would suffer some injury that would require stitches or a cast. Other nights it might be a disease that would result in surgery and even a longer recovery...the end of the dream always ended with the doc saying that I couldn't go into the water for X amount of time. Yipeeee!

Anyway, I did learn to swim and the dreams eventually stopped. I started my training in March and completed my first Danskin Sprint tri in June of the same year. I've done three in total and get this....I even went on to become a certified triathlon coach two years later. I'm still really slow in the pool and still can get the willies while in open water, but I've really come a long way in just three years time! You will too!!! In fact, my husband loves it when I swim as he says it is the only exercise that I do in the week where i come home in a relaxed state. Go figure!