Think I'll TRY to tri (again)

[JennK13]

I don't even know WHY I want to do this. I am afraid of the OW swim. I have a real hard time with the swim. I can't say I enjoy swimming it is so much work! K

LOL! I didn't realize I hated swimming until my first tri in June I suck at swimming, so I feel ya! It's a good thing it's the first part of a race, because I look forward to getting out of the water, and that is motivation for me to keep thrashing about in the lake. Swimming made me "enjoy" running, because I didn't used to - but you can't drown on land

Just keep up the practice in the pool, get your form down, and pretty soon you'll be able to swim 50 before having to rest. Then 75; then......you'll get better at it. At least, that's what I tell myself. The difference in the swim between my first and second tris was all mental - the distance went from 250 to 500, and my time was exactly twice as long on the 500 as the 250, but I didn't panic, I felt relaxed, and I could actually jog up the shore into transition instead of cursing the day I registered for this crazy thing! I find that signing up "forces" me to swim - I signed up for another tri in September, a 750 swim distance, so I have to practice swimming. No way I can fake my way that distance.

I really do enjoy triathlon. I love the competition, pushing myself, mixing it up with the three sports - it IS fun for me. The swim is just my nemesis!!! What sucks for me, is that I'm not afraid of the water; I grew up in So Cal on the beach, even had a pool at my house. Apparently I just didn't "swim" very much. I just have this thing with water in my face - i H-A-T-E it...HATE IT!! It doesn't matter where it's coming from; even in the shower, I cannot stand water on my face. And it has nothing to with a fear of drowning; I just don't like it. This is making it incredibly difficult for me to get down into the water to swim efficiently; not only does it take me forever to get from point a to point b, but I'm beat by the time I get there since I have all this drag when I swim. So I will practice what I preach to you, and I will PRACTICE SWIMMING! I mean, I already paid for it, right?

[kermit]

See if they have a duathlon option, no swim, just running.

[Bike Chick]

Good luck to you katluvr! I'm not fond of swimming either but I'm getting there...baby steps....baby steps....

[kacie tri-ing]

To quote finding nemo, "just keep swimming...."

You have lots of time to build it up! Keep getting little lessons and swim consistently.

[katluvr]

So we have season football tickets for USF (University of South Florida). They have a home game the same weekend as the tri in Key West. AND they play UCONN, my SO & family is from CT, even I lived up there for awhile. So we are opting to keep our tickets & stay home for the game. Why so they have to ne the same weekend?!
So I'll be looking for another late winter, early spring tri to do.
K

[OakLeaf]

They don't have a 2011 calendar posted yet, but take a look at TriFlorida later on in the year. The National Triathlon Training Center in Clermont has a sprint series - I considered doing one of them last year, but it was just a little bit too far for me to travel.

[channlluv]

Just researching what kind of wetsuit to get for an open water cold swim and found this thread. Did you post a race report?

Roxy