2 weeks to triathlon

 We have a little less than 2 weeks before the Pumpkinman. This is our second year entering this triathlon. We conquered it 2 years ago for the first time ever and was able to cross it off my bucket list. It was something I always wanted to do. I enticed some good friends into doing it with me. I was the slowest of the bunch, mostly because of my swim. I was horrible at the swim. (Last year I was pregnant, so we didn't do the tri). Now, I am ready for it this year. I think I am in better shape this time than last.

   Two years age, I had to learn to put my face in the water and how to breathe. My deepest fear is to die from drowning. So the swimming part is very scary. If I get tired on the bike or run I can slow down. If I get tired on the swim, I can die. So the first year was trying to overcome my fear. I swam mostly the breast stroke so I didn't have to regulate my breathing. If I tried to free style, I started breathing heavy and panicked. Last time I was so exhausted, I only did the breast stroke during the race. The people on the kayaks asked if I was ok and needed help during the race. That was embarrassing. I was very slow, but I finished it.

  This year for swimming has been great. I started swimming in the pool with freestyle. I still panicked and choked on a lot of water. But I can stand up if needed. I also learned that if I go really slow I can swim farther. However, the water exercise class on the side of me was walking faster than I can swim. After a month in the pool, we decided to swim in the river. After putting on the wetsuit, we jumped in. It was a beautiful swim. It started drizzling as we swam. When we got to the other side, there was a double full rainbow in the sky. It was beautiful. When Scott tells about it, he refers to the youtube video of the man who sees the rainbow and is hysyterical. After a couple of times swimming outside I am very proud to say that I can finally swim almost half a mile doing the front crawl. I am still slow but I can do it. That is a great accomplishment.

Today's work-out was really good. Scott and I went on a 12mile bike ride followed by .3 mile swim. During the bike ride, there was a major head wind. We battled the wind the entire ride.  We made really good time. The swim was harder today. There was a strong current pulling against us. Also, the river was choppy. Usually the river is very calm, but because of the storm it wasn't. It felt good to get out in the waves because of the splashing that will happen during the triathlon. I did choke a couple of times, but I swam the front crawl the entire time.