Oooohh! I HATE swimming in open water! Wow, did I pick a great sport to get into!
I also love hearing people talk about how they've seen snakes swimming on the water. I love it when grass/weeds touch me too! Ugh! WHY!!!!!! Okay, I'm doing it anyway. If I see a snake or a monster of some kind I'm pretty sure my heart WILL stop, so I won't have to be scared long! Hmmm, I should really get a bigger life insurance plan.
Well I swam with some others in the lake tonight. We did about 3/4 mile and it was great, it only felt like 2 miles and I only had about 16 panic attacks.
We did get out and do 11 miles on the bike. It's a lot harder than it sounds. There is a 23% grade up one of the hills! WV is hilly...like REALLY hilly! I don't know how long it took us, but I didn't push too hard b/c I was stressed from the swim and I kept hearing my chain grind so I was scared of breaking it.
I do feel good about checking my training off in open water, but I'm going back out Wednesday night. That might be all I can stomach in the open before the race. I really am considering looking for all pool races next season...might be good for my mental health.
Do you have a wetsuit? If you dont, I highly suggest getting one, its feels like swimming with a pull bouy. Your fear is probably the #1 fear of most triathletes. It does get easier, the more you OWS, the easy and better comfort level you will get. Next season, instead of all pool swims, maybe consider half pool and half ows. I really do pormise it gets better
ReplyDeleteps I never seen a snake in the water while swimming
I can't thank you enough for this encouragement. I love how everyone feels the need to offer me their "snake siting stories" when I c/o my fear.
ReplyDeleteI actually have been swimming with my husbands wetsuit so much that we went on and bought one last night for me (a Blue Seventy). I don't know if I could get through without it. I'm a pretty strong swimmer, but slow and my little "attacks" drain me, so the suit is a life saver. We're hoping it'll be suit legal for the race on the 14th!