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Tag Archives: swimming

On Fear

Posted on July 28, 2011 by admin Posted in All, Fitness, Swimming, Tips and Tactics, Training: Swimming 3 Comments

What are you afraid of?

I have spent a lot of time thinking about fear these past few months, especially after watching my father pass away right in front of me with nothing I could do to stop it. Was I afraid of dying? Was he? Surely he had thought about it, knowing that it was a possible outcome of his Cancer.

Fear is a very powerful emotion. It can stop us from achieving our true potential.

I was afraid of the water.

Since taking on the sport of Triathlon I have learned this. The realization came to me a few weeks ago when swimming the Alcatraz Sharkfest Swim. Without hesitation or fear, I jumped into the icy cold San Francisco Harbor with a smile and started making my way to the shore, anticipating a hot cup of coffee at the finish and hopefully a big breakfast.

2 years ago I would have never attempted such a feat. For all of my life (until now) I have been scared of the water, be it the deep end of a pool or a lake. If I couldn’t touch the bottom, I wasn’t into it.

Why? Was I traumatized as a kid? My parents were awesome, they had me in swim lessons at a young age so it’s not like I couldn’t tread water.

Looking back, I think my height played a big role in my fear. I hung around really tall swimmers who would venture into the deep and play water football. Knowing I couldn’t touch the bottom I would watch from the sidelines. These were my summers growing up and after awhile I had no interest in even going to the local pool.

Ironically, late in High School I used to love going to a place called Difficult Run and cliff diving into the rapids or riding the waterfalls. We also went to an abandoned bridge called ‘Party Bridge’ and jumped off its 40 foot ledge often. These activities might not be considered ’swimming’ though.

In 2008 when I took up running, it wasn’t long before I had friends saying “Baker, you should do a triathlon, you are good at running and biking, you just need to get swimming!” I wanted very badly to do a triathlon, but I feared swimming.

Luckily, one of my best friends is really stubborn and pretty much ordered me into his buildings pool one night after work, telling me he would re-teach me how to swim. Todd went over the mechanics of swimming and taught me freestyle. At first I would swim 2 laps, then rest before setting off for 2 more. 2 weeks later I could do 10 laps before resting, and so forth. Progress was being made.
Then, he told me we were swimming a 1.6 Mile race down the Hudson River in May. Things got real and I felt my fear rise again.


We conquered that race and many more after it. Swimming in the Hudson doesn’t even get me nervous at all anymore. Soon after that race I completed my first triathlon and never looked back.

My first triathlon!
I now look forward to swimming and the smell of chlorine gets me excited.

My fear turned to love.

So I ask you readers, what are you afraid of? What are you going to do about it?    

fear swimming

Swimasaurus Rex

Posted on January 30, 2011 by admin Posted in All, Fitness, Training: Swimming 2 Comments

Yesterday, as my errands finished at noon, I wondered what fun thing I could do in the city seeing as I had no plans. Just then, like something out of Twilight Zone, my phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Bakes, it’s Todd, what are you doing? Let’s get our swim on.”

“Hell yes! See you in 20 minutes.”

And with a simple phone call my fate for Saturday was sealed.

SIDENOTE: Are you kidding me? You think I didn’t know it was Todd calling me? What ‘phone’ of the year 2011 doesn’t have caller ID? A crappy one. I added our names for affect, and in case you forgot who’s blog you were reading. You’re welcome.

I haven’t swam since the Harriman Sprint Triathlon last August!!! That’s like 6 months.

After some coffee, prepared for me by Ila (thank you Ila!) we hit the pool. Todd said we were to swim 1 Mile and to document our speed and time so we can follow our progression over the next few months. I was down, but more importantly to me, I just didn’t want to drown during Ironman Arizona at the end of this season.

This is my ‘To infinity and beyond’, ready and willing to swim pose. My goggles are awesome.

After a 20 lap warm up we stet the clock (Todd has one of those underwater timing thingys) and started the swim. Todd is faster than me, but for some reason I always try to keep up the first couple of laps before I realize I’m burning out.

When you take me out of Air and put me into Water I turn from fast to slow. It’s quite frustrating. Last year after getting help from Brandon (who is a sick swimmer) and a few others, the consensus is that my form just needs time to marinate.

Focused on this, my swim was based on my technique rather than trying to be a speedster. The first few laps were difficult (seeing as how I haven’t swam in 6 months) but I slowly clicked into pace. I practiced keeping as aerodynamic as possible and having quick powerful strokes. I felt good about everything, even though I wasn’t flying along, I was doing well.

Half way through the mile my body was on fire. Seriously. I thought about getting out of teh pool and walking onto the roof deck and into the snow to ‘chill out’ for a hot second. But, I didn’t. My runner mind was fully active and I wanted accurate data upon finishing my swim.

Todd finished about 10 lengths ahead of me. As I wrapped up, he gave us our times.

31.08 = 1,6500 YDS (1 Earth Mile)

I was happy with that.

I quickly popped out of the pool and went to the roof deck. I stepped out into the snow and it felt awesome! Instantly, my body cooled down.

Back at Todd’s place Ila had made us some delicious Kale Chips! I’m including the next photo because it’s silly. Todd had leftover pasta and so ‘created’ a pasta sandwich for us to eat while we decided on what our ‘real’ food should be.

I love swimming. My favorite part is that (normally) I sleep like the dead that that night. Unfortunately, last night I woke up at 3AM.

—

SUPER UNRELATED SIDENOTE: Amy C. showed my this free app called ‘Instant Heart Rate’. It’s very cool!

I got a 42 BPM resting rate which I understand to be good, but I am told I need to eat less? I’m not a doctor.

swimming

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