Triathlon Terrors

Here is post two in my Triathlon Terror series. ( it didn’t autopost for some reason argh!)

One of my fears related to participating in a sporting event surrounds my  body. Or at least my body in relation to other people.

It’s hard enough being around people with a six pack, toned arms and behinds you can bounce a quarter off of at work. Now I have to be around those ripped people while they wear skin tight clothes. And I…? I am also in skin tight clothes. Without being totally ripped.

It’s intimidating and it’s scary.

Questions and insecurities are liable to go through your brain. Will I be laughed at? Will they be whispering behind my back? Will someone point to me and say how they hope they never end up like me? Or, even worse,” What in the world is she doing here?”

Now, at most of these events (5ks, etc) there are not all perfect people. Once you actually go to one, you will see all shapes of people, from totally ripped to slightly pudgy to very overweight. In prior events such as 5ks and 10ks, some of these very in shape people have been the main ones to offer support and cheers of encouragement as I finish my race, usually way after they have finished.

Also, folks are usually just too worried about themselves and setting their own personal record to be noticing every ounce of fat on your body. I’m not saying there might not be someone, somewhere who will be a major a-hole, but that’s for any situation, true? I would say that for every mean spirited person out there, there are ten more upbeat and uplifting people who can sometimes give you a little pick-me-up.

So, I slap on my spandex and get out there, trying not to worry about what’s jiggling, overlapping, or bunched up. It’s about trying to push myself and make myself better physically. I won’t get there without motivation…and a lot of time, those fit, toned ladies offer a lot of motivation because one day I hope to be fit and toned myself.

A common excuse for not working out at a gym is that people are embarrassed of being in front of others in workout clothes while overweight. Ya’ll forget them, workout for you. And, as I said earlier, most of them do not even care about you or your fat. I have also been offered a lot of encouragement at the gym by fit people.

I figure I can sit at home, safe and sound in front of the TV in my loose clothes, or I can be out there working out with my less-than-perfect body.

Which will you do?

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Tomorrow is the big day! I can’t believe it’s here already, it feels like I just started. I’ve tried not to bore you ladies too much with all of my chatter on this, I have been getting a bit of feedback from emails and comments about my training. Therefore I thought I’d do a small series called “Triathlon Terrors” in which I address my fears while preparing for this race.

First, let me say that I am no wonderstar athlete. I am overweight, I am slow, but darnit, I’m out there and giving it all I’ve got! I never thought I’d be able to do something like this. Sure, there were people out there who did this, but never would it be me. It’s a dream come true.And  more to the point, it’s a dream of my own doing.

But on the way to that dream has been a lot of fears. At the top of the list?

Openwater swimming

Well I must go ahead and admit something embarrassing: I almost died at a water park wave pool!

It’s true, ask my best friend. We’d just finished up 6 weeks of swim lessons and I decided to take my little self over to the deep end of the wave pool during a trip to the local water park. I knew it was a mistake as soon as I couldn’t feel the bottom anymore. That was one of the most frightening times of my life. I remember getting my head above the surface only see my friend at arms length, looking helpless (She wasn’t fool enough to try the deep end). I eventually made my way back where my friend informed me that several of the lifeguards had been signaling each other in my direction. One had even grabbed his flotation device.

“Why didn’t you help me?” I asked her, once I caught my breath.

She blinked. “What, so I could drown too? ” She replied. I couldn’t blame her, she was right.

Later that same trip, I convinced myself that I needed to go back in the deep end or I would be scared of water for life. As I made my way to the red line that divided the deep and shallow ends, a whistle blew in my general direction. I looked up to see one of the lifeguards waving me back to the shallow end. Dammit!

I guess they didn’t feel like getting wet that day.

Sooo, ever since then, I have been deathly afraid of water and swimming, as opposed to the general fear that I had growing up. Getting in the pool this time around was like starting all over again. I felt like I’d never had a single lesson. I started out just going to the pool and trying to get comfortable again, seeing what strokes I remembered. I could do the backstroke and that was a panicky situation, even. I then signed up for 2 private lessons at the Y. My instructor was helpful, but I felt like a lot of the lesson was being taken up by a lot of fluff. And at 20 bucks a lesson, I couldn’t afford it.

I started going to the pool (a shallow one) and making it to either end as best I could. I would backstroke mostly, then freestyle, and taught myself to sidestroke.  Let me tell you, swimming was rough! It felt like I was using my whole body and I was exhausted after a couple of strokes. Also, the issue of getting water up my nose was constant. After several weeks of practice I met once more with another swim coach who told me that my form was perfect and that I just needed to practice. Having expected some sort of miracle or swimming secret, this was not what I wanted to hear. Also, I admitted to her that I needed a trick for swimming in deep water. Her answer was a shrug and ” Just swim”.

I found my way to the deep pool and to my surprise emerged alive!

But she was right. The only thing that helped tremendously was practice. I did also get a new book called Total Immersion, which I will do a review on later if anyone is interested. I can now swim my 1/3 mile with no problem.  I went from not being able to do half a length this past April, to doing 24 lengths without stopping.

My coworker, who is training with me, took me out to a local body of water where I got comfortable swimming. Let me tell you, being out there in that murky water with fish jumping within feet of you and waves is very intimidating the first time around. Now I find it almost fun. Wait, not fun. I find it doable. And not terrifying, which is the most important thing.

I feel confident in my abilities. My next goal where swimming is concerned is to get my 3 year old swimming so that he won’t grow up afraid of water the way I did.

Next fear: Skimpy outfits among the land of 6 packs

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