It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure. -- Bill Gates
This week, I started working on getting the OWS monkey off my back. On Friday, the monkey won. In fact, the monkey kicked me to the curb, pulled out my heart, chewed it up, and spit it out. On Saturday, I may not have won, but it was a draw at least. But more importantly, I'm learning a little bit about what can, will, and did go wrong. Give me a couple more chances and I will be the one prevailing over the monkey.
Friday was the first OWS practice held by Peluso Open Water. As a member of the Richmond Tri Club, I get to attend some of the POW sessions for free - and of course, free is good. Husband and I are trying to take advantage of as many of these free training sessions, group activities, etc. as we can - at least until it becomes clear I really need a coach. But maybe we can avoid it.
Back to Friday - the weather was hideous. We got to the open water site and then it started to thunder. We waited it out for a bit and it seemed as though the storm had passed, so we all scurried into our wetsuits and got in the water to swim. It was supposed to be a 15 minute up current and then back to the dock swim. Well, the current was so strong that I could not keep above the dock. No matter how hard I tried to swim, I could not make forward progress. So the coach had to pull me into the dock. 4 minutes of hell. Then there was more lightning, so everyone had to get out of the water. I was done for the night, but everyone else waited for a bit. It just kept getting worse, so we left and went to dinner. On the way to dinner, the wind gusts were so great that branches were blowing off the trees - no wonder the current was nuts. OWS Fail.
On Saturday, I went to an OWS clinic held by POW in a lake - no current, full of newbies, and working on skills (instead of just swimming). That went so much better. I was able to do most of the drills. I lost a little bit of my fear. I got more comfortable in my wetsuit. I got to swim banging into people and I didn't freak out. Of course, at the end of the clinic, when we did a race simulation, I was nearly the last person out of the water, which was a little disheartening -- but I wasn't last and I made it. Open water start - check. About 300-400 m swim - check. Rounding buoys & sighting - check. Beach exit - check! (I do need to work on getting in and out of my wetsuit a bit more efficiently, but other than that, I think my wetsuit will be fine.)
So - Saturday made me feel so much better than Friday did. And another thing about Friday is that even the swimmers (like real swimmers) were not making much progress. Now - they weren't going backwards like I was, but they weren't buzzing down the river. I need to keep in mind that was a tough swim and I should not be defeated. Also, I learned a bit about currents (swim sideways and think twice about swimming in April storms!). According to one of the other coaches, the currents are not likely to be so wild in September - in fact, it may even be calm. Biggest lesson learned? I can do this - I need to put more work in - it is hard for lots of people.
Sunday 4/14 - REST
Monday 4/15 - 86 minute cycle (22 miles), masters swim
Tuesday 4/16 - 5 mile run
Wednesday 4/17 - 2.66 mile run, masters swim
Thursday 4/18 - 45 minute cycle on Freyja
Friday 4/19 - 1.85 mile run, OWS fail (4 minutes)
Saturday 4/20 - OWS success (40 minutes over 2 hours), 105 minute cycle (24.83 miles)
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