Rx: Ironman

How Do You Get Over a Bad Swim?

You go for an amazingly fast bike ride! Steve and I tried out a local outdoor 50M pool a couple of days ago. It wasn't quite what I was expecting. I was imagining the sun on my back, a crystal clear pool, cool calm water, and no ladies on noodles. Bear with me people. I'm used to the indoor Y, and my last outdoor pool experience was at a posh hotel's adult only pool in Florida. Reality check: the locker room smelled a lot like pee, the pool was full of leaves, huge pool monkeys, and other random chunks, there was still a water aerobics class taking up half the pool, and the water was really choppy. I'm not sure if the choppiness was coming from the wind, the aerobics class, the other swimmers, or a combo of all 3, but I felt like I was going to drown for most of my swim (side note - I'm used to choppy water. I just wasn't expecting it in a pool). It was one of the worst swims I've ever had. It was a good mental toughener, though, which is exactly why I'll be going back next week.

Right after the swim, I went on a beautifully flat ride with my brother Matt. Those pedaling legs I wasn't gifted with apparently went to him. The guy is a machine. I struggled to keep up with him a bit, but I wanted to get in a good fast ride, so I pedaled my butt off instead of begging him to slow down. I cheated a little on the way back and drafted behind his 225 pound frame. Wish I could take him out to MOO with me. He makes an amazing draft! We were pulling 18-22 mph most of the ride, which is probably average for most people on the bike, but for me that usually requires a downhill of some sort. I love going fast! If only I could do it all of the time. Back to my hilly course this weekend...sigh. At least I can get some speed heading down those nasty hills!