Running 2 EPOC

Time to learn how to swim!

Well, it is about just shy of 6-weeks until the New York City Triathlon and I’ve decided it is prudent that I learn how to swim. To be fair, I know the basics of swimming, but really have barely done it since I got fat when I was a kid. Something about growing man-boobs as a young teenager seemed to turn me off to the prospect of taking my shirt in front of others. Weird, I know.

I’ve signed up for 3-sessions of the Jack Rabbit Open Water Swim Workshops. I figure it would be wise that I learn what is going to happen to me on July 8th when the gun goes off and the countless droves of swimmers plunge into the murky, nasty depths of Hudson River. From what I hear, the current basically will drag you from the start to the finish, so my main goal is to learn to swim well enough to survive for the 25-minutes or so that it should take to finish the mile swim.

Honestly, I have no idea how long it takes to swim that distance, current or no. It could be longer or shorter. Regardless, I need a crash course in not-drowning. So for the next 3 weekends I’ll be at Brighton Beach learning the essentials.

I’m also looking into a group of NYC community recreation centers, many of which seem to have pools available. They are only $150 a year, which for NYC is a crazy deal. This would give me access to about a dozen different pools in the city (not to mention couple dozen other centers without pools), so that is pretty amazing as well.

At this point my goals need to be realistic. Train myself well enough to survive the brick. I know I can do the bike and run separately, I just need to practice doing them in succession. My hope is that since the last 1/2 of the bike is essentially downhill or flat, that I won’t have too many issues. However, as I learned last fall when I completed my first duathlon, these things can be tricky.

I’m going to need to put together a small brick training plan for June. I need to get myself to complete at least 6 brick training sessions before the triathlon, just to make sure I’m not too off balance during the race.

My big concern right now is the swim though. If I can get myself access to a pool for some lap sessions (2x per week for 5 weeks?) and the open water swims, I should be alright. Couple those with the brick training and my everyday biking and 3x weekly running, I should be alright.

I’m always rushing training at the end. While I’m definitely just doing the NYC Triathlon to finish, it would be nice to at least finish feeling good, as opposed to how awful and negative I felt after the duathlon.

Last chance workout(s) here I come!