To swim or not to swim….hmmmm well, what I do know is I have not been blessed with built in swimming skills. This was demonstrated in the pool today as a lady in a flower pedal swim cap and snorkel used the age old trick of slow and steady wins the race…

My last formal swim lesson was when I was the ripe old age of 10..or around about ,  I can remember receiving my white swim badge. What a great day, I had reached the upper limit of jr swimming lessons,  that meant no more swimming until i wanted to become certified in life saving and more importantly no more taking my shirt off in front of girls.  Swimming never clicked for me then and I can now see why ~20 years later I am still struggling to keep my head above water.

When I first got into the pool today, all is well,  I chose the moderate lane and proceeded to put on my swim goggles and nose plug (better safe than trying to deal with two breathing holes, the mouth is all i need).  Looking like a half belonged  I started a few lengths with a kick board. This was moderately successful, I was even keeping up to people in my lane! Next step was to try a length of breast stroke, you know the one you generally use while approaching a poolside bar, head up, with frog kick. Again I had succeeded in not sinking to the bottom of the pool and or being run over by faster swimmers.

This was fun and all, but I was now ready to get to the meat and potatoes, the front crawl…Well lets just say that humans were not designed to be in a position of needing air whilst their heads are underwater. As I floundered, splashed and sprayed my way down the lane I could feel my heart rate racing as I gasped for all the air available to me in between my strokes (flailing arms).  I had to laugh at myself, here I was a lean athletic  guy struggling to get the end of the pool before there was no oxygen left in my brain, leaving me to resort to the back stroke as I finished  length after length…In between these lengths I would need substantial rest and recovery as to prepare myself for another 50 m of torture. As well, this is when the lady in the snorkel and flower swim cap would catch up, touch the wall and proceed ahead of me.  I was devastated, OK well not really, but it sure was an adventure. I think many more hours will be needed in training to confidently attempt a triathlon.  My final view after my first day of swimming is, I don’t not hate it;) Let’s go from there and see what happens.