Triathlon Swim Testing
I finally made some purchases towards my triathlon goal. I purchased goggles and a swimming cap to use on my vacation. When I was in the store and looking at all of the selections to choose from, I messaged a few of my friends to find out what to select from. The advice I got was to try them on before you buy to see what fits comfortably. I had a limited time to shop for these items, so I didn’t try anything on. I selected Speedo because I was familiar with that brand.
My intention was to hopefully get in a few laps at the quiet pool in the mornings before everyone gets up. That didn’t happen, but I did get a chance to try out my new gear at one of the pools at night while it wasn’t crowded.
To be honest, I didn’t feel stupid when I put them on and got into the pool. The goggles fit very comfortably. The cap was ok as well. Maybe I will get a black one for when I swim in public so I don’t look as dorky! I did a few practice swims across the pool and back and felt good. Then I kept doing a few more and realized how tiring swimming is! I felt a little concerned that I will need to step up my game over the summer to figure out this whole swimming thing. I had no idea how far we had to swim for the Sprint Tri in September and in my mind I was wondering how long it took the longest swimmer to finish the swim portion of the race. That is the time I am going to have to beat at least so I won’t be the last one out of the water.
I like swimming with my face under water most of the time, but I am going to have to learn to take breaths at every other stroke or else I will get behind in my breathing and will be more tired.
I also have to figure out the kicking. Do you kick a little or a lot? How far is a lap? How far do we have to swim for the race? We have a circular 24 foot pool in our yard, I will spend as much time in it as I can this summer going back and forth, but I think I’ll need to research into the YMCA or the North Haven Rec Center to learn about their lap pool and to invest in a cheap Timex watch to help keep track of my laps.
I had my husband video me while I did a lap so I could review it and see how bad I looked and so I could put it out there for critiquing. So please any feedback would be great!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANchiMys2Kw&w=560&h=315]
Then there were the bathing suits. I figure I can’t wear the cute mix and match bathing suit pieces from Target for the actual swim part. So I’ll have to invest in a one piece bathing suit. That’s going to be a scary site squeezing my body into a non-flattering one piece bathing suit that doesn’t have a skirt to cover up my booty! These suits are around $75.00. I am going to check out Kohls.com and see if they have one piece suits that I can use my coupons for. My husband already complained that this sport is getting to be expensive!