Breathe
BREATHE
1, 2, 3 Breathe.
Wow! What an amazing adventure.
I have been super busy planning and executing my 1st USAT sanctioned Swim Clinic. As with all projects planning and execution of that said project, always takes 3 times longer than we plan! 😉
We have been inhabitants of Winona , MN. I had heard of a Triathlon that came to town just prior to our uninhabiting back in 2004, Trinona.
2 years off from the sport of Triathlon, not something I am proud of. Triathlon, like Mountain Biking, is my passion. I have been racing Triathlon before Triathlon was a buzz word, or a mainstream type of thought. While it was “New Age”, well before Triathlons sold out within seconds of registration opening.
That being said, I took a year off to run 50 Miles. That was successful, very successful, while indeed proving the hypothesis; we ARE Born to Run.
Within 6 weeks of my 50 mile run I broke my foot, at the base of my baby toe; that place that bends with every step. I subsequently broke it in a couple of other places in the same area; either smashing it into sharp metal objects or dropping heavy things on it.
I was scheduled to do an Ironman last summer, but that quickly became the opportunity to earn another belt buckle at Leadville Race Across the Sky 100 Mile Mountain Bike Race. I was unsuccessful at taking an hour off my time, only 40 minutes, so I still have at least one visit to that particular race.
We all have pain, most of us anyway: some sort of injury, acute or biomechanical, my acceptance is, if I didn’t wake up with pain, I would be dead. I prefer the later. I suggest to people to work with the pain, find something you can do to stay active, to keep the juices flowing, release stress, and get the adrenaline pumping.
There’s always something. Being inactive or stagnant is unacceptable on all levels. Science has shown, that the more we deal with pain, the more we cause pain, as in HI Intervals, the more our pain threshold rises. Our bodies are the great adapters, let it.
I love swimming. I love open water swimming, San Francisco Bay, Lake Pepin, the Gulf, I love swimming. There are a small percentage of people who love swimming especially in the sport of triathlon. I don’t seem to mind huge swells while I am swimming, I don’t even know they are there, I have swam from Alcatraz on the worst swim in the history of the race, I have crossed the widest part of the Mississippi with 6 foot swells, I have competed in Gulf Coast Half Ironman when the Under Tow was rated yellow. None of this has every phased me or made me nervous, as I said before, I hadn’t even noticed. So if I can share this passion for swimming, help people be comfortable in the water, and begin to enjoy swimming; I hope so!
Zoefitness hosted their 1st Open Water Swim Clinic. The first session was on May 17th. The water was a brisk 58 degrees; near the temperature USAT requires shortening of the swim. I had 5 brave souls partake in the clinic and successfully complete the Polar Plunge swim clinic.
The 2nd clinic was held on May 24th, another great success! We had 7 participants; 2 from the Cities, 2 from Rochester, 1 from Austin, exciting indeed. We spent an hour in the lake, at a balmy 68 degrees. It was perfect! We learned how to minimize transition time, reading the currents, how to sight, and hopefully how to have fun in the water! After swimming for an hour we hit the road, via bike to ride the course, to come back to the lake to make the run around it.
We are never too old to try a new sport!
Last year Teammate Collette took up Mountain Biking to be crowned Silver Queen in Leadville.
At the swim clinic one of the participants, this was her 1st triathlon.
This is the kind of thing that rocks my socks off.
We can use age as an excuse, or we can embrace it, living life to the fullest and I am always inspired by the people who surround me. Needless to say, she has this thing covered. She swam longer than the swim course; she biked the course, and then, ran longer than the race course. Kudos!
Don’t worry, for all of those who participated both days, you’ve got this thing! You’re going to do great! You did well during the clinic; you’re going to do even better on race day!
I feel especially blessed that I had over 12 people come through the clinic for the 1st year. It’s an honor to hopefully have made a positive impact in their lives, and their sport, I know they have impacted me, and for that I am eternally grateful.
Thank you for being part of my experience!
Now I am off to Orlando for the Annual American College of Sports Medicine Meeting so expect to see a lot of status updates on my twitter feed and Zoefitness Facebook Page: #ACSM #ACSMAnnualMtg
My only regret; no photos from the Clinic. If anyone has one, please share!