Perhaps most exciting, our team has a new member. He's a handsome fella, and some say I have his eyes. That's right, my dad has signed up for this crazy plan. This might seem strange, but only if you don't know my dad. He started swimming laps around the same time that I joined the high school team over a decade ago. The only difference is that he hasn't really stopped swimming since. While he's never focused too much on speed, he consistently swims over 2,000 yards in a single workout. That said, he may be the most qualified member of our team so far. Mostly, I'm just excited that I'll get to share this experience with him.
This week I got to get in a swim with one of the other members of the team, Russell, who actually first presented this idea. Russell and his wife Crystal have participated in hundred mile bike rides in the past, so I have no doubt that with the next few months to train, they'll be whipping through the waters of Lake Travis like the shark in Jaws.
Perhaps the thing about this relay that makes me most nervous is the fact that I've never competed in open water before. This changes the game in a few significant ways. First of all, the lake will not be equipped with lane lines, so I'll actually have to worry about which way I'm swimming. That's new to me. I'm told that I should plan on looking up ever few strokes. What? My high school swim coach would have strangled me with a speedo if she saw me looking up in a race.
Another big difference between swimming in the lake and swimming in a pool the way I always have is that I won't have the benefit of a flip turn. In case you're not familiar, a flip turn is the manner in which swimmers move into and bounce off of the walls of a pool. In my case, the flip turn may be the strongest part of my swim (which doesn't say a whole lot). Even back in school, my flip turns were usually the moments in which I made up for rest of my swim. Along with being faster, these turns are much more efficient than swimming. As a result, I wouldn't be surprised if a fifth every one of my laps is spent gliding off the wall.
As Russell pointed out, that means that if I swim 1500 yards, I've really only been swimming for about 1200. HOLY COW!
This morning, in order to prepare for the lake, I did my first swim workout in 13 years that didn't include flip turns. Every 25 yards I'd swim into the wall, turn around, and swim away. Two things happened as the result. First, I swam a whole lot slower. I think I was probably taking an additional 10 second for each 50 yard lap. In competitive swimming terms, that's a lifetime. Fun fact: in ten seconds, Michael Phelps can get out the pool, get a deep tissue massage and learn Mandarin. The other thing that happened when I stopped doing flip turns was that I started feeling very self-conscious.
"I look like I don't know how to swim," my mind screamed. "What if someone sees me?"
This isn't a new feeling for me at the gym. I often feel like I'm using the weight equipment wrong or holding my hands incorrectly on the cardio equipment. What's new is that I haven't felt this way in the pool. I usually don't feel silly there.
I think it's a good thing, though. Swimming without flip turns will definitely keep me from getting too cocky. It will remind me of what I can expect from Lake Travis, and it will remind me of just how not awesome I am.
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