Crazy Splits

Excuse me while I gush for a moment.

I just had another swim lesson. I love that she's pushing me to do things I didn't know I could, and wouldn't have thought to try on my own. I've been in absolute shock at the incredible progess I've made in just a few lessons... and today that shock has turned to all-out disbelief.

OK, remember how my pipe-dream goal for this year was to get my swim under 20 minutes? Seemed like an impossible goal, given that, until Marcy came along my best time ever in my pool was about 28 minutes. I did the math and it meant I'd have to get my average lap time (lap in our pool, not a regular size pool) down from my steady average of around a minute to a max of 40 seconds. I honestly thought it was an impossible dream.

I think I already waxed enthusiastic about how my first lesson with her took 10 seconds off my lap time - down to 50. That alone blew me away. By my second lesson it was down to 47, and it's stayed there for a couple of weeks. I figured I'd take it and be happy because, hey, that alone took nearly 7 minutes off my time, which put me as close to the 20 minute mark as I'd ever hope to be with such a short time before the race.

Today she had me to 2-lap time trials (roughly 58 yds) with 30 second rests. This is the first time she's ever timed me; I told her I didn't expect to be any better than 47 sec laps.

Guys. Holy shit. Remember that holy grail time of 40 seconds? Yeah. Suddenly it's feeling very real, and very attainable.

My best lap: 35 seconds. My worst: 42. Most were dead on 36. Overall, I averaged between 1:10 and 1:20 for the 2-lap repeats... most of them below my ultimate goal time, my worst repeat hitting it dead-on. (For all y'all with normal pools: if I take an average of that - call it 1:15 per 2 laps - it translates to 2:09 100s. I don't know if that's good, but it sounds cool to me.)

Yeah, I was working my ass off, but in a good way, in a way that felt like I could make it a sustainable race pace if I worked at it. Probably not this year, with only 6 weeks before my race, but certainly next season. Even better, she made a point of telling me that, even when I was clearly fatiguing and slowing down, my form stayed great.

The icing on the cake? She was looking for something to do for herself, and my enthusiasm convinced her to sign up for her first tri! She'll be doing the race formerly known as Reebok with me in Naperville come June 25th!