Finish line |
For most triathletes, routines are just good thing to have to be prepared and relaxed on race day. For me it gets a little obsessive compulsive because I tend to get overly upset when my routine gets screwed up in any way. A little flexibility would be good in those situations.
This is when the line of who has Asperger's, me or my son, gets a little blurry. I don't have Asperger's, but can so totally relate when it comes to routines. I haven't had a full blown melt down yet because I can usually blow off steam by general bitching about whatever it is I don't like.
In the race I did Saturday, the swim start is by your race number. Everybody lines up numerically and goes in the water one at a time. Your number is usually based on your estimated swim time that you use to register for the race. This has been a source of anxiety for me since I started doing this race in 1999.
Egg Heads! |
Unfortunately, since I registered late I didn't get the benefit of being lined up by swim time. Not only that, but I was in the 400's getting in the water. I thought maybe I could get the race director to bump me up so I could get in the water sooner. I've done this before. I had even mentioned the fact that I was going to do just that to L that morning, who's husband J was doing the race and I've raced with them for years.
I looked over and both L and J were looking at me waiting to see if I was going to approach T, the race director as she was getting everybody lined up and in the water. I hesitated. I hovered nearby but was a little scared to approach her. She was probably deliberately ignoring me because she knows I pull this stunt every year and she probably knows I lie about my swim time.
Lined up for the swim... |
L and J were waiting to see if I was going to get blasted down by T and made an example too!!
I am kind of proud of myself that I stayed within my number and was over 400 in the water with 100's of beginners doing the back stroke, floating on their backs and hanging onto the buoys in front of me. People if you can't freestyle it for 400 yds maybe you should reconsider till next year! Just sayin! I can't tell you how many back strokers I almost swam up on, face to face, up close and personal.
I learned how to swim freestyle in my thirties by reading a book on master swimming and getting in the pool when nobody was around. I was slow, but between March and the June race day, I built up to being able to swim over 600 yds freestyle straight. No back stroke or back floating. If I can do it anybody can.
A couple of years ago, I would not have been able to handle not being one of the first 100 in the water. Just couldn't do it. My entire race would have been ruined.
This year I spent the night before the race obsessing over it and the morning of the race thinking up strategies on how to convince T to bump me up, but being the chicken that I am, I ended up not doing anything and hallelujah, I survived it!
I survived!!!
The End.
Hi! I liked your blog. I also followed you on Twitter. I have a blog about Antalya. You can follow me: http://antalya-magnificent-city.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteIn addition: I published a post about fitness in Antalya: http://antalya-magnificent-city.blogspot.com/2012/03/fitness-in-antalya.html
Thanks for the follow! Maybe one day we will make it to Turkey. It looks like a beautiful place!
DeleteI understand the need for routine totally. But to me, the fact that you compete in triathlons is amazing. My son isn't really into sports, but lucky for me, he likes watching them on TV. (cue mom's tears) It would be difficult for me to wait for 400 or so people to swim before me, but that would just make me want to work harder. So hopefully you improve each time you swim.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I love the layout of your blog and look forward to reading more of your posts.
Thanks for visiting my blog. Being over 400 in the water did make me work harder! I actually had a great race so I can't complain.
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