My Tri Training: First Lap Swim

I opted for early morning practice at the gym. Two out of the three kids are heavy sleepers and don't get up early. My son however (3yrs old), tends to wake up early on occasion, but I decided to gamble and hit the gym. If he wakes up, I'll hear about it from my wife later.

I get to the gym, nervous but excited to attempt swimming my first laps that include actual breathing and there's two guys already swimming laps. One lane open for me, no excuses there. I get up in my head about it and I'm feeling like a kid who doesn't know how to swim, slightly intimidated, but I go for it anyway.

First attempt wasn't too bad. I made sure to take my time, breath on every 3rd stroke in order to alternate sides, and wasn't worried about kicking like crazy.

I repeated this for six laps total and I was definitely tired. Rest time between laps was 30-60 seconds and the last lap I had to stop 3/4 of the way across, take an extra breath, then finished. Best time swimming a lap was about 20 seconds, although that included pushing off the wall. Not winning any races I'm sure, but I was beyond happy being able to do it correctly, period.

Headed home feeling very pleased and was even happier to find my son still sleeping. Score!