Little Superhero Girl

Remember the story of the hare and the tortoise? The moral of that story being “the slow and steady wins the race”.

Well, I sure hope that will hold true for me at the Aviva Ironman 70.3 race next Sunday!

Judging from my performance at this morning’s sea swim… I really need to keep my fingers crossed for the waters to be nice and calm on race day.

Swimming is not my forte. And, not my favourite either. (Read previous post.) I’ve told the coach before: I am not aiming to be very fast in the water… I just want to finish the 1.9km swim comfortably, and within the cut-off time.

Yes, there is a time limit for each leg of the race:

Swim – 1.9kms - Cut off is 1:10 after your wave start in the swim.
Bike – 90.1kms - Cut off is 5:30 after your original wave start.
Run – 21.1kms - Cut off at the finish is 8:30 after your original wave start.

*This is to ensure that it adheres to the same time limits held by the Ford Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Florida USA.

This morning, we were supposed to swim 2km within 1hr. The timing was for practical reasons as we only had the safety boat for a limited time!

Each loop, marked by red buoys in the water, was estimated to be about 430m. We had to swim four loops… plus an on-shore turn-around after two loops… which brings the total to roughly 1.8km (methinks). And my time: 57 mins.

That will only give me a 13-min buffer to finish the remaining 100m… which is sufficient, if the water conditions are as calm as it was today!

The swim leg is my biggest hurdle. In order to finish the rest of the race (ALL 113.1km of it), I need to clear the swim segment within the qualifying time. Remember, the more distance I cover, the more money I will raise for the Tetraplegia Workgroup.

If you wish to donate to my cause, it’s not too late! Do drop me an email at kianyan@gmail.com with the title “Triathlon for Tetra” to let me know the amount per kilometer that you wish to contribute. It will be a total of 113.1km of swim, bike and run.

No amount is too small : )

Wish me luck!

Charity, Race, Training Charity, Swimming, Tetra, Training

Swimming training/class has always been my biggest fear.

There will be butterflies in the stomach… and a hint of a tummy ache… as early as in the morning, as I anticipate the evening swim session with the coach.  And when it nears the dreaded 7pm, my mind has already come up with a ready list of 1001 excuses why I should not go swimming that evening.

It is a vicious circle, really.

All the anxiety built-up during the day just explodes into pseudo heart palpitations & imagined scenes of hyper-ventilation at the pool.  Which makes the swim even harder to bear.  And I have to will myself to CALM DOWN & BREATHE.

I have this fear that I will be pushed to swim so hard in the pool… that I won’t be able to catch my breath… and will struggle & drown.

I blame this ridiculous notion on ALL the adults who have collided with me in the middle of the pool during swimming lessons when I was a very tiny 5 year old… causing me to gasp desperately for air while gulping down gallons of pool water.

Yet, I still make myself go down every week (almost!) for swim training with the coach.

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Tonight, however, was an altogether different matter.

Tonight, I joined another class to make-up for some sessions I have missed.  And the dread and apprehension was even greater than normal.  This class is one notch up from my class - they swim & train harder, and the sets given by the coach are more challenging.

If I’m already struggling in the slowest class… I can’t imagine how I’m going to survive this class!

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Well, the thing about phobias is… they can be totally illogical.  And most of the time, they are just self-fulfilling prophesies.  I know mine is.

Tonight’s swim session totally blew my mind.  It was actually manageable!  And if I had not been over zealous about making sure my left elbow is nice & high in my strokes… and strained my left shoulder… I’m sure I would have completed the session with a smile on my face.

It might not seem like much to shout about.  But this is ONE HUGE STEP for me… in overcoming this phobia. *smiles*

Training Swimming, Training