A salute to those who struggle during the swim.

It's so nice to know I'm not the only one out there!  But I will keep going and never, never give up!

Have you been watching every tri I have done?

It really sucks to love to tri so much, but to dread every start because of the swim.  Thanks for the salute.  I will continue to fight through it until it feels great.

During my HIM swim I caught up to some of the men that were in the previous wave......clearly struggling. One fellow was doing the side stroke.  i stopped to encourage him. I cannot imagine doing 1.2 miles of side stroke! Tough cookies these!

Well said and I completely agree.

Man, that just nails it on the head for me.  Glad I am not the only one!

Thank you.  We do try to stay out of your way but it is nice of you to notice our struggles.

Steve

... and for just pennies a day - less than you spend on gels in a year - you can help these struggling souls by providing them with the lessons and coaching they need to make it through. Please, act now, pick up your phone and help before it's too late.

11 months ago I could not swim 6 laps barely, but with an aweful looking grace kelly side kick, I did.  I signed up with a Tri Swim Coach.  11 months later, I just swam 1.2 miles straight 2 days ago.  I hate swimming!  I love triathlons.  Thus every time I start a race I confront my enemy and I work hard on this to get better so one day I will not be the slow guy!

Definitely thanks for the kudos! :D

Part of doing a triathlon for me was learning to do something from scratch - it was scary but it's just wonderful to challenge myself.

I just learned to swim last year - i had severe ear problems that kept me out of the water as a kid. Even with several rounds of adult lessons and tons of time in the pool i came face to face with the fact that i was petrified of that deep, open water at my first (and second) tri.  My whole life i had been careful not to venture into dangrous, deep waters with currents and here I am going to swim right into them with 80-100 people around me??

I did a super sprint last weekend where i front crawled just about the whole thing. I let my wave go ahead, and found a comfy, relaxed pace and made it through.  Right now, my marathons seem less momentous that those 375 little metres that I swam.   I felt so great that i smiled like an idiot for the rest of the race!

I went from struggling to swim 25 yards freestyle to a 1:25:00 IM swim in a little over a year (14 months).  Granted I am by no means fast, but if you stick with it you can get functional.  TI helped me a lot to just get the basics down at a 2 day workshop.  A masters class would rock if there was one within 100 miles....  So to all you who get your daily hydration needs met during the swim, I have been there and there is hope.  Mostly try to get in 3 swim days a week, coaching where you can find it and it will come.  Now to get fast is an entirely different beast....   

As a poor swimmer, I have been:

Kicked
Pulled
Pushed
Swam over

But I do try and someday I'll get it right...

Thanks for the kudos. You probably passed me during your swim.

Hopefully I'll get out of the BOP this weekend! 

For some of us it can be really difficult. I have a terrible time with motion sickness and have to stop to heave a couple-three times a mile. It sucks, but I know that if I keep at it I'll either solve the problem or just continue to get used to it.

Hello

thanks I am one of those guys but I am not afraid of deep water. Just not a good swimmer yet!

I took my first lesson 9 weeks ago and last night set a personal record for 100 meters  3.02.  Slow by most everyone here standards but considering 9 weeks  ago  I could not swim 25 meters. It is excellent.

I do swim about 5 days a week so the progress is slowly coming. 

My goal for my Sprint -Tri next weekend is to swim the entire 450 meters freestyle. It may take me 15 or 16 minutes to complete but if I swim the entire race FS it will  be a big step forward for me.  I have completed longer swims in the pool so  the distance is  fine but when you add in race excitment it may be a challenge.

Kevin

I am so looking forward to the day I can stop in the water and encourage a slower swimmer rather than always being the one on the receiving end of a positive "keep on going!" cheer....

Thanks for the kind words.  I am one of those side strokers, but you probably will never see me because I try to start in the back of my wave to stay out of the way of the people that really know how to swim.  Fortunately, my side stroke is pretty decent, and I can maintain about 2:15/100 with near perfect siting and complete situational awareness of those around me.  Still, I took lessons last year to learn how to crawl and I still struggle with breathing.  I will stick with it till I get it right.

By the way, can you also salute my slow butt as you blow by me on my bike and on the run?  It will make me feel better.  I am just slow all over the course. 

Greg

That would be me.  "Just keep swimming" is my mantra.  I just pray to get out of the water every time.  Just get me on the f$#king bike.