Athena/ Clydesdale Official Mentor Group (Page 40)

How long did it you to recovery from the gallbladder surgery? 

I have one coming up in early June.  wondering if my tri season is basicly over since the tri I was looking to do is in early July.

Leather - Sorry to hear about your loss.  I hope you don't give up on your HIM training.  Crossing that finish line will be a little more bittersweet than you originally anticipated, but imagine the pride and sense of accomplishment you will have when you do. 

Sorry to hear about your arm as well.  I guess, think of it as an excuse to focus on the run.

Hang in there, buddy!

Leather, while the gall bladder surgery was unexected, it's not unlike an unexpected sports injury. Sometimes they can't be prevented along with prescribed periods of recovery. Continue doing what your able. Consider weight training (if permitted), walking, or just stretching those quads. Plenty of lifetime to get the HIM in.

Leatherneck -- sorry about the loss of your mom, and your injury.   As others have suggested -- perhaps time for a run focus?  Sign up for a 5K or 10K...  just don't lose the momentum!

I finished my first tri this morning at about 1:30 by my calculation. I'll post my official stats when they are available. Here's how it went.

It's a drizzly and overcast day in Connecticut. It had rained all night and still here an there by 7:30 am. The fog had cleared the lake's surface. The water was COLD and glad to have the wetsuit rental. This was a fresh water swim and all my training in the lap pool went completely out the window. The water was choppy and it was difficult for me to keep my head down and breath normally. My friend who is a swim coach, is also unaccustomed to open water swim in cold conditions, did the back stroke the whole time. One guy in our wave had to be pulled from the water.

I took my time in T1 as I didn't want to forget anything. I needed the rest after the swim anyhow. On my next tri, I'll be better prepared and things should go more smoothly. I still made it out ahead of my swim coach and my other friend who started 2 waves ahead of us.

I ran my bike up the hill from the transition area, following a fellow on a much more expensive bike, jersey, and aero helm struggled to get his clips locked in. I know the feeling, however, this time I passed him right by. Not sure if he was one of the folkes who eventually overtook me. It's a hilly course and the roads were still wet with fresh rain. Branches overhead seemed to trap the humidity.

Not long into the ride, I spied another fellow walking his bike back in the opposite direction. He was in no apparent distress and gathered he was having mechanical troubles. I later learned he dumped his bike and broke and arm.

Two times around the loop and I was headed back the way I came. While it was still early morning by most standards, many residents were peering from their driveways observing the activity.

T2 went more quickly. With no sign of my friends, I wanted to keep moving. My legs were jelly and feet a bit numb. (I need to look into this, perhaps my shoes don't fit correctly). I managed a slow trot out of the transition area along the beach.

The run was somewhat uneventful. It was basically a strait shot along a upwardly winding road along the shoreline. The roads were wet in spots but the drizzel was gone. Not that it mattered as I didn't have a dry piece of clothing at this point. I did walk/run on a couple of occassions. The route doubled back at the half way point amongst a ritzy housing development.

My swim coach (also a runner) passed me at the half way mark. I didn't try to keep up with her kept her in sight through the finish line. About the time I was wondering where my other friend was, we passed on my descent. I kept a pretty good pace to the finish line. What little extra energy I had in reserve, was used up to pass a couple of folks who passed me a on the ascent.

The event was well orgainzed. About 1/4 of everyone there raised their hand at the starting location, indicating that this was their first tri. There was alot of nervous energy, especially about the water temperature and the wet roads. Everyone was very friendly. For one girl in my wave, this was her first tri. She only got back into the water 1 month ago and had been fighting fears stemming from a river-water accident 10 years ago. I didn't get details but gathered the experience was very traumatic. She made it.

Hope you enjoyed my account of today's event. My friends and I are already planning an event next month.

Perhaps.  But I'd say the biggest issue is the feeling that you're not making any progress.  People who train in a pool have a defined "goal" every 25m (or maybe 50m)  -- in open water it goes something like this...

• You're fine at first -- swimming is swimming!
• Once you get to ~100m without touching anything, you think -- man, I've been at this forever -- I must be close to done, right?
• So you look up and around -- but the target (buoy or far shore) still looks really far away.  
• Then you look back at shore (where you started), and THAT looks really far away too.
• So now, you're far from "safety", and you feel like you're not moving at all 
• Which causes panic.

This is roughly what happened to me during my OWS last year.  Which is of course made worse by thrashing bodies, waves, unfamiliarity with the wetsuit, etc.  

My $0.02 -- it's a different mindset.  Instead of swimming 30 seconds and then hitting a wall, you're swimming for ~5 minutes or longer.  That doesn't sound like a big difference, but it is.  That's my hypothesis for why panic typically sets in around 100-150m.

Wish I could tell a happy story about how to fix it!  Other than experience.  I have OWS practice tomorrow, in advance of my Oly next weekend.

And of course... in the immortal words of Dory -- "just keep swimming, swimming, swimming, just keep swimming..."