Open Water Saga (Continued)

Well, I thought I made myself clear in my conversation with our Heavenly Father this morning that today would be a good day to get rid of my water issues. Either He was busy tending to his flock that actually made it to church this a.m. or it was just not in His plan for today. I will try to briefly summarize the swim for my readers: "It Sucked". There. You have it.

On a positive note, we all looked mighty fine in our wetsuits.

I would spend time analyzing my swim, but honestly I am tired of thinking about it. I know where my problems lie. It's all in the mental and I don't know how to fix that part. I'm just going to have to get in the water as much as I can between now and race day and keep trying. I have not come this far and trained this hard to be beaten by my brain. I will have to put some thought into my Plan B, C, D, etc. if plan A doesn't seem to be working. So far the things that help me the most include counting my strokes (to help me pretend the distance is shorter than it is); breathing every stroke if I can't keep my face in the water; and allowing myself to think 'slow and steady' to help me set my pace. Unfortunately I wasn't able to put any of those tips into practice during today's swim, but they seemed to work for me last summer during the MeatPie Tri. Guess they're worth a shot.

To end with a more positive tidbit of trivia...wetsuits do tend to make you float ~ it is true. It is also true that when you pee in them it warms you up for a minute. Unfortunately when the water temperature is like 60 degrees that warmth subsides quickly.

It kind of says it all, doesn't it?