Take the next step

Yesterday someone made a fantastic post to the ultra list. Here are a few bits from it and how they apply to my life right now.

"Another lesson that I have learned that I wish I would have known when I was younger is that having fear is not the same thing as lacking faith and that fear and faith often go hand in hand. I am scared of plenty of things - and I'm OK with that now.... If I was thinking ahead of time that I could just quit if some adversity arose, then what's to fear in that? There is little to be scared of in anything one does - if that anything is something small or one knows that you can just quit if things get difficult. And so it is in life. When one has a significant dream, quitting is not an option, and one has the faith to take the first step, then some fear can naturally go along with that. I am no longer afraid to be fearful. "

I've told Alexis "Do one thing each day that scares you." What I have found is that if I live by this as much as possible, less and less things scare me.

When I signed up to do the Florida Ironman with Guy, I didn't know how to swim much more than to rescue myself in a pinch. I could play in the water but not much more. Getting in the water was scary. Even if I could touch bottom, I felt panicky, out of control, and totally uncoordinated. But I knew that I could learn to swim.

As I have learned, the fear of swimming has gotten much less. I'd even say I'm mostly comfortable in the pool. Lake swimming is scary but I know that's a matter of unfamiliarity. My skills have improved and I've gotten to the point that I've done a short tri and I've increased my distance steadily.

A few weeks ago, I decided I needed a little help to progress further and faster on the swimming. After the tri, I was back sliding a little in terms of being able to swim longer distances. So I hired a coach.

Wendy from T2 coaching is turning out to be a fabulous influence on my swimming. After the first lesson I felt more balanced in the water and knew a few things to unlearn. I had seen the progress on video and it was amazing in just an hour. It took a lot of swimming over 2 weeks to assimilate the changes. They helped me be more balanced AND helped unveil more areas that needed work.

Today was my second session. We refined some of the skills and drills from the last session. We added some new drills and areas of focus. For the first time, I felt my hand catch the water and push me forward. Instead of windmilling my arms through the water with minimal effect, I was actually propelling myself through the water with some reasonable force. I finished the session excited to do more and to swim tomorrow.

I also chatted with Wendy about my training program... terms used loosely. Sounds like I'm basically on the right course and will refine it later as I approach race time. I'm re-energized and ready to train.