Monday, March 9, 2009

Another Triathlon lesson


Whenever you are an average swimmer, don't be fooled if you had some good sessions in the pool to think you can start at the front with the top swimmers. I guess that is why they say you need to group yourself according to your ability.

This is a lesson I learned over the weekend although I've heard it on many occasions at events but never took notice of it as I always start at the back. After my visit to the doctor today and giving it some though I realized what went wrong this weekend.

You see after my hard work in the pool during the last month I though that I can start with the front runners, only to be pushed under water more times in 100 meters than in the whole swim leg of last years Ironman. What happened was I got some water in my air waives, without noticing it and this caused my air wave to cause some spasm to prevent any water from getting to my lungs. The only problem is it also prevented any air getting to my lungs.

The doctor gave me a good check up and took some x-rays and did some lung capacity tests on me. According to him I don't have any asthma problems, and my lungs are 100%. My upper air wave just reacted to some water that I breathed in during the chaos and this caused the airwaves to tighten and that feeling that there is no air getting to my lungs. He just gave me some medicine for the irritation I am experiencing now. Must say I am glad it is not that serious , one can't imagine that something this small can ruin your whole day.

Went to the pool this afternoon and did a 500 meter easy swim just to make sure everything was still in order. Glad to say I could do it without any problem, just some small irritation in the throat.

Been blessed to visited Maranello in Italy twice, the home of Ferrari. The tour guides, when you visit the Ferrari museum, on both occasions told us the following story, so I guess it must be true. In Enzo Ferrari's office he had a cupboard with some small replica Ferrari's in it. These replicas weren't the Ferrari's that were the top performers or the best ones they ever build but it was all the Ferrari's that weren't successful, the failures. He did this to remind himself that there is always room for improvement.

When I looked at my race T-shirt I got yesterday before the race I though about this story. I decided to wear this T-shirt every time I go for my swim workout until Ironman in 4 weeks. Just to remind me of my swimming ability and to remind myself to work extra hard on my swimming. As Enzo Ferrari said himself " Look ahead and always push even if you are not winning"


Today's workout

Swim: 12:27 min, 500 meter.



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