I’m very comfortable in the water though and I can swim. Fear of drowning has never been a thing in my life as I float pretty effortlessly and can tread water for days.
At the lake in the summer, I love spending time in the water. I grew up in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia where swimming was mostly a lake thing but I loved spending time in the ocean. Very big waves would pick us up and throw us back into the shore. That was probably dangerous but I didn’t know it at the time. The water was also seriously cold. Tourists would never go in and those who did wore wetsuits. Breathtakingly beautiful empty beaches. The south island of New Zealand was the same actually. Gorgeous but too cold to spend very much time in the water.
But I’m slow.
I trained with the university triathlon club solidly for a year but never got faster. I was the anchor person for the slow lane.
I’m not sure what it’s about. I’ve always found the breathing tricky. And I hate getting out of breath in the water. Its hard to go fast at anything and not get out of breath.
My daughter, Mallory, who occasionally guest blogs here, mostly about cycling, is also a very good swimmer. She’s a lifeguard who occasionally lures me back into thoughts of swimming. I was inspired recently by reading Caitlin’s Fit and Feminist post about becoming a swimmer at the age of 35. 35? 50? What’s a few years?
So this summer I think we’re going to get a family membership at our local outdoor pool, Thames Pool pictured above
We are also planning some trips to the quarry in St Mary’s. It’s Canada’s largest outdoor pool, a former quarry filled with water. Very deep and clear, with some fish, and it’s low on children since you have to pass a swim test.
If all goes well, or even okay, I might move it indoors come the fall and try lane swimming again. I like multi-sport events and I can’t run that far. So one answer seems to me to be to swim. That’s one way to avoid the dreaded second run of a duathlon!
