the ironwoman

I seriously wish I hadn't flaked on the blog all this time. I totally think of stuff I wanna write/archive and then put it off.
I had the flu after my vacation & wanted to document the challenges I had with that.
I had some really positive workout, some @ 530am! And some challenging ones (mostly the bike).
A lot of issues with the diet.
So not to miss out on this nugget I writing this entry. Today I did my first open water swim in the ocean! La jolla shores to be exact! I expected that since my swimming was going so well the transition to open water would be easy. I asked a couple friends to come to no avail. By chance this nurse @ work was around & I told her I didn't have a swim buddy. She said she would! This gal is a triathlete she has done the ironman!! She is awesome!!
She gave me some pointers when we got there, very helpful stuff for race day.
Once we got in the water...I sort of panicked, fell apart, lost it. I would try to swim & end up holding my breath, swallowing salt water & concequenty gagging, choking & spitting. It was sooooo different, shockingly different.
My initial reaction was to quit! To tell her that this was a bad idea, I was not meant to do this & we should stop now. (I didn't say this out loud mind you but it probably was written on my face)
She waited while I relaxed & calmed down and would try again. I would go a little further each attempt before the gagging. Then a little further. We finally got out around 250 meters. She says great let's go in & do it again...again?!?!?! What the :-/
So we made it in & I only stopped about 10 times.

Here is the amazing part. When we went back in I just went for it! I swam & swam until we hit that 250 mark only stopping 2 times on the way out & 2 while headed back.

I had the biggest grin on my face. It was the best feeling, thinking you can't do something & wanna quit but not giving up and exceeding expectations with oneself.
I came away with so much confidence!!

Shout out to my one and only follower!!