I finally got in the pool today for my first triathlon swimming session. I knew it wouldn’t be easy but it was quite different than I had imagined.

To preface, I feel like I am in pretty darn good shape. I have been doing a fair amount of running, biking, and biking then running to get the feel for transitioning. In fact last week, I biked 15mi and ran 3mi right afterward. You may be thinking 2/3 legs, not bad. That’s what I thought.

Well I got into the pool today and started swimming, I really have no guide or pace since this is my first training/workout swim in a very long time [read 6th grade]. I had to limit myself to 100m iterations and then a short rest. It was quite a workout, but I think the breathing really got me. It’s a different workout when you have to hold your breath and try to establish a breathing rythym that is determined fully by your ability to get your head out of the water long enough to take a breath and not suck in any water.

I’m glad I didn’t wait longer because I’ve got some work to do to get back into a swimming mode… I suppose I could always resort to the Elementary Backstroke.