Change of Plans

Well, it official, Swimming Sucks! I am so fed up with trying to swim and not making any progress. I absolutely cannot stand that I cannot figure out how to do something and do it well. I have bought the videos, taken lessons, read the books and blogs, and my swimming is still crappy. I know, I know, it is all technique, well my technique sucks! I think that my capability for swimming is in the crapper. Can I get up and down the lanes, yes, am I good at it, no. Will I ever be any good at it, who knows?

Einstein said that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. That is exactly what I am doing. I do not know why I keep going back to the pool and expect different results. I try different things through some of the things I read, but it does not help. I swam today with a larger lady who was swimming circles around me and who I knew if we were on the track, she would not even make around without stopping once. Been there, done that. I know for those of you reading this, this where you say to yourself, that is because it is all technique. I get that! My technique stinks!

I have done some triathlons and I can make it through the swim enough to survive and kiss the ground in celebration, but it is just that, survival, and I cannot be competitive, especially in the shorter distances as I do not have enough time to make up on the bike and run. Triathlon is like a sickness that continually pounds you with the allure of being an Ironman and going beyond where others have not gone. I think this is one sickness I am going purge my body of and concentrate on what I can do. This may be a form of surrender and waving the white flag, but hey, at least it was on my own terms. I think maybe it is time to move on and concentrate on some things I can do.

One of the things that I would really like to try this fall is CycloCross. I went and watched one of the races last year at Chandler Park and it looked really fun. Anything that combines obstacles with riding and running, sounds like fun to me.

I would also like to concentrate some more on cycling. I really enjoyed some of the group rides I did last year with the Church on the Move Cycling Team and the MS 150 training rides. I liked excitement of be in the peloton and being forced to keep up with the group or be dropped. It was challenging. The Tulsa Wheelmen start doing some Crits in April and I may do a few of those and target some of the Tulsa Tough races.

Or, maybe I should just stick with good old trail and ultrarunning. I have had some pretty good success with it, but after getting a bad case of PF in both feet in 2008, I get really nervous about concentrating solely on running. I really like the trails and the people that are involved with it. They are such a great group of people and it is a lot more relaxed than the road races. Nothing against road races as I do my fair share of them, but trail and Ultra people are a lot more fun.

I do need to get a Mountain Bike as I am sure that I would really like that also. I am really at crossroads right now with what I should focus in on for 2010, any ideas?

At least I can cross tris off for this year as the swimming is going nowhere. I feel as though I have given it more than adequate time and yet still no results. I have even tried to find out that maybe the Bible has something to say about swimming. All I could come up with was this guy name Jonah and his swimming adventure was not that pretty. Jonah, I know how you feel.