Gear 2, vrooom, vrooom!

Been a while since I wrote on my swims. The one month of total absence during Ramadhan, and some weeks in Syawal did help to deteriorate the whatever-conditioning-that-I-have.

When I finally got my dusty pedals and buoy back to the pool, literally days before our class resumes, the swim was more like a frog high on cough syrup. Breathing was off that finishing a 100m lap was a burnout.

Boy I was not feeling it.

But what suffered the most was my upper body. The strength in the arms was lost, so-much-so every pulls felt like pulling a sandbag. What I realised was missing, was the gym workouts at the same time as I MIA-ed in pools. Every pulls were weak and flawed - entry, catch, pull and push - repeat. That few weeks, swims were not enjoyable.

Seriously, I cannot insert a bike training anywhere between catching time for just swims and runs.

Today, I was stunned when Coach Eric blurted a 1500m non-stop drill after a short 200m warm-up (ok, I was always late to arrive). He came to me and told me to go real slow, find my pace, to conserve energy, not to pace the stronger swimmers, to go on without stopping - even do a breaststroke to keep going, etc. He peppered me with metaphors, like preparing his kid for a first day in school.

Swimming in the middle of the ocean, not knowing which direction to go, to keep going, slowly, and not giving up. 

It started unconsciously like opening a can of Gatorade bottle these days. The moment he said go, we all started off with gung-ho-ness. I did not have time to sort my emotion, and what followed was constant counting. 25m, 50m, 75m, 100m. The first 500m was the hardest. I have done few 500m before, but thinking of the remaining distance was intimidating. Between the counting laps every 100m now, I imagined to resort to breaststrokes after the 800th meter.

But when I heard the thundering claps on the other end on my 850th meter - a sign that a faster swimmer was ending the 1000th meter, I started to feel better, the arms feeling the cut of water, and energy in each pulls but feeling comfortable with 2 pull breathings.  And passing the 1000th meter was like a second wind, knowing another 500m is ending soon. In haste to finish, I gulped on some water, and wondered how would I react if those are actually saltwater. Not pretty?

The final dash was kinda cool. And touching the wall at the end of it, feeling warm all over the shoulders and neck, and sore arms was sensational. My throat was burning slightly, but I was ecstatic! I know this does not count to any finishing a race, or a triathlon event, but all accomplishment deserves a little celebration. Full tri swim distance, y'all... (insert risk of excessive layur here).

Next would be getting a bike (layur lagi...).

The celebration calls for a small pack of Twisties. And the greater reward was to feel the water again.

And with that, Coach Eric knows he is free to put more challenges in the weeks to come. That put some shiver across my half-drowned brain this morning. Damn it!

We had a brief discussion after the swim, sharing how and what we felt during the swim in a lighthead., the tricks-and-trade of the race, what-to-dos-what-not-to-dos etc. On a last day of the week, with the big boss not in the office, it was a good morning.

On a familiar note, I am revisiting Kinrara hills again this Sunday. The plan is;

Distance : 20clicks run

RV : starting at Aladdin's mamak restaurant

Time : 6:00 a.m. rolling time. The site is very close to the mosque, and similar route with Newton

So far, Shanaz and Nik are coming, which makes me to reconsider about running that morning. These guys will leave me biting the dust. But, feel free to join us. I heard Deo, Ray, Ziff and Zack are doing a secret 30k in Shah Alam on Saturday (ooo, tak ajak pun eh)... shhhh!

The weekend is here. Let's play!