Tuesday, November 22, 2005

The day before the consultation...and other things.

Tomorrow I am going to see Coach Kelvin to see how my swimming style before I take his lessons. He has a lesson on how to train triathletes to swim. I can already picture tomorrow's consultation...

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Coach: "Cliff, I don't know how to break this to you. You just suck. I've seen people that swim bad. But not like you. You bring the new meaning to suck. In fact, if you open the dictionary and look up 'suck', they will show a picture of you. I can teach a rock to swim. But you, you ain't even a rock. Sorry I can't teach you. You are not trainable. In fact, I would caution you to stay out of water forever. Don't even fill up the sink with water to wash your face, you might just drown.

Cliff: "But Coach, if I tri (try) really hard, don't you think I have a chance? How am I going to do an Ironman without going in the water??"

Coach: "Have you heard of Duathlons??"
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:D...haha j/k...I swim this morning and I can barely do 50m. My body is still not fully recover from the run on Sunday. I hope the Coach can pinpoint my problem. My strokes are 14 for 25 m lenght. That isn't too bad. Via email, the Coach suspect I can't kick. I don't know how this will improve my breathing. But I will do what he advises. It doesn't make sense to pay for his coaching and not listen to him....(besides...I have no idea why I suck).

Side note:

First, take a look at this article. It is about training and the importance of training. It is dedicated for boxers. I found the mentality is the same for runners and triathletes. I don't want the easy road. I want the harsh road. In fact, Lord, give me the harshest road you can give (maybe this is why I live in the Great White North?? :) ).

World Transplant Games are held every two years. I was reading off the results in running and cycling. I figure I have a fair chance of competing with them. This year, it was held at London, Ontario. I did contemplate of entering it earlier this year. However, after seeing the registration is 5,000 dollars, I choose not to go.

I figure if I train hard (which I will be for Ironman), I might as well compete in the next Transplant Games (2007 in Thialand). I am not sure about swimming. But I believe biking I have a good chance. They have 20 km road race. The fastest time this year was 33.56 min (about 35.76 kph).

The most important thing is that this race is not about competing (not entirely). It is about being strong and living after a transplant. I never thought about it as a kid. I was too healthy after the transplant and never had rejections. Being so, I never treasure this gift.

Not until last year when I reflected and realize how amazing it is for me to live (let alone tri).

Hmm...I will stop thinking about it right now. The goal right now is to train. Get my fundamentals down, get my base build up. And someday, I will swim better than a rock. To all the rocks out there, let me warn you. Someday, I will swim faster than you :).

A Side Side note: Back in 1992. I went for the transplant games. I used to bike a lot as a kid. I went for the 10 km race. I won a medal for that. (will post a pic of that medal when I get home). I remember one lady was riding beside me. She was saying how she won't let a kid *me* beat her...and she pushed up ahead...

A side side question...do people join duathlons b/c they can't swim like me :D..

8 comments:

Cliff said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Cliff said...

They found a tumour in my liver.
I had a liver transplant in 1991.

Anonymous said...

Great article from WarriorWire....I agree, many of concepts are applicable to triathlon.

Thanks for the link...and good luck with the swimming.

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

I thought about doing duathalons, but the ones around here are too short. I like long courses. But if they had long-course dus, that would be ideal for me. I hate cold water. And I consider anything colder than body temp too cold.

I'm sure that with your determination you'll end up a good solid swimmer. It's all about technique, and technique is all about practice.

Stick with it and you're sure to do just fine!

Battman said...

As a fellow rock, I can say that anything has the opportunity to float. Be the ball Danny, be the ball...

Bolder said...

Cliff, don't make me send Wolfgang down there! You can be a swimmer!! Let us know what the coach says. My prediction for your soon:

You're gonna rock that pool just like you rock'd that 10K... we are with you dude cheerin' you on 100%

Kewl Nitrox said...

Cliff, you can swim. By God's grace you can swim, and swim well! Don't doubt Him - if He has put the love of Triathlons in your heart (as He clearly has), He will make you a swimmer. :)

Hey, if you do come to the Transplant Games in Bangkok (2007?), you might wanna swing by Singapore. I'll show you all the places to get cheap electronics stuff and great food! You can probably buy some "OEM" bike frames way cheaper than in Canada too (since they are all made in this part of the world). ;)

William said...

Be the rock Cliff.

You're going to do fine, just like I did with my first lesson. I bet you will be suprised by all the things your are already doing right.

Stick with it.