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..