Dealing With Swim Anxiety

Anxiety during the swim sucks. It can ether overcome it or succumb to it and end up with a fat DNF. Despite coming from a competitive swim background, I'll occasionally have an "episode" while doing a OWS race or just out swimming in the ocean. My biggest fear? Drowning. To tell you the truth, I was never born a swimmer. I didn't learn how to swim till I was 11. Living on an island pretty much sucked. Anyway, finally learned how to swim a year later and the rest is history.

So here's my tricks on how I deal anxiety.

1. I like to warm up for at least 5-10min. I see so many triathletes just standing around before the start shooting the shit before the race. Nervous energy + adrenaline + shock of cold water = disaster.  Warming up helps gets the blood moving and your body used to the initial shock of the water.

2. Pace yourself. Don't join the masses and sprint at the start of the race. I see no need in sprinting the start of a 1.2mile race. If you can keep that pace, that's great.

3. Position yourself accordingly. If you don't mind the taking a few hits during the swim, the middles for you. I like to swim on the outside, preferably so all the turns are on the outside. You'll have to swim a bit more but it sure beats getting punched, pulled or kicked.

4. The most important thing. Be positive. Don't let your mind drift and have negative thoughts. Think about other things other than swimming (cute girl/guy you'll ask out, post race meal, first non-triathlon thing you'll do). Have fun.


These may or not work for you but it's worth a shot. Anyone else have any other tips?

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Non-Triathlon Tuesdays

I love infographics! Who knew online dating brings in more revenue than the porn industry.




Source: EasyFinance.com

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Non-Triathlon Tuesdays

It's a damm shame real life wasn't like this. Maybe I'd actually run more often and even enjoy it! Maybe it's just me, but running is a little mind numbing. My running routes are never the same (except track workouts) since I get bored. Maybe it's the same view at a slow pace or the lack of obstacles (drunk/high dancing bums) that gets to me.

So what do you do to make running enjoyable?

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Mini Blooming onion bread

With a work week of work two days and off one and work two more, I was pretty lazy to do anything really productive. It just so happened that I had these mini sourdough buns in the kitchen and wondered what I could do with it. First thing came to mind was the Blooming Onion bread.

Well not exactly but you get the idea.

Mini Blooming Onion Bread
1 mini sour dough bread load
1/4 stick butter
3 stalks green onion (minced)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
2 chili peppers (optional)
Cheese (your choice, I used cheddar) 

Slice bread vertical, then horizonal creating the "blocks". Be sure not to cut all the way though.

Place cheese in between  the bread slices. Put as much as needed.

In a small sauce pan or pot, melt butter. Once melted, add in garlic, peppers and green onions till butter turns brown.

Drizzle butter mixture over bread.

Wrap whole thing in foil.

Place on a baking sheet or pan. Bake at 350 for 15min. After 15 min, open and bake for 10min or until browned. Be sure not to let it burn.

Enjoy!

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Non-Triathlon Tuesdays

Today's one of those days that I really don't have anything to do at work. Since tomorrow is a holiday, it feels like a Friday but it's not. Weather wise, it's overcast, occasional showers and a slight breeze. Not very encouraging weather to go out for a bike ride. Days like these make me miss my old jobs and the characters that made it worthwhile.

On slow days we'd go and play with the snakes

Well not all the snakes

These were pretty cool. 

For another job we visited a mango orchard every week. I ate mangoes every day for the whole summer. 

As a student worker, we'd do overnight trips to work. Couldn't complain about the view. *Any guesses where this is?* 

So do you guys get to see/do interesting things for work or are you stuck at the desk like me?

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Non-Tritahlon Tuesdays

It's a little slow and cold in the office soup for lunch kind of day. Finally got to try some new recipes this past weekend and I'll share those soon. Here's some Tuesday randoms. Enjoy.

Masters swim meet a few weeks ago. Meet was super casual (thus the no swim cap), most of the swimmers were from our club and I was the only one in my AG. It was fun despite the small turn out.

Also did some hiking on the trails near my house this past weekend.

Friends chocolate lab fetching a small stick. 

It seems a lot higher once you're up there. 

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What is a normal life?

It's almost 3 weeks after Honu, I'm finally getting back into running, however haven't been biking much since the bike still needs to be fixed. Swimming was going great until my rotator cuff decided to act up again. Due to financial reasons I probably won't do any more triathlons maybe till October or hold off until next year. It would be great to go out and do some but it gets expensive. Most races here are around ~$90+ for a sprint. Hard times if you ain't balling.

So after 6 months of training, I've found myself with not much to do that didn't involve swimming, biking or running. Even had the crazy idea to go out on a date. That didn't go so well. Really didn't know what to say I do for fun besides training for triathlons. Swim for fun? Err....

Anyways, so what do you guys do when triathlon season is over? Do you do a relaxed SBR schedule, work on weaknesses or do you go out and do non-triathlon stuff for a while?

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