The other day, I was at the municipal pool in our town doing laps. I looked up and saw two women standing in the next lane chatting. I recognized them both. I went to High School with both of them and they were on the swim team. I pulled off my goggles and said, “hey guys, how are you doing?”
I didn’t know you swim?
They turned to me. “I didn’t know you swim,” one of them said to me. “It’s nice to see you here,” the other said.
“I signed up for a triathlon, so I’ll be here all the time,” I said.
“Wow, cool, a triathlon,” the blonde haired woman said. “I was thinking about doing one next weekend at Nickerson Beach.”
“Have you been training?” I asked.
She gave me a strange look and shook her head.
Wow, I thought. Okay, I guess some people just go out and get it done.
At Connectiquot High School
Two days later, I found myself back in the pool but this time at Connetquot High School in Bohemia. What I was doing in Bohemia, I’m not quite sure. It was almost 30 minutes east from my office in Melville.
Before going there, Lisa Gordon, my Senior VP, was in for the week so the two of us went for a slice of pizza around 6:30/7 pm. After the pizza, we got in the car and drove to Bohemia. The entire way, I kept complaining about the long drive. “Where is this place anyway?” I said to her.
When we finally got there, I met Coach Rich. It was great to meet him since I’ve been talking with him nearly every day for the past week about the workouts. I also met the folks from Open Water Swim.
I was told to go to the first lane and start there. I don’t think I ever swallowed so much water in my entire life as I did during this swim. It also kept going up my nose. For some reason, I find it nearly impossible to breath out of my nose in the water.
After a series of drills, I found myself burping up chlorine. I swallowed so much water and learned a valuable lesson that day – DON’T EAT BEFORE SWIM!
