I had a breakthrough

I've been doing this whole triathlon thing for what....5 years now?  I didn't come into it with any sort of background.  I didn't swim. I didn't bike (didn't OWN a bike).  I didn't run (well....I had just started running....like 2 miles at a time.)

I have to say that the biggest hurdle has been the swim - becoming a swimmer is hard.  Putting on a swimsuit is humbling. Thinking you are moving faster than a snail's pace, only to look over to the next lane and watch some tubby guy in a little speedo zoooooom past you like you are standing still.....defeating.  Then, you have to try to convince yourself to do it all again tomorrow.....because with swimming, it is all about practice and consistency.  Working on your form with a coach doesn't make you faster instantly.  You have to do these form tweaks over and over and over....drill after drill after drill......it is daunting and quite frustrating to say the least.

Anyway.....as I'm only weeks out from my big race of the season, I'm putting in lots of time in the pool.  I see these workouts on my schedule, and I pretty much know what to expect.  I know about how long it will take me to plow through the long sets, and I know the short/fast ones will hurt because I just haven't been able to dial in my fast pace form yet.....until today.

Today it all came together.  The little tweaks I've been working long and hard on finally became "normal" and I saw some numbers I've only seen during a swim test - during the FIRST 100 of a swim test where I blow it up too soon and suffer until the end.  I wasn't flailing around to pull a faster and faster number each time (in the past, my "fast" form has totally fallen apart).  I was so ecstatic!

Mid way through my workout (after pulling and paddles and all kinds of fun), I had a 6x100 descending.  As I'm recovering during my alotted 20 seconds, I'm thinking to myself....

"Wow, ok, that's a pretty good start."
(as I drop 9 seconds) "Um, yikes! Ok, gotta throttle this!"
(another 2 seconds down) "Oh boy!  ohmygodholyshitshitshit how am I gonna get this down?"
(another 2 second down) "FFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU......"
(1 more second down) "I might die. Why didn't I wear my RoadID."
(held same pace from previous) "I did it! Oh....crap.  There's another set of these coming up....."

Actually, the second set of these went just as well.  It wasn't a fluke!!!  I think all this swimmyswimmy is paying off!

Yay me.