I learned a new word this week. It means (among several other things, this is typical German) to overcome.
Why did I learn this word is the focus of this post. As my two, or maybe three readers already know, I’ve had this crazy idea to start doing triathlons. Ok, that’s not so far out… But, for me this is almost unfeasible because I AM ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED OF WATER and whatever evil demons might there be.
Ok, most of the people I told about this started laughing and that made it naturally more like a mission of a lifetime than just another crazy sports goal.
I talked, and talked, and did a couple of workouts in swimming pools until someone told me about this Regattastrecke very close to where I am working out of Munich. I ran there one early morning to check it out and a couple of days later my boss, and company owner, invited me to go there for a swim. I had been doing interval sprints early in the morning but I would never say no to such kind of invitation (I can’t say no to some things, like running, biking and now, swimming).
Later that day we headed there and I was pretty nervous, like a kid before the first day of school or an adult with a very abnormal phobia for the submerged unknown… Anyway, there I was in my sexy shorts with a 2km long running track full of water (and who knows what else, and how evil) in front of me. I looked and looked and looked and saw nobody cared about all those potentially dangerous stuff that could be down there, and jumped in. With water till my chest I remembered what my friend told me about being better along the buoys and I didn’t even wait, there I went…
Focused on putting some swimming in my triathlon training I headed to the buoys without thinking much about the stuff beneath me, I took a couple of longer looks down but I had mainly to worry about breathing and hopefully not drown on my first swimming workout. I swam and swam, rested while swimming and at some point around 200m (who knows exactly? maybe the underwater monsters trying to eat me or just staring at my sexy shorts) I was invaded by fear, I had reached a point where I did not focus on the swimming and started to panic about what I was doing.
Am I crazy? I am not a fish, I fear all this darkness and whatever might else there be. That’s when I turned back (feet well up, close to the surface) and it started to get complicated. As I went close to the buoys I had no feet and was away from any underwater plants so I touched nothing, but when coming back I was scared and came near the margin, VERY WRONG! As the water was shallower there was some touching and that wasn’t very helpful…
Panic! I had a couple of panic moments, real panic and even lost my focus on the breathing and confused the water for air… But after “hitting the bottom” (regarding my fears) I was able to relax and let the fear fade while I swam towards the starting platform, I looked at the plants under the water, I went under the starting buoys ropes and finally up the wooden platform for some introspection.
I was there about 30 minutes waiting and it gave me enough time to digest all these feelings and rationalize my emotions. I am a triathlete, I will be doing Ironman races and I am afraid of (almost) nothing… but water. Damn.
I left there thinking I was a step closer to my goals and even though my collarbone hurts like hell I am really happy I did my 400m in the Regattastrecke and to celebrate (the pain) I ate like an animal in the Greek restaurant.
