Trying but not Tri'ing

The whole family has been working on their swimming lately.  Angelia has been doing well and is on target for her first triathlon in June.  It's one of those rookie tri's that will serve as a warm-up event for her sprint in August. I was planning on joining her for the tri next month but my swimming has a little massive ways to go.  For years my primary exposure to water has been via scuba diving.  In that time, my surface swimming ability has completely disappeared.  Body position is wrong, breathing is labored (where's my air tank?), and I'm just working too hard in general.  While I've made some solid progress the last few weeks it became clear that the tri would be a big struggle.  That was not the intention when I put it on the calendar.  It was just supposed to be an easy event to get my feet wet.  With that in mind I have decided not to do it.

How Julian pictures open water,
even if it's just a pond.

Meanwhile, Julian has been making great strides in swimming but there are still a number of demons to conquer which means no IronKids this year.  A 150yd open water swim seems doable for him but he's had rough 50m swims at 2 warm-up events, has issues with his face in cooler water, and has a lot of anxiety about what lives in the open water.  Just a few too many areas to address in such a short time for an event that would require overnight travel.

I don't want to neglect the little man here either.  Connor switched swim instructors and in the last couple weeks has started to show signs of the super swimmer he was last summer.  I think he's gonna really surprise some people by the time he does the Monster Kids Tri in October.  He'll be a completely different beast by then swimming the pool length with ease and probably no training wheels on the bike.

So with no triathlons for me, what's next?  Well, Julian and I are going to make this the year of the duathlon.  We've got 4 on the calendar.  Throw in some cycling events and as many as 5 kids tri's for Julian and we'll be plenty busy.  Next up though is some running at the American Heroes Race on Memorial Day.  It'll be a 10k for Angelia and 5k for Julian and I.  Have a safe and active holiday weekend everybody!