Spence Smith

I got rocked in swim practice this morning. I mean..besides the fact that practice is at 5am on Friday’s is enough to do me in, much less not paying attention to how I was performing in practice. Today’s practice though brought me back to this thought. Pacing yourself is very important…

When swimming, you should pace yourself because if you don’t…you will crash and burnout for the rest of practice.

Here’s why…this morning we were doing drills based on our stroke count. Your stroke count is the number of strokes it takes you to get to the other side of the pool. In a 25 yard pool, when give it all I got, I can do this in 10 strokes, but on average it sits more in the 13 to 15 count area. If you can swim fast and strong with a low stroke count, you will get through the water faster and smoother.

Basically what happens is when our coach says. This next drill will be based on x number of strokes plus x seconds it takes you to swim 50 yards. It’s called a unit drill and since the water is a little chilly at times i was already thinking about the shrinkage. Anyway…then she tells us, for the next 5 times we do this you have to decrease this unit so start out conservative or else you will be dying for the rest of the drill.

So…what did I do? I thought I was swimming conservative. Little do I realize how much a breathing break on the wall does for my energy level. My unit number was 65 for the first try. Which broke down to 39seconds swimming 50 yards with a stroke count of 13 per 25 yards giving me a 26 count for the 50 yards which all equals 65 (26 strokes plus 39 seconds=65) Over the next 5 times I eventually got it down to 57 which had me at 20 strokes per 50 yards.

This my friends…killed me. I exhausted every ounce of energy I could muster. For the rest of practice I was done, spent, tired, finished…I had nothing left.

This brings me to a point in which I’m reminded of when doing business. Sometimes people make business decisions that are to big. They have bitten off more than they can chew and they got in over their heads and the decision is seen as a failure. Sometimes when this happens and you are working with others, the chances of you making another big decision might be very slim because no one else will believe that you can do it or that the idea can be done. Why? it failed the first time, why should it work the next time.

This sounds like small minded thinking and most times it can be. But the way to win is to start small enough to make an impact and to watch your decision be a winning decision. When you start small and think conservatively, you can give yourself a little room for error and growth. Then when you are ready to go big, you can take that risk with confidence and with a better plan of attack. If the big decision is a winner then great! But if it fails then at least you know you tried everything and you can now move on knowing you too can make sound decisions (even if you failed) and that you are willing to take a few calculated risks. Learning from your mistakes can lead to success as long as you keep trying.

If I had thought a little more about slowing down my swim and working my stroke count a little better, i would have made it to the end without killing myself. I also would have made it through practice a lot stronger.

The next time you go big…think it through first…oh, and if you need help working through it, shoot me an email. I’ve failed enough times to know how to win.

There are a lot of you who have been asking me lately how I got into doing triathlons so I thought I would share with you the little process I went through.

In January of 2007 I came back from Africa with a little bit of a new perspective on life. Africa has that effect on people. When I came back I had decided I want to take my fitness level to another level. I wasn’t a great runner but I loved running, I wasn’t a swimmer but I loved to swim recreationally. I was on a swim team when I was a kid so I thought I would find a swim team to join. I had heard you could do that. What I found was a group of triathletes who swam together 2-3 times a week.

The group is called Excel Aquatics Triathletes.(Here is the new blog site for Excel Aquatics Triathletes)I joined just to see if I could get into swimming a little bit. Well I did…and I loved it. The next thing I knew I was signing up for my first triathlon. After I did the one tri. I was hooked. That was one year ago.

What happened after that was so much fun! Within the community of swimming triathletes, I started to get to know a few who were biking as well. And…within this group  I found out these crazy people were also training for Ironman events. WOW!

They key for me in all of this is the community around it. Whether your here in Nashville or else where. If this is something you want to do…find others to train with.

Most major cities have triathlon groups you can join and train with. Nashville has a great community of triathletes. We range from slow to fast so you will have no problem finding  your level somewhere in between.

Is it scary? No. Is it intimidating? Yes…but only at first. It’s kind of like geting in cold water for the first time, eventually your body adjusts and feels warm. You get comfortable with it and it feels normal.

Even though I’m not a fast runner, running for me is something I do mostly on my own except long runs. But hanging with these people will help you to feel confident that you can do it.

Please note this though…EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE struggles with the swim part. Thats why I train with a team. Everyone in our group now can swim long distances. The key is to finish, not finish first. Unless you really want to finish first…

So what do you need to start?

Swim: swim suit, for guys these are called Jammers. Googles, swim cap, fins, paddles and a buoy. When you go to a swim store, you should find all of these items and the person at the store will be able to help you pick out what you need.

Cycling: A decent road bike if you are a beginner. As a beginner you can modify the bike to add aero bars if you want them..If you are a cyclist already, it’s up to you, but a good tri bike would be the bomb. Bike shoes to clip in to your pedals, cycling shorts, jersey, and a bike helmet. Everything else is accessory…except a water bottle or two. You can spend as little as $1,000 and as much as $6,000 just on the bike. The bike is the most expensive part. There’s always something else to buy for your bike to help you go just a bit faster…it’s a little addicting.

Running: great, not good, but great running shoes and then whatever you want to run in. I like anything dry fit that wicks the moisture away. Good compression socks and a fine buy as well.

There are so many sites you can find online to give you a better idea of what goes on so make sure you google a bit.

I do believe this is my most important thing to tell you…Exercise with a purpose. Make it count and mean something to you so that you can own it as a part of your life. I believe most people fail at exercise because they have no goal or end result. Set a goal, not just a weight goal, but a fitness goal…i want to run a mile, then two, then 4…then a ahlf marathon…maybe a sprint triathlon…see what I mean?

When I got into running I first did it with Team In Training. It was a community of people doing the same thing with a coach, a schedule and a purpose for a good cause. It gave me a great foundation of what I wanted to achieve for my personal fitness.

Friends…if you want to do this, you can. Literally…one step at a time. If you want to talk about it all, just email me…I’ll have you running or in a pool in no time and loving it:)