I went to swim practice and I learned to draft

Never Done: Went to Team in Training swim practice (and drafted!)

One of the things they tell you in Team in Training informational sessions is that you are going to make a lot of great new friends. Honestly, I cringe every time I hear this, because really, the last thing I need is more great friends. I am already blessed with the best. So I've been going to trainings and focusing more on myself than others. Not unfriendly, just not solicitous. Which is not actually easy for me to do, accustomed as I am to focus outward, take the temperatures of the people around me, assess their needs before my own. But I've been staying pretty close to myself, and I'm enjoying the training.

I love to swim. It's really one of my true joys in life. I love it so much that I am willing to drive to Staten Island to go to swim practice because the Brooklyn practice is on my Mussar night. I especially love to swim at night. When I lived in Portland and had 24-hour access to a wonderful pool, Jensi and I used to swim at 10 or 11 PM, and I found it would do whatever I needed it to do -- if I needed to stay up and work, it would energize me so that I could do that, and if I needed to go to sleep, it would calm me down and relax me.

So I had my first swim practice with Team in Training. It was supposed to go from 8:30-9:30, but when I got there at 8:15, it was already in progress, and the coach (Mark) and I had an awkward little introductory conversation that went something like this.

Me: Hi. Doesn't practice start at 8:30?
Mark: We start at 8.
Me: Oh, my Brooklyn coach said it started at 8:30.
Mark: Yeah, we start at 8.

I am the person who gets there 15 minutes early to stretch, so in a way I think it's good for me to be the person who thought I was getting there 15 minutes early, but was really 15 minutes late. Good in terms of ... you can't be perfect, and life doesn't fall apart. When I hopped in the pool and started to swim, it was clear that I'm on the advanced end of the spectrum of this group of swimmers, and he sent me and another guy off to do my first real workout in 35 years, and then he stayed with the other swimmers, who could literally not swim a length of the pool. I was so impressed with these guys, that they are learning to swim and then are going to swim a triathlon! I mean, at least I know how to ride a bike.

Mark told me to start with three 200's, 30 seconds apart, and try to keep them all at the same pace. I remember when this used to be easy. Back when I was on swim team in 1976. (Tshuve.) (Is that right, Claire? When is the last time I actually on swim team?) But since I spent the last 5 years of my life with Olympic swimmers, and watching swim practice at the highest level, I think I sort of faked myself into thinking I was in better swim shape than I really am.

As soon as we started I got nervous that he had pegged me as a good swimmer and that I would start to fatigue faster than he expected. This might be true, but he tracked how I was doing, and told me my stroke looked great. At some point, I switched it up and did some back stroke, and he told me to try putting my head back more. I loved getting real coaching from someone who had the capacity to watch a bunch of people in the water at the same time, and offer instruction to everyone at their own level. So I did what he said, and I tried putting my head back further. It felt strange. Water went deep into my ears, and over my face, but he was right -- my stroke was smoother.

After that, he had me do five 50's, 15 seconds apart. And then a 10 minute endurance swim, which I was enjoying, just taking it slow and steady, when my foot cramped up. Which was a sure sign that I was doing something different/harder from usual, because I routinely swim a mile and my foot doesn't cramp up. But once again Mark coached me - this time through my cramp. I had gotten out of the pool and was rubbing it, but he told me to walk and drink water. I don't even know if was a better approach, but there are so few occasions in my life when someone mentors me that I just suspended my questioning and did what he said. I think that training for the triathlon will give me much reflection about the mide (middah) Humility: Seek wisdom from everyone, including the ways I crave wise guidance, and also the ways I resist it.

About 5 minutes before practice was over, a woman (Tonya) arrived and hopped in the pool. By then, I was sitting on the deck, having not continued my endurance swim. The rest of the guys were leaving, and Mark said to me and Tonya, "If you stay, we can do some fun training."

So I hopped back in, and he taught us how to draft. Drafting is swimming (or bike riding) so close to the person in front of you that they create a wake that basically pulls you along. I've watched people draft, but never done it myself, because ... well, basically because I like my space. And I have some fears about being too crowded in certain situations, and water is one of them. You're not allowed to draft on bikes in a triathlon, but it turns out that not only are you allowed to draft in the water, you are encouraged to.

So Tonya and I took turns drafting off each other, and it turned out to be a smart thing to practice. She kept actually touching my feet when I was in front, and I didn't kick her in the head, so that was good. And when I was behind, I was able to reach right out and stay super close to her without actually touching her feet, and I definitely felt the water pull me along. Then we practiced a fingertip drag stroke, and sculling, and did a few other things, until Mark wanted to go home. And as Tonya and I showered and dressed and talked about her sister in the Pacific Northwest and her work with children with developmental disabilities, I realized it was happening, the Team in Training experience I didn't think I wanted. I was making a new friend. Just like my coaches said I would.