February 6, 2009
Becca

So, this week I started my training. I know last week was supposed to be the beginning, but let’s just say that sometimes ultimate frisbee (which I play every Monday) can get a little rowdy, and that sometimes leads to strained muscles in your neck and back. Yeah…last week was rough! But this week, feeling better, let’s go swimming! I was super nervous to go swim because I’m still a beginner at this whole “total immersion” thing so I was hoping for my own lane so I wouldn’t hold anyone up. I was in the slow lane with one other woman and it was essentially two lanes in one, so she said we could just each take a side until someone else came. I was like, SWEET! I was down the pool and halfway back when I bumped into a large woman in floaties who was walking the length of the pool. I came up, startled, and she said to me “listen honey, you always go down the left side, we rotate around. You’re on the wrong side.” I felt kind of embarrassed and felt the need to defend myself and explain that we were just sticking to our own lanes until someone else got here. Ah, off to a good start! Haha...

I felt a little silly but I continued my skating drills…man it takes a long time to get down the pool when you’re doing those! I checked my BG a few times and bolused a little extra - it's hard for me to stay in range when disconnected from the pump. I swam for a full hour (moving into my zipper-switch…Celeste would be proud) and when I was done, the floaties woman and I were chillin on the shallow end of the pool and she turned to me and said, “You’re doing that full immersion swimming, aren’t you?” I was pretty surprised that she even knew what the hell I was trying to do. I kind of figured anyone watching me was just thinking, boy that girl sure does things her own way. I told her it was and that I was just a beginner. The lifeguard chimed in and said, “oh yeah, someone just won a world record doing that! I gotta watch you so I can learn!” Several other swimmers at the pool looked over at me appreciatively, like I was some sort of expert. Hilarious and ridiculous, but I was ok with it because man, some of those swimmers were really cute. I told the lifeguard, “well, you might want to wait a few weeks until I get better and it actually looks like something!”

Now, I don’t know if someone actually did just win a world record doing full immersion, but whatever – I could not have asked for a better experience during my first training swim. I worked hard, met some nice people, kept my BG between 100-200 (which is a feat for me when I'm disconnected), and learned that it is really not that embarrassing to be passed while swimming in the slow lane. I hope every one of you gets to have a night that that sometime in the next 9 months of training. It’s amazing how supportive and excited people are, and how non-judgmental. Even after I took up her lane, floaties woman could still appreciate a nice zipper-switch :)