Near and far.....or it takes a village!

A couple weeks ago, I got in the pool to do a new swim workout Wendy had listed.  I was having a difficult time with it and was getting frustrated to the point of leaving the pool.  The aquatic director saw me and came over and sat down at the edge of the pool and talked to me.  She talked to me about not getting frustrated, about working with the various "toys", i.e. kick board and pull buoy.  She talked to me about relaxing when I swim.  She helped me calm down enough to keep going.

I have no doubt Wendy will be able to coach me to the start line of an Ironman.   But having a "long distance" coach can sometimes gets frustrating, especially in regards to my swim training.  I am not the most patient person in the world.  I log all my workouts but sometimes I wish I could get immediate feedback.  So, last week, I suggested to Wendy, that I ask a couple of the local coaches for some help.  She agreed.  She "hears" the frustration in my emails and in my training log.  And she just wants me to work toward my goal and not be frustrated.

So, I met with a friend this past week for some swimming help.  She has won the local Women's sprint triathlon a few times, been doing triathlons for awhile and has coached swimming.  I trust her judgement and knew she'd be totally honest with me.  She was.  Said my form wasn't bad, for where I'm at and made a number of suggestions.  My friend pushed me out of my comfort zone and it was great!  I am up for just about any challenge but sometimes need that push.  Wendy does it through my workouts.  I sometimes look at them and think "how am I going to do that???"  But I try and if I don't quite get it, I log it, and Wendy adjusts.

Erin is, also, still giving me help.  I text her and get input and she takes the time to chat with me when I see her at the pool.  I will never forget her telling me "I want to see you succeed, Robin".  That meant a great deal to me.

I feel extremely blessed to have these people in my life. And while it might appear to be confusing, having more than one "coach", it's not.  I only have one coach, Wendy.  I take suggestions from the local coaches but run everything past  her.  That's the way it has to work for me.  I can confuse myself, rather quickly, so listening to more than one person would just confuse me to a standstill.

So, just when I was starting to wonder, once again, if this was meant to be, I was shown it was.   And that I'm not alone in going after my dream.  I was never alone, I've come to realize, I just need to ask for help.  Because when I look back at the course of my life, when I truly needed help, it always appeared.