Have you ever had someone try to warn you, but you didn’t want to listen? You didn’t want to believe it? Even though you know it’s true, you just can’t accept it as fact.
I’ve had a training buddy telling me to be careful for a couple weeks now and it was not something I wanted to hear. But he was adamant and I kept hearing his voice in my head . . . over and over. Today, I decided to address my neglect head on and it lasted all of 17 minutes.
17 minutes!
Just over four months ago I swam two and a half miles in an hour and twenty minutes. The waves were brutal, and I was in the middle of a 2,800 person mosh pit. Today, I swam in my own lane, with no obstructions or current and made it 17 minutes.
My buddy was right. He kept imploring me not to skimp out on swim practice. “You lose it quick, man.”
Yeah, but this quick?
I also did a 1/2 triathlon, 1.2 mile swim in mid-October, and while it just about killed me, I finished the race and felt like I could swim a bit more . . . but seventeen minutes?
I’m pretty sure a lot of it has to do with my diet and hopefully “temporary” fascination with coffee. I can honestly feel weaker when I drink too much coffee and I have certainly been doing that lately. Sleep has been a little off, too. Hopefully some of this will sort itself out soon.
So, tomorrow I will come back for more. This is literally one day at a time for me now. I have to keep dragging myself back to the pool to get familiar with the feelings. The goggles, the initial splash in the water, and that freak show that can be the YMCA locker room. 
Until then, I will stay in the moment with no goal other than to get it going again. Things will fall into place, but you gotta keep showing up . . . and listening to your training buddies when your heart tells you they’re right.