Gym-Swim-Yoga Tri

After a day of lounging with the kitties and studying my papers, I managed a Triathlon worth noting. It started with 45 minutes of shoulders, pecks and triceps in the gym. After razing my own ability to lift an arm higher than my waste, I went into the locker room for T1. Donning the green Speedo dragsuit (which sounds WAY larger than it actually is...) I munched a PBJ to thwart the bonk, and I was spitting into my goggles before I knew it.
One lap under water (ritualistic first lap I developed with a buddy back in college) and I was off, and OH how the ache steam-rollered my ability to reach! In the "how to swim" books, which dot my shelves like so many beacons of light on a stormy sea, I'd read that reaching sets the swimmer up for an "efficient pull phase." 30 minutes down the lane line I managed what I would consider a "full pull," all the while ignoring my Traps and Delts as they refused to dance in formation with the other muscle fibers in that area of a protesting shoulder. I thought come on dudes, do as Daddy says now or I'll freakin' turn this body around! All I was asking them to do: lengthen an arm so the fingertips could grab water closer to the other side of the pool. Was it that hard? 30 minutes into it, they acquiesced to my request and I spent the next few seconds at one end of the pool stretch-congratulating them for their efforts.
When the pool had sufficiently dried my face and the digital numbers right of the colon read 45, to T2 to (written numerically: 2 t2 2) snag the spare shirt, my gear, and my desire to get the third leg of the Tri underway.
Yoga class divulged a different teacher tonight, but she still had the same zest for stretching body parts and encouraged me/us do the same. With "Namaste" I crossed the tape and looked at the clock. Some quick math told me that this Gym-Swim-Yoga Tri had taken 2:37...about as long as it took me to slog through my first Olympic distance Tri (swim-bike-run that is)! Not that I could really compare the two, but the similar times did remind me of that beautiful course.
Satisfied, and body limbered, I headed the Honda home for a dinner of Stir Fry Delight (search not in your local supermarkets for this delicacy, this name I've given to the generic brand, cause it's got more spice than calling it "Generic Brand").

Reflecting upon what I had just completed, I marveled at seeing Hydro-newbie again.
Hydro-newbie is just that, and his fear of the water left him nervous to put his head down in it. That was 2 weeks ago. I see him periodically and he asks me for advice. It's rather gratifying to have someone ask you how to do something, twice as gratifying if you actually can DO the thing even, like myself, just barely. Although I wouldn't call my self an Olympian, I haven't drowned yet and figured that condition qualified me to discuss tactics for entering and (more importantly) emerging from the deep end.
This past Friday, I encouraged Hydro-newbie to venture 5 feet into the deep end with the expectation that he'd swim himself back to the shallow end and not put his foot down 'till the wall. He did this rather hesitantly, but with the vigor of one who figures drowning is only a gurgle away.
Tonight he arrived while I was resting at a wall, we exchanged smiles and he promptly got IN the deep end and then swam to the OPPOSITE wall! I nearly inhaled the deep end as I treaded over its depths. How invigorating to see such progress. His learning curve was just as vertical as the walls he'd let go of to make the stellar journey. 25 yards! Soon I told him it'll be miles.