Weakness vs Limiters

I was recently talking about triathlon with a friend and they asked me, of the three sports, what I thought my weakness was. Without hesitation I said I had none. I quickly realized how bad that may have sounded so I began to elaborate my statement. So I figured I would try and do the same thing here, while sticking to my statement that I have no weaknesses when it comes to triathlon.

Weakness is defined as "A quality or feature regarded as a disadvantage or fault". The two key words in that definition are disadvantage and fault. Am I a stronger runner than cyclist? yes. Am I a stronger cyclist than swimmer? yes. Is my swim a disadvantage or fault when it comes to a race? no.

Achilles was a mythological greek character whose one weakness was his heel. It was his one vulnerability and one that he could not change. Superman had only one weakness and that was Krptonite. Again it was a weakness that he had no ability to change or become less impervious too. These weakness were things that could not be worked on or improved by these characters and this is what defines a weakness. They are disadvantages or faults in which no amount of training or armor/super powers can overcome. This is exactly why I made the statement that I have no weaknesses.

I have a limiter, and that limiter is swimming. When I first started swimming in 2009 I could not swim more than one length of the pool without stopping. In fact, my log book from that day states that I swam 1000 yds (40 laps) and that I did not swim 2 laps in a row without stopping. I did not log what it took me to swim 100 yds but I would say that it was well north of 2 minutes. Last week I swam 100 yds in 1:24 and I did that two times, then held 1:30's for another 3 and then swam the last 5 100's under the 1:40 mark. So if you had asked me 4 years ago if I had any weaknesses I would have, without a doubt said swimming. But today, with all the hard work I have put in and the hundreds of hours in the pool and the endless laps I will not say that swimming is a weakness. Is my swim time good enough to qualify for Kona? not even close. Does my swim time keep me close enough to pass people on the bike, and bury them on the run? absolutely.

I had the worst case scenario swim in Lake Placid for my first Ironman. I thought on a slow day I could get out of the water in 1 hour 20 minutes. I also knew that a good day could see me closer to 1:15 and in a great postion to reach my target times for the race. I ended up swimming 1:47, puked twice, dry heaved numerous more times and had to swim from lifeguard to lifeguard for the last 45 minutes. Did it kill my goal race time? yes. Did it crush me and unable to complete an Ironman? no. I took that bad swim time and I threw all my energy into my bike ride. I passed 1300 people on that 112 mile bike and got off with a legit shot of still getting under my 12 hour race goal. The run, however had different ideas and I waddled home in 12 hours and 19 minutes. I was elated to have overcome my limiter and fight the rest of the day and finish my first Ironman in what I believe to be a very respectable time.

So next time someone asks you about anything in life and they refer to something as a weakness. Think about it and take your time before you answer. Is it something that you cannot overcome with a little more hard work and determination. I have weaknesses like everyone else, however many people except their weaknesses and making them their strengths. Swimming will always be a limiter for me, but with every lap I swim and every time I answer the alarm to get to the pool I make the decision to not have it be my weakness.