Going Outside Your Comfort Zone - The IRONMAN Swim

I was not on the swim team as a kid. My only swim training growing up consisted of body surfing in the ocean during the summer vacation months. So, like so many other people who start doing triathlons, I was absolutely petrified to do the swim leg of the race. As I wrote in my book, "The 12-Week Triathlete," to me, swimming is not a sport; it's a means to keep from drowning.

Yet, that intense fear of attempting to swim 2.4 miles for the first time in a crowd of several thousand punching and kicking bodies is what made the training for it so incredibly exciting, and the completion of it so incredibly rewarding. I chose to do something way out of my comfort zone and I did it. It's called self-efficacy - Confidence that comes from being successful at challenging situations. It's an incredibly simple yet powerful concept: By going outside our comfort zones and "surviving," we become stronger in more ways than one.

Notice I didn't say that I conquered my fear of swimming during an IRONMAN race. Yes, it's considerably less today than it was during that first 140.6-mile race in New Zealand, but it's still there, even after twenty-one IRONMAN race finishes. So much can and does go wrong during the swim, but my ultimate goal is always to finish the race and, each time I do, I increase that self-efficacy a little bit more.

Here are some quick video clips from my current swim training sessions:

#BowFlex goes under the sea (or under the pool in this case). Check out this #GoPro clip of @tomhfit #training for the #IronManTriathlon 2015. #IronManJourney #GetYourAwesomeSelfOnTonight #GetYourBowFlexOn #BeFitForLife #ConquerWithBowflex #IronManTraining #IronMan #WorkoutMotivation #FitnessMotivation #FitnessLife #workout #fitness #motivation #swimming #trainingday #swimbikerun #ironmantraining #ironmantri

A video posted by Official BowFlex Account (@bowflex) on Jan 15, 2015 at 4:41pm PST

Under the sea (or under pool in this case) with #GoPro. Today we officially kick off @tomhfit's journey, or #IRONTom as we like to call him, for the #IRONMANTriathlon taking place on March 29th, 2015. Watch this space and our other social channels for more pics and clips, and share your own training journey by tagging us with #BowFlex. #IRONMANtraining #IRONMANtri #IRONMANJourney #GetYourAwesomeSelfOnTonight #GetYourBowFlexOn #BeFitForLife #ConquerWithBowflex #IronMan #WorkoutMotivation #FitnessMotivation #FitnessLife #workout #fitness #motivation #swimming #trainingday #swimbikerun @gopro

A video posted by Official BowFlex Account (@bowflex) on Jan 28, 2015 at 4:41pm PST

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