The sales pitch was honest.
If you want to spend $350 to learn to swim, let me know.
I had found a weekend freestyle clinic in New Paltz. I was going to do it and needed to plan the trip. I sent the link to a friend in case anybody else thought paying for two days in a pool sounded fun.
Swimming was the weak part of my triathlon.
I could run. I could ride. In open water, I could cover the distance, but my form had never been properly taught. I was working harder than I needed to and leaving a lot of speed in the water.
Ironman Cozumel was ten weeks away. The first leg would be a 2.4-mile ocean swim. That made technique worth buying.
The clinic used the Total Immersion approach. The basic promise was not more effort. It was better position, less drag, and a stroke I could repeat without wasting energy I would need for the bike and run.
That appealed to the systems part of my brain. Do not only work harder. Find the part of the process creating the waste.
I was not looking to become a swimmer in one weekend. I wanted enough instruction to know what to practice when I got back to the pool.
The location spelling was less certain. I wrote “New Pzaltz or however you say that.” Close enough to book the trip.
The price was real. So was the gap in my training.
I sent the link and planned to get in the water.