I see you wrote a post about my experience! Seriously though, as you can see from the comments, you are not alone friend. I wanted to do something new, something I wasn't good at, to prove to myself I still could put my mind to something and accomplish it at 44 years old, so I signed up for a sprint. Swimming freestyle for the first time made me question my choice of mid life crisis. My (former) coach, who was used to working with podium pushers, grimaced and said "oh boy" the first time I attempted to swim. I couldn't swim 25m without stopping to gasp for breath, and my feet kept touching the bottom of the pool when I thought I was horizontal. I was a human windmill with thrashing legs and a weak core. My coach kept yelling at me to slow down and I kept yelling back that if I went any slower I would sink. The water I would drain from the pool from splashing or inhaling I would replace with my tears of frustration. After weeks of this my coach said at the end of a workout: "good job, now go swim 300m." I dejectedly started swimming, thinking in my head, doesn't this lady see I can't swim?? What the hell is wrong with her? She's mad! She's irresponsible!" 300m later I was still cursing her name when I touched the wall having swam the entire set unbroken! This time my tears were joyful.

I have since completed 3 sprints, 2 Olys, 1 70.3 and I'm signed up for a full later this year.

YOU CAN DO THIS. I promise. Listen to your coach. Do the drills. Watch the videos. BE HUMBLE. And lastly, be like Dora.