A Sore Swimmer

It's true... I am a sore swimmer. Maybe I have terrible form, or maybe I'm just a pansy... whatever the reason, swimming is just hard on my body! My muscles don't get very tired, at least not the ones I would expect--my arms, for instance. (I'm not able to swim well enough to actually get a good workout from it yet!) But I feel like I'm putting a lot of strain on my neck, and I have to have my boss Dr. Eric adjust it pretty regularly, otherwise my entire back just hurts. I've never had any major back problems (knock on wood!) so a consistent feeling of discomfort is a new experience for me. It's a good thing in one respect, I suppose--helps me to be able to empathize with our patients more! But back pain is not anyone's idea of a good time, and already I find myself questioning if training for this triathlon is actually worth it. Have I mentioned that I don't like swimming? And now it's making my back hurt. And yet I keep doing it. Does this make sense to anyone?

All right, so that might have been a bit melodramatic. I do think I will enjoy swimming more as I get better at it. And I'm pretty lucky that my shoulders are doing just fine thus far--I read an article from To Your Health magazine that says shoulder injuries are by far the most common among competitive swimmers. (I am far from being either competitive or truly a swimmer, so I guess that lets me off the hook there!)

The article was very helpful. It's short but has some good practical advice that I think will help me with my neck issues. I need to keep my head down, breathe to the side rather than up, look down at the pool floor rather than ahead of me. The first two items are fine; I'm still working on the breathing thing in general, but for the most part I'm getting the side breath in. But that last one! I'm constantly having to remind myself to look down at the pool floor rather than out in front of me... or at the person swimming in the lane next to me, or out the window when I turn my head up to breathe... I am so easily distracted in the pool! I wish I could listen to music or something. I saw a guy swimming once with a waterproof iPod holder strapped around himself, so he could listen to some tunes while he swam. I kind of wish I were hard core like that, but... I'm totally not. I bet those holders are expensive.

Aside from trying to remember where I'm looking as I swim, I also want to be intentional about building up my core muscles--especially my back--and my shoulders. I don't need (or want, for that matter) a bodybuilder physique or anything, but I think strengthening those muscles will improve my form so I'm not straining my neck. I'm going to the gym tonight--I might try a variation of the upper-body workout here to build my swimming muscles!

(On a completely different note: we Fell Back an hour yesterday, with the result that it got really, really dark all of a sudden at 5:00, and I'm a little sad about that. Is anyone else absolutely astounded by this phenomenon every single time, despite the fact that it happens every single year?)