Social Swimming is Weird

Last night I experienced a "social swim" for the very first time. I had never even heard of such a thing. A social swim simply means that you're sharing a lane with more than one other person; so instead of going back and forth on one side of a lane while the other person swims on the other side, all three or four or however many people swim in long skinny ovals so you don't run into each other.

Here's the story: I was at the gym with my dear friend and occasional swim coach. We were going for a swim first, and then at the end she was going to try again to teach me how to do a flip turn. It'd be a really helpful skill, now that I'm swimming longer distances. Plus I would feel awesome. (Unfortunately, the last time I tried to learn the flip turn, I kept running into the floor. Yowch.) Anyhow, after only ten minutes of our swim, the pool was suddenly invaded by Aqua Fit--one of those really strange water aerobics classes mostly attended by people much older than I, to put it gently. My swimming buddy and I were already sharing a lane due to lack of space; now we had to share it with two other women! Hence the social swim idea: If we all just swim in ovals, keeping to the right, we can all four use one lane.

The problem with this arrangement was... I'm sorry to say... me. One girl finished up her swim pretty quickly, but the other three of us were socially swimming for probably half an hour. And let me tell you, I am slow. I'm not the slowest of the slow (occasionally when I'm swimming on my own I will "pass" someone in another lane, and I get really excited for myself), but compared to My Friend the College Swimmer and the other swimmer in our lane, I am slow slow slow. I had to stop at the end several times to let the others pass me. Ah well, I'm learning.

Part of the strangeness of this social swim was the Aqua Fit class (did I mention that many of the women are actually wearing sneakers in the pool? And that this particular class was led by a very middle-aged woman in a seafoam-green bikini? I found this very interesting). The class takes up most of the pool and does a lot of kicking and bouncing and things that create a very weird current in the single lane at the end. It was probably good practice for swimming in a lake! Seriously, a few times I thought I was going to be swept out to sea or dashed into the side of the pool.

So that was my latest (mis?)adventure in the realm of swimming. In other news, training is going pretty well. I was able to stay on track (minus one bike ride) even with a trip out of town last week. Most importantly, I am coming to terms with the statement My goal is to finish. This is very true of me and this triathlon. I realize more and more that merely crossing that finish line will be quite an accomplishment; setting time goals for myself is just plain unhelpful at this point. Truth be told, I probably will be at the end of the pack. And, to keep up this honesty thing, I have to admit that I don't really like that thought. But it will be all right. Just a few months ago I could hardly swim from one end of the pool to the other; so finishing a half-mile swim alone, not to mention the other two activities, is a pretty big deal.

When It Rains, It Pours

After two weeks of no swimming due to an unfortunate incident, I found myself quite excited to get back in the pool. I also found myself coming down with a hum-dinger of a head/chest cold, which kept me away from swimming for almost another entire week. I didn't go to the gym at all in fact; I even took a morning off work, slept as much as I could (twelve hours one night!) and just tried my best to recover.

At looooooong last, I found myself finally feeling up for a swim on Wednesday night. I was so excited and energized! But I also felt a smidgen of fear about how the swim would go--after almost three weeks' break, how much endurance would I have lost? Would I be back to the proverbial drawing board? (Could I say... back to the diving board?)

Well, folks, I'm very happy to report that all was not lost during my several-week-long hiatus. I swam about ten laps total, with at least three consecutively--and I felt that I could have done more! I think I'm finally finding a rhythm of swimming that feels comfortable. I can swim without getting so out of breath that I'm gasping for air after three laps. That's quite an accomplishment! Once I have a sustainable pace, I just have to keep building on laps... all the way up to sixteen! I've got quite a way to go, since I'm only at 3 right now... but it will happen!

I also checked in with my triathlon buddy K.C. We hit the gym together last night, planning to go for quick treadmill runs. Unfortunately for me, in the rush of getting picked up for the gym, I completely forgot my running shoes. Not good. (Maybe my subconscious knew I needed more time to recover from my sickness?) Anyhow, I ended up going for a "brisk walk" while K.C. jogged away next to me. Maybe I'm a terrible person, but I found it encouraging to hear that he has also been a bit lax in training recently. We both need a bit of a kick in the pants, it seems. Well, I will be heading out of town for Easter this coming week, but I hope to continue training in the meantime and perhaps even get in some training runs or even swims at the hotel. Do people even swim laps in hotel pools? What if the pool is filled with awkward preteens? What do I do then?

I think my imagination has gone a-wandering. I guess I'd better just focus on swimming when it's time to swim, and let those tweeners do their own thang.

Happy Friday, y'all! Hope you have a great weekend.

On the Road Again

I had to take a week off my training after my accident--I tried to go for a run last week and it kind of messed my head up, I think. I needed regular adjustments again after the fall, but I'm getting better very quickly, it seems. The cuts on my eyebrow/eyelid are mostly healed up, although I still do have a really freaky-looking half-red eye. If I look at you sideways, you can't see that my right eye has any white in it at all. It's pretty sinister. I feel like I should use this to my advantage while it lasts, but I'm not exactly sure how.

Anyhow, back to training! Because... I am. Last week I was still biking around to get to work etc, but nothing of any great distance. Aside from my one disastrous run early in the week, that was all the exercising I was doing. I did go to the gym once--to sit in the hot tub. Someone's gotta do it, you know? But last night I hit the gym for reals, meaning I went for a moderately fast-paced 15-minute run. I didn't want to go too far or too fast on my first workout in a week. It felt so good though! My body missed working out. I still can't swim for another few days (my cuts need a little more healing time before I impose goggles onto them) but I will be lifting weights, running, and biking this week. I'm so glad to be (somewhat) back in the swing of things!

Oh, PS--I added the link to my triathlon on the side! Check it out!