Ugh, Old man winter returned to our house today. And I’m not very excited about it, in fact I’m down right pouty about it. Cabin fever is setting in hard and I would love some sunshine. To add insult to injury last year it was 80 degrees out today…booooo!
{Source: My Mom}
I’m in a funk and it’s time to break out. Today I’m hitting the pool. It’s been a long time but like a true sign this morning while wallowing in my funk I found my latest pair of goggles I bought at the end of last season that have yet to be used. SCORE! It’s time to get cholriney! (not a word but its kinda catchy!)
I have to admit I swam competitively for a lot of my life and I loved it. There is still a weird enchantment I feel when I smell chlorine. Yeah I know it’s weird but I liken it to that same feeling you have when you pin your bib to your shirt before a big race. Or you pump up the tires of your bike before a big ride.
I love that smell. And last night as I dozed off I thought to myself tomorrow I’m going to SWIM! And because my day is actually working out, today I Swum (swam?)!
I was nervous putting on my suit and getting my things around. It’s been almost a year since I last swam laps, WOULD I DIE? What if the people training for the triathlon are in the pool? Those women drive me crazy even in the gym, if I’m swimming and dying it’s only going to be 10 times worse. I’m a lone wolf workout girl. Chatty Cathy’s drive me bananas. I have no time for gossip or the “did you hear’s“…I don’t know them or care about them.
Luckily I walked into a fairly dead pool. There are some swimmers who I strategically cut out of this shot but it was pretty quiet. I asked the lifeguard what lane I could use and she looked at me like I have 6 eyes but kindly pointed me to lane 3.
The first 200 meters sucked. I wasn’t feeling it. My breathing was off my flip turns were weak it just wasn’t coming together. It could have also been me gaging for breathe? My goggles were a little leaky but after a few adjustments they came around. My legs came around too and I started to get into a groove.
Swimming for me is like riding a bicycle it comes back. I decided to give myself a break from flip turns and just do open turns and finish out a 500 without stopping. I did it. I followed with a nice slow 100 meter breast stroke and a few 200 meter frees. Some with flip turns many without. I just did what felt right for that lap no pressure.
In no time I was up to 1,000 meters! Not bad for the first time out. I decided I could be a mile in at least after all I was feeling great. A few more longer swims broken out by a 500, 200, 300. Wow I was dying, my shoulders and arms were on fire, but there is something really comforting to me about the water.
Insert movie dream sequence…but seriously. I have always loved swimming and watching how the water moves. The bubbles through my fingers and the power it takes to push the water around. I don’t know call me crazy. I know some people hate swimming, but I have always loved it. It made me sad that I had forgotten how much I do love it.
Once I reached 1,600m, I decided it was time for some fun. I even did 25m of full butterfly stroke! I was going to try for a 50m but that seemed like overkill. I didn’t complete any backstroke. I was a backstroker and distance swimmer in my other life but it just didn’t feel right today. A few more broken up 100 m swims of various freestyle and breast strokes and at 2,050 meters I called it a successful workout!
Getting out of the pool was fun…if you were watching you would have seen me try to be all badass and just jump myself out. Apparently I over estimated my might and instead ended up back in the water laughing looking like a fool 
After gathering my brain power back I decided to try it again and this time actually got out of the pool!
I took some photos, this of course had the lifeguard ask me what I was doing. I get it taking photos of people in their bathing suits is weird. I explained I’m a blogger (gah! I hate explaining that to people it sounds so stupid when you say it out loud sometimes) I told her it was my documentation and #proof of my killer workout.
I didn’t realize how sore I was until in the changing room when I went to put my shoe back on and could barely lift my leg up onto the bench. Wowee! Feel the Burn!
I left thinking, I can’t wait to do this again!
Question of the day: Do you have an old memory, smell or ritual that always reminds you of something?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
This post makes me wish my gym had a pool! There is a group of 5 women that attack my gym every saturday morning. Not only do they stand in the middle of the weight area and just gossip incessentaly, they are freaking LOUD and they make me want to stab my ears out. I’ve been waking up early just so I can be finishing up when they arrive. It’s bad.
Oh no, I’m so sorry for you. That is super frustrating. And why I work out alone! How are you getting a great workout when you have the energy to chat loudly? It drives me crazy maybe every gym has a pack?
Kudos to you on the swimming!! I tend to just like to lift… but always forget about the other athletic things.. like swimming and biking..
I may attempt swimming this year, but can hardly do more than a doggie paddle..
I apparently missed this post the other day but I am glad I found it. I too hit the pool this week, and HOLY COW! Mind you I had already done an hour of Turbo Fire at 5 am in hopes of a snow day and lap swim being cancelled. And while I can swim I’m NOT a swimmer. This is probably a stupid question, but what is the trick of keeping track of how many laps/lenghts I’ve done? It seemed like I was getting 6-8 lengths in every 5 minutes. I’m sure this is horrible, but it was my first time in the pool and my first time ever swimming laps. I swam for about 30-35 minutes, so I’m figuring I did at least 40 lengths with lots of rests. I think the most I got in non-stop was 100. My body still feels like jell-o 2 days later. While I’m excited to see how this is going to jump my fitness level, I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me to get up to my 600 meters.
Kylie I also forgot how exhausting swimming is. Troy was like what is wrong with you, I told him a pool kicked my butt- LOL! I should also get a cap because my hair does not like the chlorine. How do you like Turbo Fire? I have a HIIT version I got as a promotional thing. I like it.
Sadly there is no special trick to keeping track of distance in the pool that I know of? Usually I keep track while swimming. I swim in blocks (200,500,300) to make it easier but usually I’m counting the whole time. Sometimes it’s easier to just keep track of the down distance so one lap down is 1 next time down is 3, 5, 7, 9 etc. I’m thinking about making a workout list that, I put in a plastic bag and keep at the end of the pool that way I’m not constantly counting. Maybe I’ll post it here when I get done with it? I know there is a swim test I can send to you that is great for tracking progress.
20 lenghts of the pool is 500 meters. 1,600 meters is a mile. Swimming is tough, good for you for getting in the pool! It will come in time though I promise, even I as a swimmer for most of my life struggle getting back into it. In high school I could swim500 m in 6 minutes…haha those days are GONE! Swimming will be amazing for you and you’ll be at 600 m before you know it!