Going along Swimmingly

Today was my first workout after 3-days off. I felt pretty good. I should be pretty well rested. I thought I'd warm up with a couple of miles on the treadmill, a little stationary bike, and then some weights before I hit the pool for some laps. It didn't quite work that way. Even going very slowly, I could still feel a lot of hip soreness while running. I got that sinking feeling that something wasn't quite right. So, I headed for the pool for my first swim workout of the year.

I set a goal of 35-minutes. I did two laps on a 25-yard pool at a time. I would rest for about 10-15 seconds after each lap. After the first lap I was looking at the clock already. Just 34 more minutes. I'm not a natural swimmer. This is hard for me. My heart was already beating pretty fast. On one hand, that's good, it means I'm getting in a workout. On the other, it's bad that my body is working so hard and still going so slow. I guess there is only direction I can go from this point, up!

I also decided to incorporate flip turns. No more touch turns for me. If I can't be a swimmer, I might as well, kind of look like one. My buddy Mark McEchen gave me some instruction last season. The first one, not so good. Get closer to the wall before going into the flip. That one was much better, but running out of air. Try to time my breath better. Next one, I almost hit my head on the bottom. Look at the clock, Just 20 more minutes. Dang! It already feels like I've been swimming an hour and I'm not even half-way through. At least I have a little cutie in the lane next to me as a little distraction.

One more lap, nice turn. Look over at my cutie. No cutie, instead, I see a big fat whale of a woman. I start to wretch... Wait a minute! This is not right. I've been accused of being too preoccupied with female perfection. I don't think of myself as a shallow person, just the opposite, I like to think of myself as being "evolved". Maybe a more fitting term would be "evolving".

I stop, and take another look at this woman. She's wearing an underwater musical device and is doing some kind of water ballet to the music. She is a big woman. It's unfortunate that this is what most (I assume most, maybe it's just me) see when they look at her. Now she is putting on a scuba mask with a snorkel and is swimming along. She not only is working out, she looks like she having fun doing it. She is probably a pretty cool chick. Shame on you David! Shame on me for my initial reaction. This is obviously a woman who looked in the mirror one day (see my archived post, Mirror, Mirror..) and decided she was going to make the change, and took action.

Maybe I need to take another look into the mirror, the mirror of inner reflection, and ask myself "Do I need to make changes to become a better person?"

I had a date last night, and I have one tonight as well, but I'll hold off writing about them until tomorrow.

I ended up swimming for 25-minutes. I was take-a-nap tired. Swimming will do that to you. It's a different kind of head-to-toe tiredness. I'm going to hit it again tomorrow morning.