Just Keep Swimming

"Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.  What do you do?  You swim, swim, swim."--Dori

I love that line from Finding Nemo.  I say it to myself all the time as I run, but now it applies to a new part of my life--Swimming!

I am really falling in love with the water.  I love finding a bit of rhythm.  I love the contrast of the cool water on a hot day.  I love my new shoulder muscles.  Yes.  I am a bit vain.

Today I swam 1600m.  That is one mile for all you imperial measurement folks.  It is the farthest I have ever swam.  I did mostly freestyle, but also just legs, just arms, and I'm trying to learn breaststroke (with not much luck).

I love meeting new goals.  I love trying new things.  At the beginning of the summer I was afraid to swim 25 m.  I could barely squeak out 400m on my first workout.  Barely over a month later I can swim a mile!  A whole mile! (and 500m without stopping!!!) I would add more explanation points, but I already overdid it.

To add to my euphoria, I have written almost 10,000 words in my new regency romance.  This story kind of breaks my heart. I hope I can express the emotions I feel adequately in my writing.

Sigh.  Life is good.

Try new things. You might like it. And when things get tough, Just keep swimming.

Workout recaps...sort of

I strained my quad muscles due to overtraining a few weeks ago.  I should've slowed down earlier, because I could feel an old injury in my hip flexor flaring up.  I just felt so good that I decided to ignore niggles, push through all out pain, and run multiple days in a row when I know my body starts to get angry when I run more than two days in a row.  Finally, after running three days in a row--again--and coming home in so much pain I thought I would throw up, I decided to take a week off of running.  It was a good call.  I actually took off 9 days.  I felt perfect after 5, but kept resting for good measure.  I found I liked resting...a lot!  So much so it took all I had in me to wake up this week for my runs...

Mon- 5 @9:09 pace, no pain

Wed-5 @9:30 Pace, no pain

Thurs-200m swim, during safety break.  Received the best compliment ever!  "You're getting faster, Mom!"  I really appreciated my kids cheering me on poolside, even if only for a few minutes.

Fri-3.5 @9:18, stopped run early due to tightening in quad.  No pain.  Came home and felt really tight and within a few hours had actual pain.  I re-taped, iced, and all that fun stuff. 

Sat- 1400m swim.  THAT IS ALOST ONE MILE!!!!!!!  I was in the water for about an hour, but actual swimming time was about 35 min.

KT tape is my best friend, if you didn't know that already.  

During my rest week, I traded my running days for swim days.  

Mon-700 m swim, (100m kicks, 5X100m freestyle, 100m kicks)

Wed-900m swim (can't remember the breakdown, but it was similar to Mon, just with more laps)

Fri--700m swim

Sat-800m swim

I am getting so much better at my freestyle.  I can now breathe bilaterally, and am very comfortable breathing from my left side. I also feel much smoother in the water.  I still need to hire someone to help me out on my form, or at least have my husband record me.  

Today I started learning the breaststroke.  I have a long way to go, but after a few drills I was able to swim 100m breaststroke.  By the last 25m I felt like I was getting a bit of rhythm, or at least I was at a point where I could say "I get it!...I think."  Haha!

I can't swim, but I want to Tri

I am not a swimmer.  Before this Summer, I think the last time I swam a lap was in the 6th grade during a swim class.  At that time in my life I really loved to swim.  I remember asking my mom if I could join swim team.  She said swim team was only for the good swimmers. ** Ouch! Alas, I swapped training suits for cute tankinis and goggles for tanning oil and spent the next twenty years poolside.  Much like me in this photo.  

This is the life!

In May, Ironman Texas took place just minutes from my house.  I ran down and watched the swimmers and was bitten by a bug.  I can't do that! I thought. Swim two miles!  That's crazy!  But those kinds of thoughts get me thinking and I thought and thought and realized that I want to do that!

But I can't swim.  My mom told me so when I was in the 6th grade.  I'm probably going to drown.  All these thoughts passed through my brain as I slipped on my goggles for the first time a few weeks later
.

My heart raced and panic ensued.  I'm gunna die! I'm gunna die!  Then I realized I could still reach...and the side was two feet away if I got in trouble.  I swam 400 m, stopping every 25 m to catch my breath.

I got home and watched about a zillion youtube videos on swim technique and breathing.  Just four lap sessions later, I swam 700 m and only had stop every 50 m.  Improvement.  The most major being that I don't think I'm going to drown anymore.

I've got a long way to go.  But don't say "Can't" in my hearing. I might just respond with one of my favorite childhood poems.

Feeling pretty cool after swimming 700m.   Don't worry. My ego
was tempered by the babies that passed me in the fast lane!

"Listen to the mustn't, child.  Listen to the dont's.  Listen to the shouldn't, the impossibles, the won'ts.  Listen to the never haves then listen close to me...Anything can happen, child.  Anything can be."--Shel Silverstein

**As a sidenote, I must add that my mother is amazing.  She is not a mean person, just human.