January Swims

[kacie tri-ing]

My IM training started this week, and right now I am just doing some base endurance training, so I just got in the pool and swam for 45 minutes. No counting, no drills yet, just remembering how it feels to be in the water, since I have been avoiding it for some time It actually felt nice to be back in it!

[GLC1968]

Swam for about 40 minutes last night. NO IDEA how many laps because for whatever reason, I am completely deficient at keeping track. Seriously, I'm thinking of bringing in a laminated card and a grease pencil in the future. Overall, the swim was good. I discovered that I MUCH prefer the stretch of the pool that is over the deep part (the lanes cross into the diving area where it gets super deep) - it's much more peaceful out there and easier for me to avoid distractions. I'm easily distracted and that screws up my tenuous grasp on breathing rhythm!

I also ran into another co-worker. He came in just as I was finishing up. Apparently, he swims the same time frame but hasn't been doing so the past month or so (when I have been there!). Funny. I tried to watch him swim a bit as I was leaving and he makes it look effortless. I aspire to be like that someday.

[Susan Otcenas]

. NO IDEA how many laps because for whatever reason, I am completely deficient at keeping track.

Do you have a watch with a lap timer? You could hit it at the end of each lap.

[GLC1968]

Do you have a watch with a lap timer? You could hit it at the end of each lap.

That's a good idea. I think my old polar has one...I'll have to check. Thanks!

[fatbottomedgurl]

Our pool has been closed for three weeks getting replastered. I saw them filling it today. Yay, it will be open on Monday! But the benefit is I have been hitting the treadmill and the weight room. I started weight training 6 weeks ago. We'll see how swimming responds to my 'new" arms. I still dread the running, indoors or out. But I must admit it is getting...easier. I guess.

[Selkie]

Susan - You are "Woman from Atlantis!" That's great!!!!!! I have seen one of the Olympians at the pool doing exactly what you described (on his back, underwater dolphin the entire length).

I've decided to up my weekday swims to 2000m.

Local swim teams and swim clubs take over our pools, too. It's annoying because on Saturday mornings, the HS swim team is allowed to take over two slow lanes at 7:30am. This leaves only one or two slow lanes, which are down in the diving tank area. Usually, I'm finishing up by that time, but still (I do my marathon swim Saturday mornings). The week before Xmas, they took over four lanes, even though they are supposed to only get two.

Swim team season ends the last week of February, I think (hope). It'll get even nicer once the outdoor pools open in May.

Have many of you seen an influx of New Year's resolution types?

[colby]

I have similar swimming schedule challenges... less in the morning (that's usually when I run/ride/strength train) but more in the afternoon/evening. I would love to go around 5:30 or 6, but that's either masters swim or swim team - and some days the swim team goes until 8:30 at night. I don't mind swimming late, but it messes with my sleep schedule, and the gym closing at 10 puts 8:30 on a tight schedule.

That said, the later in the evening swim team does share, but the more regular swim team (for whom it is the home pool) won't really share. I'm considering trying masters swim, but as with all things I enjoy swimming alone - or at least swimming my own workout, even with a buddy there. I don't want to get caught in the competitive-ness of anything.

Anyway, I'm hoping to swim tonight and again on the weekend. I skipped my swim workouts last week, I'm trying to orient myself around daily workouts, and then two workouts a day most days, and the second one is proving to be difficult.