The first rule of swimming...

As my heel is still troubling me, although much less, I started on my swimming substitute. I haven't done laps in years, so it was tough for me to get up the motivation to get into the pool. But this morning I went to the pool at 6 am. The good thing about 6 am is that there are very few people at the gym.

I went with modest goals, 8- 10 laps. For me this really means 10 laps. As I approach the pool, I remember the first rule of swimming, don't drown. O.K., I got it, I think. So I get in the pool, which I have all to myself. I start with a back stroke, I can do this pretty well. So half way through the lap I am thinking, its over right? Wrong, keep going. I manage to finish the lap and all I can think, well there is no thought, just the hope that my heart won't leap through my chest. It didn't, hence the post. So I rest for a while and then decide to go with some good old fashioned freestyle, oh yeah. I didn't really think or say this but thought it would look nice in the post. But I did a freestyle lap. It seemed slow, maybe because it was. I was kicking like heck, trying to concentrate on form, but rule 2 of swimming snuck up on me. Swimming is hard work. But I was determined to make it through 10 laps if it killed me and it felt like there was a chance. After freestyle lap 1, lap 2 total, my lungs wanted to join my heart in jumping out of my chest. Neither of which happened. But the good news was that I made it through laps 1 and 2 without violating rule 1 - don't drown.

Without boring anyone. Laps 3 through 8 were fine. Laps 3 and 5 were back stroke and the rest were free style. I felt like I was swimming through maple syrup rather than water and my chest felt like it might explode at any second but I made it to the end.

Laps 9 and 10 were interesting. In case I was vague about this, swimming is hard and I was getting tired. I freestyled laps 9 and 10, my form was shot from fatigue and my thighs were worn out from 10 straight days of martial arts exercise and cross training. So I lost what little kick I had by laps 9 and 10. I was dangerously close to violating rule 1, don't drown. I was so slow that a 6 month old could have out crawled my swim. I labored for those last few meters on each of those laps. But I finished. Without out grace or style but I finished. Lap 9 was worse than 10. I was able to motivate myself on lap 10 with this little mantra, "you can get out at the end, you can get out at the end". It worked I was a little faster. Although, you don't know how much energy you burn until you get out of the pool after a lap. My body was weak, I felt like I got hit by a railroad tie. Just devastated.

But the first rule of exercise is that you will always feel better when you are done. This was also true today.

10 laps = 250 meters. Not bad for day one.