Day 8. Swim (5.9797)

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Day 8 of 8

...Felt sleepy after a long day, but went to the gym for a workout and it woke me up....

I

was up early today, extremely active and busy. By the late afternoon I was a bit drowsy and sleepy. I had thoughts of not going to the gym. Brief thoughts. But not going would mean adding more weeks to get back to my long-term average of 6.00 so I went and I'm glad I did. After a lap or two I was awake again. The exercise snapped me out of it.

Since it's Saturday, it's a swim day. The pool for lap swims doesn't open until 17h30--that's a late time in the day for my workout, but so be it.

Normally I might do 20 to 25 laps. Today I did 30 laps and was in the water for 30 mins. I think that's a record. I'm not a fast swimmer, but not terrible either, and I think because I've been swimming once a week since the end of May 2008, my body has adjusted to swimming and it's gotten easier. Easier to hold my breath. Easier to do lap after lap.

Since it's Valentine's Day, there weren't many people in the pool. That's good. No getting banged from other people as they swim by in the same lane.

One woman came in as I did. She's single, late thirties, fit, attractive, blonde. I've seen her many times in the fitness room using the cardio machines, lifting weights, but I had never seen her in the pool. After one lap I realized why. She's not a good swimmer. Have you ever seen a three-toed sloth in water? Just like that. She strapped a floatation belt around her waist. She paddled with a flutter board. Her legs swished and banged and created a big torrent of water, yet she barely advanced. I finished two laps while she barely finished one. At one point she said to me, "I can run marathons, but I can't swim." Very odd. Also very self-conscious of her. So what if she can't swim. I should have asked her how often she swims and assure her she'll get better with practice.

I've been swimming all my life, in all sorts of bodies of waters and conditions. I'm like a seal when it comes to water. And I love it. I'm surprised I don't swim more often. I guess I don't because I feel it's a good enough workout but it is. 30 mins of swimming. Heart rate around 120 bpm. That's a cardio workout.

So that's eight days in a row. My long-term average is now 5.9797--so close to 5.98 and only 22 days away from 6.00.

Since Jan 1 I have missed 5 days out of 45 for an average of 6.2222 days per week. It would have been higher had I not been sick for three days.

Posted 2009/02/14 at 19h33ET in Exercise.