Swimming

Mother Nature has decided that she herself is funnier than Mel Brooks, and tried another April Fool's dump of snow yesterday. This time, I had planned ahead and come up with an alternative cardio regime: swimming!

I've never been the strongest swimmer, and frankly, I get nervous about having my head in water. I watch people glide along, calmly and without thrashing about, and envy their poise and lack of worry. But I have one person on my side, another non-swimming swimmer over at Running Mania. She has reassured me that no, just because 25 meters of freestyle makes me breathless does not mean I'm in worse shape than I thought.

Anyways, I went into the pool, wearing my new goggles (love them!) and old swim cap and my blue swimsuit, and did about 300 meters. Frankly, that's a lot more than I expected to be able to do. It helped that an older guy came into the pool and started those long, lazy strokes that make me feel like I've never been in water; finally I had something to compete against!

I also quickly found that backstroke is my best friend because then, I can breathe! I did a lot of backstroke yesterday. I also decided to try making it across two lengths with the power of my legs alone! And did it!

Today, my upper arms, right below the shoulder, are very sore. My back is quite stiff too, though I figure it could certainly feel worse.

As an all-body work-out and a new and novel one, swimming is definitely up there. I just need more practice!