Just when you thought you were fit…

Exercise today:

(13/2/13)

Cycling to work and back 8miles

Swimming – 45 minutes (mixture of front crawl, using the flutterboard front and back, and breast stroke) under the watchful eye of Claire the swim instructor.

Did three lengths of a 25 m pool was so puffed out – not fit not swim fit any way :p but kept on going.  Prior to the class I had freaked myself out completely by worrying about everything associated with going to the pool and the lesson.  I spent the last two hours of my work day calming my heart rate down.  You are ment to make goals that scare and excite you at the same time – well I had the scared bit down pat.  If I had to think about and I did because at least one little part of my brain was going this fear is irrational you know you can swim – obviously not a long way or very fast but you know you wont drown in 1.2 metres of water – suck it up and just do it.  And then there was another part of my brain going hmmm it looks like you’re making plans to do something with a significant potential to fail – that’s uber scary – you might want to just say it’s too hard and not try at all and then failure wont be an option.  And that’s what it came down to I was scared about failing and I had to remind myself that if something I want to do doesn’t challenge me, it wont change me – I wont get better and I wont move forward and meet my goals.

So I sucked it up – ran for the 6.23pm bus – which didn’t turn up – grrr, (another opportunity to go home and sit on the couch) but I didn’t I got on the bus with the slowest bus driver ever, walked on the uber slippery slush/ice/mud covered footpaths and got to the pool with five minutes to spare.  You know I wouldn’t have thought I could get changed and pool ready in 3 minutes flat – but what do you know – anything is possible when properly motivated!  The range of people sitting on the side of the pool went from young to old, complete beginners to people like me who want to improve their mad swim skills.

Claire initially watched us from the side of the pool then got in with us.  Her first point was that she noticed that when I take a breath I lifted my head up and then to the side which pushed my bum down in the water slowing me down.  She said my kick was good but could be improved – swim from the hips – floppy feet floppy feet, and make sure my toes came out of the water.  Two laps later of almost drowning attempting not to lift my head when breathing and I was quite puffed!  So I found a flutterboard (yay! flutterboards are o for awesome) and dutifully practiced my kicking making splashes behind me – forward facing for one length, on my back for the next length.  I then gave using the flutterboard as a float so I could practice the taking a breath on the side without lifting my head which I think was a good exercise – breathing and staying horizontal is a lot harder than it looks.

It is kinda cool to watch yourself go sailing past in the skylight of the complex – although concentrating on your legs makes them look even more spastic than they already were. Dodging the nice Indian man who seemed not to be able to swim in a straight line was easier said than done and ending up running into him twice with him going “Sorry, Sorry” and continuing on his way.  Me I just spat out the water I inhaled and kept on going.   My only complaint was I kept on getting cramp which isnt normal for me when I do other sports – I just assume it was because I hadn’t asked my body to do this kind of work in a long, long time and it had issues.

By the end of the session (I had to run for my bus – slipped over in the mud – such a girl sometimes I squealed eww – promptly pulled my scarf off and removed every trace of mud from my hand) got back up raced across the road (as much as you can in icy conditions) and down to the bus stop just in time to catch the bus.  I got home and thought to myself that my arms and chest/back muscles would be sore tomorrow.  But that was okay cause I just had my first swimming lesson and enjoyed it far more than I thought I would.

PS: The arms were only very slightly sore today – thats a massive difference to how I felt last time I went for a swim almost four years ago now!! Swimming FTW!