Back in the Pool

I mentioned in yesterday's post that I went swimming twice last weekend.

Friday morning, Doug and I headed to the pool. It was my first time in the water since September. I had no expectations and one goal.

Swim, pull and kick my way through 1500m. No more. Hopefully no less.

I fell easily back into my locker room routine and managed to get to the pool without forgetting anything or showing up with my jacket still on. Bathing suit, swim cap, goggles, flip flops, emergency carbs and electrolyte drink - check, check, check, check, check, check.

I grabbed a pull boy and board en route and showed up looking like a swimmer if not exactly feeling like one. I half expected someone to ask what I was doing there.

No one did.

I broke my swim up into 50m sections and set a goal to do 35 of them. I swam for five, pulled for five, kicked for five and repeated over and over until I did 34. It felt good to be back in there but, despite being 'in shape' from all the other activities in my life, I felt very out of swimming shape. My arms and legs tired quickly and the pulling and kicking was good for giving different parts of my body a rest.

I saved the last 50m for a very leisurely breast stroke and headed home.

Sunday, I headed back on my own with one goal - swim 2000m. No less.

The second time was easier and much less of a shock to my muscles. I did the same routine of swimming, pulling and kicking for 1450m but then cut that short on a whim. I was nice and warmed up and not too exhausted so I decided to see how I could handle 4x100m sprints. I decided to do them on 2:30 to give myself a decent amount of rest and was grateful that there was no one left in my lane.

I waited until the red hand reached the top of the clock and I pushed off. I pushed hard all the way through despite the fatigue that quickly weighed down my arms. As I hit the wall I looked at the clock. One minute and forty-five seconds! Not bad. There was a time when I couldn't break 1:50 no matter how hard I pushed. (There was also a time when I could do 1:35 but I wasn't worried about that.)

I did the other three in 1:48, 1:50 and 1:50.

I cooled down for 150m and got out, feeling much more like a swimmer than I did on Friday.

On the way out I signed up for the next Masters swim session that starts this week. I'm not exactly at that level yet but I figure there will be plenty of folks coming out of the woodwork to prepare for the 2015 triathlon season. Might as well join them.