Keeping my head above water

I started swimming in November. I have had a few lessons in the past but could never seem to get it. I considered myself a sinker (no T in that). I couldn’t swim 25 meters (one length) without stopping midway to gasp and pant.

In the past, I’d try to learn and would give up as soon as whatever had stopped me from running was resolved. But in November, I decided it was time I really learned. I’d been off running for a full year and though I was starting to run again, I knew I could have been doing a lot to stay in shape if only I had known how to swim. I would not be starting at such a deficit.

So, I decided I had to put my money where my mouth was. I plunked down five hundred smackeroos on Ironman Florida next November. Within one year, I would have to be able to swim 2.5 miles or become shark bait off the coast of Panama City. [Don’t worry Mom, there will be no sharks around with that many swimmers and they have many boats and also divers underwater to fetch any ill-prepared swimmers]

A week ago, Guy and I were swimming at EPIC the local pool and ice arena. Guy made the novel suggestion to see just how slowly I could swim without sinking like a stone. He suggested I use this to try to swim 100 meters. So I did. By the time I finished the 100 meters, I was laughing at how ridiculous I felt going so slow but how successful it was. I decided to challenge myself to add 50 meters every time I swim.

Wednesday at work my friend Eve stopped by. Eve had been giving me some early coaching in December and knew what a miserable swimmer I was; good technique, lousy endurance. I told Eve of my progress. She was happy for me but was not impressed with my plan to add 50 meters. She challenged me to swim 250 in the morning. So, I did. In fact, I did 300. Seems I do well with these challenges.

Today Guy and I headed back to the pool. We went to my gym for the saline pool as the pulmonologist suggested I stay away from the chlorine. However, the pool was full of little old ladies doing water aerobics. So we drove to EPIC for a workout. When we arrived we were greeted by a sign saying the pool was closed for the weekend for a swim meet. By now the aerobics class would be over so we went back to 24 fitness. Now the pool was filled with swimmers who, like us, had been waiting for the class to end. Foiled again!

Next we tried the Mulberry Pool. This city has a lot of pools. Mulberry is obviously older and caters to the small swimmer. There is a large slide complex in one end and lanes in the other. The locker room was innundated with half-pints screaming, crying, and otherwise throwing tantrums. I arrived at poolside on the verge of a headache.

Guy immediately started challenging me to push my workout beyond learning the basics. After a warmup we swam 5 repeats of 50 meters. I did mine every 1.5 minutes. We repeated the set after a few minutes. He wanted to do 100s next but I wanted to do my 400 meters so that I would meet my goal of increasing by 50 meters every time I swim. So we did that next. Then we did 100s every 2:45 but I only had enough juice left for 2 of them followed by a 50. I finished up with a very long gentle warm down to finish out 2000 meters.

Progress!