Back in the Pool

  Today I went back in to the pool for the first time in a year. Before Benjamin was born I used to go down to our community pool and swim laps as an alternative to the biking and running. It was a great cardio workout.

  Back in high school I use to swim a lot as the sole diver on the school swim team. It was lot of hard work but very fun. Our practices usually started off with a 500 yard warm up. Then we would have other exercises with varying yardage for the remainder of the two hour practice.

  So today I decided to give my legs a bit of a rest and head back to the pool to swim today's workout. I told myself that if I could complete the 500 I would be satisfied. I felt that getting 500 yards in was decent for someone who hadn't swam laps in a year. It'd give me a good entry back in to the swim of things (pun intended).

  I started out the set a little sluggish and slowly worked in to my pace. By the time I kick turned at 300 I felt good. So much in fact that I almost forgot where I was in my routine. 

  You see with swimmers there's a lot of thinking time involved in workouts. When you go out on a run you can put on some good tunes or a favorite podcast to pass the time. Not really an option underwater (although they do now make waterproof headsets and cases for iPods). All that you have are your thoughts.

  I think about many things swimming. "Did I mail off the power bill? Shoot we're out of bunny food. I've got a great idea for a movie." Swimming allows you to get out all of the stupid stuff in your head.

  So here I was now kick turning 800 yards and still going strong. I felt great. I had a good pace going. My breathing was efficient. The only thing truly stopping me from going to 1,500 was time. I had to pickup Benjamin at school in a little over an hour and I was starving. "What do I feel like fixing for lunch? We've got that sliced turkey breast..." See what I mean about thinking time.

  I completed 1,000 yards and called it a day. Over half a mile of swimming I felt was beyond my expectations for the first time back. As I walked around the pool in the 68-degree water I remembered that back in high school we used to do somewhere between 2,000-2,500 yards in a practice. Not what I used to do back in the day but that day was 20 years ago. Man that sounds old. I guess at this point I should feel fortunate I didn't forget to breathe.