Double and dip

Rock star Friday night.

I didn't have any plans Friday night so I decided I would do my speed run after work and maybe, just maybe, try to swim afterward. I had a great run of descending miles, ending with a 7.0/8:34 mile, which is the fastest I've run on the treadmill for a mile for a long time. Yay!

I haven't swum at this pool in at least three years, maybe longer, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect as far as lessons and busy-ness and the atmosphere of the pool on a Friday night. But there was an empty lane and I settled into a round of mostly kickboard and pull buoy drills, with a couple of freestyle laps just to make sure everything was functioning.

I was afraid not swimming at all in almost a year would make my anxiety kick in, but I did OK. There were a couple of reasons I think why:

1. When I was in the locker room the other day after a run, a mom and little girl were getting ready to get in the pool. The girl kept talking about how scared she was to put her face in the water. Her mom responded in a language I didn't recognize, but I hope she was telling her that the more you do it, the less scary it is. I thought of that little girl as I was swimming, thinking that every lap would be less scary.

2. The pool on a Friday night was ... quite a cast of characters. The guy in the lane next to me looked like he was wearing regular shorts and doggy paddling one length at a time (no judgement on that part; we all start somewhere). There was a guy in another lane trying to impress his girlfriend with underwater flips and hanging out at the very bottom of the pool. I figured if they had the confidence to be in the pool, I surely should, too.

It went OK. I did 2 x 400 with a kickboard, 8 x 100 with a pull buoy, 2 x 50 freestyle, and another 50 with a kickboard to cooldown and make it an even 1750. Not remarkable, but not terrible. I'll take it.

I'm going to try to get into the pool again tomorrow and see how I do. I am really hoping once I swim a couple of times, I'll get right back in the swing of things.

Not counting my kickboard laps. I now have a swim on the official record.