First 1 hr swim in a long time

After feeling kind of down yesterday, I was in the mood for a nice long relaxing swim. There was hardly anyone in the pool, and my usual lane had only one other guy in it, and he's great to share a lane with. I started off by swimming most of the first length under water with a strong kick, then surfaced with an unusually smooth sharky stroke and breath. That got me in the groove. The water was a bit warm, and the pool seemed shorter than normal.

About two laps in I finally figured out why the inside of my right elbow has been hurting when I'm swimming. We all normally swim anti-clockwise laps, so it's very natural to grab the wall with my right hand for the turn. What I normally do is grab the lip with the tips of my fingers, and pull down and in. That helps me tuck my feet and and turn. Well, the other end of that muscle anchors to the inside of the elbow bone, and it's been giving me hell lately. So I was changing how I grab the ends, which means my turns weren't quite as smooth as usual. I suppose I'll have to learn tumble turns.

I settled into a nice strong steady pace, 19 or 20 strokes per length. Buddy went away, and another regular was in for a while, then she went away too. I was having a good time communing with my inner shark. I'd had a Cliffs bar that was left over from my aborted bike ride yesterday before the swim, so I had lots of energy. We were just going back and forth, hanging out, being smooth. He was telling shark jokes.

Like,
What is sharks favorite James Joyce novel? Finigan's Wake.

And,
What are sharks favourite creature from Star Wars? Jawas.

And,
Why do sharks make terrible lawyers? They're too nice!

And,
Which shark works in the construction industry? The Hammerhead.

And,
What do you get when you cross a shark with an opera singer? Something that eats up critics.

And,
Why do sharks live in salt water? Because pepper makes them sneeze.

I wasn't looking at my watch at all, so I have no idea the pace I was at, but I'm guess about 2 min/100, till about the 45 minute mark. I started slowing down a bit after the last person got out of the lane. I'd been chasing her a bit, wanting to lap her, but she kept being too considerate and stopping to let me by. At the 1 hour and 33 second mark I stopped, stretched a bit, and hopped out. I should have checked my heart rate. Breathing like that during a run would be about 115 to 120 bpm.

My kick felt strong, and I didn't get the temporary foot cramp that I usually get about the 50 min mark. I'm pleased with the swim, and found it relaxing, both mentally and physically. In between the jokes, my inner shark reminded me that even the best hunter sharks sometimes don't catch anything, and that it's important not to change the things that you know work. When things are going good, you go with the flow, and chomp lots of nice juicy seals. When things aren't going so good you relax, and stop trying so hard. Cruise along, the prey will come.