The water feel is coming back! I had a few days out of the pool. You know, Christmas, Boxing Day. Minor distractions. Then Wednesday I had a few good laps.
It didn't quite work out to swim in the morning, but I walked from Talisman (the company) to Talisman (the pool) after finishing up. I was pretty pleased. There was something that I thought was going to take all day and be prone to errors, but I figured out a way of doing it in less than 2 hours, with much less chance of errors. Yay me!
The pool was a bit more crowded but still I had a lane to myself. Right from the start I relaxed and had the feel. I can see the digital pace clock after turning, and was keeping a pretty steady pace. There was no plan. I relaxed, and chatted with my inner shark. He liked some of the scenery, and definitely likes the new pool. I didn't really think about time, other than noting that every 50 was quicker than a minute. I didn't think about breathing, because I wasn't breathing hard. I didn't really think about my arms working, because they were just going around as my body slid forward. There was no effort involved, just catching the water, relaxing, and going with the flow. There was some thinking about prey, but that's the inner shark talking.
After a while I wondered how long I'd been swimming, since Linda was coming to get me, and I didn't want her waiting long. I looked at my watch and realized I had one more lap for 1000 m. There had been a couple moments where I was starting to lose it, but I managed to relax and get the flow and feel back. The 1000 took 19:25, and felt easier than all the previous swims for the last couple weeks. Even Wednesday I struggled and barely did 500 m before things started falling apart and getting slow and sloppy.
So I'm a happy puppy about that. It's still well off my pace from earlier this year, but the feel is more important than pace at the moment. After the K, I did 5x 50 on 1:15. Last week that turned into gasp city and struggling to be any quicker than 55 seconds. Today they were all under 50 seconds and the fastest was 45 seconds. Yes, I'm happy about that too. Progress. A little bit of dolphin kick and some backstroke and cool down finished it off.
We watched Inception tonight, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Recent "action" movies bore me. In fact, almost all Hollywood films bore me because they are so predictable. This wasn't boring. It's an interesting story, and you have to pay attention. I sort of assumed it was all going to come out ok, but the road to get there was fascinating.
It's so important to find a routine that works well - in your case at a different pool. Glad to hear the shark is happy.
ReplyDeleteWill have to see how swimming there goes, but so far so good. One never really knows with inner sharks.
ReplyDeleteI love how you are describing the swimming...reminds me of the first time you *finally* execute that dance move that's been so difficult before. Love it!
ReplyDeleteTalking about Inception, if you go back and watch the first part of the movie again...it's even more awesome. Coz everything finally clicks. At least to me (and I can be a bit slow about these things). Kris felt this movie should have gotten a Best Movie Oscar over "The King's Speech".
At least with swimming there isn't someone else there to mess you up, unless the person in the next lane is a jerk.
ReplyDeleteHappy New year, Keith! It's so rewarding to feel good in the pool. What kind of prey were you thinking about? That line made me giggle.
ReplyDeleteI did not like Inception. Too sci-fi for me. But the rest of the free world loved it, so they must be on to something.
Hi Katie, hope your new year lives up to your expectations. It should be quite a ride. My inner shark says "kinds of prey? there are different kinds?"
ReplyDeleteI can see where you'd have to be in the mood for Inception, and it could get confusing really quickly. I'm not a big Leo fan, though he was good in the Howard Hughes movie, but he was pretty good here.