I don't often have a bad swim, but when I do

If you haven't seen the Illuminasia show at the Calgary zoo, check it out. Go. You'll love it. Here's a couple photos.

Lots of different creatures. 366 lanterns, they said. I think we saw them all.

We saw the real tigers too, relaxing. I so much wanted to give them a nice ear scritching. I'm sure they don't get enough of that.

My last swim was Tuesday, sharing the lane, doing 2 K or so. I hadn't thought I overdid it, but I was in pain for yoga the next day. Pain for most of the following days, pain when I did things involving my arms, and breathing. Odd to have pain across the front of your chest. I water ran on Friday, rather than swim.

Swimming today was a clunky floundering floppy wet mess. My arms didn't want to go around. Trying to pull like I normally do, hurt. Breathing hurt. Pushing off the wall hurt my knees and hips, so I didn't go that hard at all. I swam very gently, hoping it would get better, but no, not really. A long time in the hot tub helped.

Saturday involved a gentle run, 4 K, 28 minutes or so, which felt pretty good, for almost all of it. Once it stopped feeling pretty good, I stopped too. I had no reason to push.

Which brings me to today's topic. Knowing when to push, and when to lay back. It's hard to know for sure, but there's a few questions I ask myself:

• What's at stake, both today and as a long term outcome? Obviously you can't slack off every workout and every day at work. But neither can you be out there giving everything you have. Some days are hard, and some days are easy, even if you feel like you could go hard.
• Is this actual painful pain, or the pain of pushing up against boundaries on a hard day, or the "pain" of your body wanting to quit because your mind is bored? Your mind is your biggest asset, and your biggest enemy.
• Are you getting paid? There are a few days I phone it in, but generally when I'm getting paid I'm going to do my best to deliver what they've asked for. Even if it's the wrong thing, at the wrong time, using the wrong process, for the wrong people. As long as I get paid.

So yes, I want to get better swimming. But I don't have a race scheduled, and it really was painful. I'm pretty sure it isn't a heart attack; that would be over much more quickly. I'm not getting paid to swim.

Someone suggested I was carrying the work stress and that was affecting workout recovery, even though I don't have as much at stake as some I know. This could be true, I suppose.

Linda has been working on the garden in the lovely weather. Out front she essentially pried up all the plants very carefully, and added more good soil. They probably aren't very happy about it, but this is the time of year for that. She also planted a ton of bulbs, but you can't see them.

There's supposed to be a super full moon lunar eclipse tonight. Moonrise is soon. So is bedtime.