Sunday, August 26, 2012

Nageons, Nageons dans la Grande Piscine

Song Translation "Swimming, Swimming in the Swimming Pool"

Since scoring my free pass to the YMCA I have gone swimming a few times in the 25 meter pool.  The other day I swam in the lane next to a girl I know from Chris' karate classes.  She is known as "Mad Maddi" because she is highly dedicated to everything she does and she does it all to an extreme level of perfection.  

Chris had been talking to her about his swimming adventures (as he stated he "swims like a cat") and she told him she is 1 second off from Olympic qualifying times.  Well how could I pass up a challenge like that when I could compare my speed to an actual swimmer?  I timed myself consistently at 40 seconds per length of the pool.  She set off with two other swimmers in her lane and they each completed their warm-up lengths in 20 seconds.  That is 20 seconds regardless of the stroke they were using - even legs only using a flutter board.  Heck she could glide 1/3 of the pool underwater just from her push-off.

Needless-to-say I tried to keep up and failed miserably (unless I secretly celebrated a win if I beat them to one end of the pool before they could lap back to their starting point).  I did, however, get a really good workout trying to swim faster for a long period of time.  The hot tub after was heaven though for my aching muscles.  I still have a cramp in my buttocks though.  On the upside all this swimming and cycling has taken a half inch off my calf and a half inch off my hips.  Go me!

3 comments:

  1. Hi Amber! Great post. I got a charlie horse in the glutes today, so I relate! It's good to see a high standard at the gym and work off that. I always imagine the person who does the exercise best that I know and then vow to myself to keep that same standard of sheer effort, like you did! Like you explain, it pulls better exercise out of us.

    :-) Marion

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  2. Yay to the hot tub and swimming off inches! I think everything is relative. I am doing wayyyy better than I once was with fitness but no matter how much I improve, the competition I compare myself to just gets steeper. It's good to stop for a second and recognize that compared to people sitting on the couch, we're already light years ahead!

    I also can't rationalize spending money on a gym membership, but when I got free access as a student, the sauna was the only reason why I went most days. Oh how I miss the sauna...

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  3. Great job! Swimming is such a great and fun way to burn some calories. I wish we had a Y closer to where I am, I would definately join.

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