Through the Back Loop

Adventures in knitting, fiber arts, and family.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

EyeGahValt!

We arrived at the pool, and I was ready to get in and start my first true swim practice in about 18 years. When I came out of the shower room, both lanes that had been set aside for lap swimmers were filled by other people. DH said I should just get in there and start my practice, but I hadn't done this in so many years, and I didn't know these people. Surely they would be done with their workouts before the pool closed in two hours. An hour later they were still in there, and now a 4th swimmer had joined them. I sat shivering in the water, not wanting to waste my energy before my workout. Finally, I decided I needed to start or else I wouldn't finish before pool closing. I asked the nice man if I could share his lane. "Of course," he replied. This was it.

I started with a 300 yard warm up. 300 yards is 12 laps. I haven't swam more than 2 laps without stopping since high school. I was pretty nervous. Instead of swimming it all freestyle, I decided to swim the odd numbered laps freestyle and the even numbered laps breast stroke to be able to rest a little bit. It worked. I was so pumped that I could swim 12 laps, even if I had to change the workout a little. Next came the 100s. Six of them, with 45 seconds rest in between. As the workout went on, my breathing became better, and I wasn't feeling exhausted. This was great! I could do it! Next was the kicking and pulling reps. Again, it felt great, and I was sticking to the practice just as it had been written, except for changing every even numbered lap to be breast stroke instead of freestyle. The last part was the 50s. 4 sets of 2 laps each. On the way down I was supposed to take it easy and really push it for the last lap, rest one minute and do it again. I knew I could do it. I pushed off of the wall, having decided that this time I would swim both laps in freestyle, after all, I had a whole minute to rest in between. The first lap felt good, I was cruising and getting ready for the big push. I did my turn and turned on all the power I had. It felt like I was a high school student on the swim team again... I was motoring, until OUCH! EyeGahValt! Double charlie-horses! OH MY GOD did that hurt. I reeled up in the middle of the lap, gasping in pain, managed to get to the wall and try to stretch out the charlie-horse. I told my husband that this had never happened to me before. DH sat with a grin and said, "You know, you're not that young anymore". He's lucky I didn't drown him. I finished the last 3 50s without pushing as hard, and did my cool down. Overall, I'm pleased that I could follow the workout pretty closely to how it was written. When it was time to get out of the pool, though, the lifeguards had to call SeaWorld to borrow their whale lift to get me out of the pool, I could hardly stand up. All day on Wednesday, my legs felt like jello. I go for my next practice on Saturday.

Knitting news

I finished the first baby cap for the little grandson. Here it is:


and here it is on a cute stuffed animal:


I showed it to the grandmother, and she said that I was right. It was too small. EyeGahValt! I started a new one that will be bigger, and this one I gave to a friend who's nephew just had a newborn boy diagnosed with a hearing loss. I'm a teacher for students with hearing losses, and I think it's sweet that this little boy will wear my cap over his ears.

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