Wet Stuff

On the weekend I rediscovered my love of swimming.

The last time I tried to swim laps in a pool was over six months ago, and it didn’t go well. I managed 2 x 50 metres and could barely breathe by the time I’d finished, which is why I’ve shied away from the pool as a place of exercise, and I’ve focused on treadmills and group fitness classes.  

The youngest step daughter, who I’ll refer to as Monkey, had wanted to go swimming the last time she was at our house, but we didn’t go. So on Saturday morning we packed the swimming gear, and schlepped seventy five minutes to Angaston in South Australia to watch my eldest step daughter play netball, and to collect Monkey for the weekend.

She was very excited about going swimming, she’s a real water baby and tries very hard to swim well, which, to be fair, is improving – she’s only seven.

I decided to take some time to myself and try swimming laps again. I opted for the slow lane because my preferred style is breaststroke, and I know I’m not a fast swimmer. My expectations were not high, I thought I’d do three laps in the 25 meter pool and be just about done. To my surprise, I swan 400 meters, and it felt pretty comfortable. I could have gone further, but one of the other swimmers came off as a bit strange, with his one eye and odd swimming style, but I’m sure he just had a disability. The thing was, every time I swam past him in the opposite direction he’d say ‘give us a massage’.

Yeah. Ok.

This strangeness combined with five Asian students completely ignoring the lane etiquette started to annoy me, so I finished up and got out. Regular swimmers will be aware of what Lane Etiquette is. It’s basically rules around how you should swim in a shared lane – rules such as ‘don’t swim too close to someone in front of you, pass them; if you find you’re going much faster than others, move into the next speed group; swim up one side and down the other – that sort of thing. 

As I stood by the side of the pool annoyed at the interruption, I was pleased with myself. I’d managed to swim further than I have in years. I know it doesn’t sound like a long way, but for me it was an achievement, and I’ve decided to try and fit at least one swimming session into my week, and for my next visit I’m going to attempt swimming a kilometre. I've also done some research on the internet to find a program to help improve swimming fitness. I have to admit, I haven't found a lot, but the 12WBT forums have been a good source tips and suggestions.

It also reminded me that I should try anything I want to try, because I might just surprise myself by being better at it than I think. So, don’t be afraid to try things you want you, the worst that will happen is that you might not be very good, but at least you’ll know, and have a benchmark to work from.

The best that will happen, is that you just might kick butt – literally.