swimming

[hnpcc]

I've been to the pool three times in the last two weeks. Perfect weather for it, even if my local council decided to close our local pool and turn it into an aquatic centre - just before the financial crisis. So now we have no local pool, and likely no aquatic centre. (The council has managed to find funding to continue expanding its offices though, naturally.) Shame really, they'd probably have raked it in over the last couple of weeks.

So I've been to the local University pool instead. This was one of the main reasons I joined the University gym - that and it was cheap. How long we stay will depend on what it looks like in term time, but for now it's very empty and mostly quiet.

The first time I went to the pool it was almost empty. Three of us were swimming laps, and we had a lane each, which was nice. There were some kids playing on the ropes and mats at the side, but that was it. I realised when I got there that I didn't have goggles, so spent most of the time doing breaststroke. I think I have officially gotten old - it was always the little old ladies that used to breaststroke up and down when I was growing up. I haven't yet bought a floral bathing cap though, so there's still some hope. I did a couple of laps of freestyle, but discovered that (a) I am seriously less fit than I was the last time I did this and (b) my claustrophobia appears to have extended to being unable to see when my head is temporarily in the water. Honestly, my brain was going "OMG! Can't see! Can't breathe! OMG! OMG! OMG!" Weird, it never used to do that.

The second time I went was on the first of the warm days, and unsurprisingly there were a lot more people in the pool. This time I ended up swimming in the "fast" lap lane - the "slow" lane had two people who were quite literally beginners and a toddler and parent, the "medium" had three guys who were posing and splashing around, but not actually swimming. They irritated me to the point that I hopped into the fast lane - I don't think they were actually looking at me (yeah, right, the old fat bag) or anything, they were just posing for their mates as it were, but given that I had to keep avoiding them every time I reached that end I decided it was quicker just to leave them to it and join the fit looking people (and annoy them instead.) As it turned out the fit looking people swam about the same rate I did, so it was good. I also bought goggles and discovered that I was still unfit, but that the claustrophobia diminished when I could see clearly. My brain is odd. I still can't do more than about 150m of freestyle without needing a short break though, which is bad.

The third time was also a hot day - heh, all of last week was "a hot day"! Dean went off to do a workout in the gym, I went to see if I could manage more than 150m of freestyle at a time. Nope, but I can reduce the breaks a bit. I also need to work on my strokes a bit more, as I seem to be not travelling in a straight line - more noticeable when I'm doing backstroke, but still apparent after 20m when I'm doing freestyle. Breaststroke is about the only thing I can do in a straight line. The kids were back in force over on the ropes/slides part, but the lap lanes were surprisingly empty. I settled on medium, after watching the guy in the fast lane butterfly his way up and down for 4 laps without stopping, and with proper turns at the end. I can't butterfly to save myself, for some reason (OK, lifesaving purposes) the AustSwim program focused on sidestroke rather than butterfly when I was learning, and even when I was actually training in year 10 I never learned it properly. I'm all sound and fury, with very little forward motion. So I concentrated on the freestyle/breaststroke again. And then ran afterwards in the gym - nice having the water dripping off my hair to cool me down quickly!

I love swimming, which I blame partly on my Chinese horoscope (water rat) and partly on having lived most of my life in a culture and climate that actively promotes it. I'm the wrong build for racing, but I can manage to get up and down OK, and I love the feel of the water, the smell of salt or chlorine (or even, occasionally, freshwater), the sense of weightlessness. It's interesting then, that I haven't actually done very much of it for the last 14 years - almost entirely attributable to shame about my body shape. I'm not sure what's changed in the last year, but it seems I don't care any more if other people are looking at me.

Maybe I should buy the floral cap.

Comments

[vestalvagrant.livejournal.com]

When I went shopping for bathers this summer I almost bought a pair with a little skirt across the front, because I couldn't find anything else in my new massive bathers size with a low-cut leg. I would have expected all the plus size bathers to have low-cut legs, but KMart must think larger women want to show off their fantastic thighs.

[hnpcc]

No, it's so we can gross out the teenagers with our unlikely personification of beauty. ;-)

[vestalvagrant.livejournal.com]

That reminds me of waddling past snogging teenagers during my third trimester. I felt like a public service announcement.

[valamelmeo.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't mind swimming if it wasn't for the having to be wet and all, which I also tend to blame on my horoscope (metal rooster, and aries to boot). Actually I don't mind while I'm in the water, it's the being damp for an hour afterwards that gets to me. I also appear to be the wrong build for swimming in general. I don't float. Or rather I do float, but 6-8 inches below the surface of every body of water I've ever tried to float in (I've never tried salt water, though). It was a neat trick when I was a kid, but I honestly hope my swimming skills are never the difference between life and death.