3/4 mile, 50 minutes

Made plans to swim, and followed through. I realized today that, like so many other things in my life, if I want to swim, I need to not just want to, think about it, make vague plans to--I need to schedule it. And that scheduling my lunch hour for swimming means I need to go at the right time (lap swim is technically 11:45-12:30, a smallish window, although as a keyholder, I can go when I want as long as I don't swim alone), and make plans to have a lunch ready.

(Today's lunch is leftover Malay Asian Express, yum.)

I felt so good doing 1/2 mile last time I swam that I thought I could maybe do 3/4 mile today, given that I got there early enough (about 11:50) and had the time. But when I first got in the water, I felt pretty tired. I have been shorting my sleep time lately and have really been feeling it.

I do a lot of math in the water, which tends to help me keep track of how many laps I'd done. If a mile is 72 laps (and curiously, opinions vary--some say 66), then 3/4 mile is 54 laps. So as I swim, I compare the number of laps I've done with 54 to figure out how far I am. It tends to go like "OK, 33 laps. That's 3 * 11, and 54 is about 5 * 11, so when I'm done with this lap, I'll be about 3/5 done with my workout." Sometimes I divide the numbers to see what percentage I've done. If I don't do this, I lose track and can easily be off by 4 laps--100 yards--either way.

Well, once I was 1/4 the way to being done with the workout (the goal of 3/4 mile), I felt really good and was making good time. I take about an hour to swim a mile at my best, and I've been swimming at that rate lately (1/2 mile = 30 mins last time), so having about 3/4 hour of pool time available meant I could do it.

I had my own lane the whole time, which was odd--the weather is great (although yesterday was sprinkly and a bit chilly): sunny, a sprinkling of fluffy clouds, a tiny wind. Usually I have to share at least part of the time. I've noticed that it is usually the women swimmers who get asked to share. I do this too; I've been kicked hard by enough men to tend not to want to share a lane with one. They don't mean to, but they are less careful than the women, it seems. (One guy had long toenails--ouch!)

I'm really glad I went and will schedule a day next week to swim, too. It'd be nice to fit in two, but Thursdays are always out and things can be tough... then again, I don't have my usual lunch or walk date with my friend Lisa, so I probably can.

There, done. Tuesday and Friday it is.