Exercise

Except for a 1 month break during the summer, Maria and I have been swimming every weekday morning, and I’m quite proud of our progress.

In January, we could barely make 1 half-lap of a 25 yard pool without being totally out of breath. Maria was very scared–she could barely swim–and she would only do kickboard stuff at first.  I was a complete goof, and the thought of doing even a full 25-yard stint frankly scared me.  I couldn’t coordinate my movements, I couldn’t breathe properly, and everything felt like a struggle.  I honestly didn’t know if we’d make it out of January still swimming.

I did a quarter mile worth of laps in a pool.  Holy crap!

Maria is now on a summer swim team, racing other kids her age.  Holy crap!

Got a good pair of goggles at Costco, and my breathing patterns are better, if only my cardio would come along with it.

So, Maria and I are swimming.

Maria tends to take after me, in that she can look at food and gain weight, and she rather enjoys food.  We both eat our emotions, and emotions we have aplenty.

Right after the new year, I noticed just how crotchety I felt, even at 36 years old.  My back hurt constantly, I had little energy, I couldn’t deal with stress, etc.  Maria was enrolled in swim classes last year and we found out she had limited range-of-motion in her right arm, basically from atrophy.

Contrary to popular opinion, I can swim.

I actually took snorkeling lessons in 3rd grade and was utterly “into” SCUBA-diving.  I loved the water.

However, I got awfully used to having swim fins, a buoyancy compensator, and a mask on.  Read: I got lazy.  Free swimming just didn’t interest me, so I never learned to swim properly: diving, the basic 4 strokes, etc.

So, serendipity arrived this new year when Maria’s PT announced that she needed to work-out, every day and that she needed to swim.

Exercise reports: Jogged most of the way around the site today, finally slowing to a cooldown walk when I was 100 yards from my building. Felt just awesome! I didn’t go fast at all, but the equilibrium I felt moving, sweating, pumping, breathing was nice.

Didn’t overdo, and treated myself to some nummy protein–Double w/cheese from Wendy’s–afterwards.

I’ll probably be sore, but I’m trying to develop a good habit of jogging M-W-F. Definitely wanting to lose some weight and get back into the shape I was in 1999-2000, when I was cycling 10 miles a day and running for 50 minutes at a time. Hard to believe, looking at me now :-)