Spit out yer gum!

My thinking is not always clear before a morning workout. Today without realizing it I climbed into the pool with my gum in my mouth. Why I was chewing gum at 5:30am is unknown to me, I don't remember popping it in my mouth. I realized it quickly, not even halfway down the pool. Now I have run with gum and never had a problem, when I get sick of it I spit it out. I've been on the elliptical with gum and again no issues. I was suddenly disgusted by the fact that my gum was covered in pool water. It completely skeeved me out. Again makes no sense, pool water is always in my mouth, it's part of having to breathe in the water. For some reason I didn't have it in me to swallow this gum that had now been contaminated by the pool. I was into a 20 lap series so couldn't really climb out and find a trash can and there was no way this toxic piece of gum was going to end up neatly placed on my flip flop at the end of the pool. I toyed with the idea of spitting it out in the pool but thought that would be a ticket straight to hell, if I was going to do that I might as well just start peeing in the pool! This distraction lasted my entire workout, at times causing periods of panic. If nothing else a distraction to the workout it's self. And I will admit to the most disgusting part of this story when the workout was finally complete and I walked by the trash I realized that my gum was gone. I have no recollection of swallowing it, nor did I intentionally "loose it" in the pool but it was gone. I'm completely grossed out and learned a valuable lesson: no gum in the pool.

Yards swam today: 1600

Just a granola bar

I'll admit, I had pushed off getting back into the pool this week. After our last work out I felt pretty terrible afterwards. Being so new to swimming it was hard to figure out why, if it was related to just the length of the workout or something else. But the stubborn ass in me has decided that unless instructed otherwise by my mid-wife, I'm finishing the mile. I think it was a pretty easy fix though, a granola bar on the way to the pool. We got right in and took the workout easy and the aftermath was much more pleasant. No nausea, no dizziness, no feelings of complete exhaustion and the workout itself felt better. Starting with an easy 20 laps, followed by 4x100 and 4x50. One more swim tomorrow then we begin the final week, granola bars in hand! Would it be too much to ask for a crowd with sparkly signs to be present for the mile?

Yards swam today: 1600

Now with a rotisserie chicken...

There are now only 5 workouts between myself and the elusive mile. Tonight's workout started with 20 long laps. And surprisingly things felt good, that was the beginning of the end. Following the 20 was 4x100 then 4x50 and those last 2 parts were hellish. The hardest part of the 20 lapper was keeping track of where we were. My concentration sucks at baseline right about now and counting to 20 over a 30 minute period is nearly impossible. I did feel better after realizing Joe was as unsure of our count as I was. After an 8 breath break we started in on the 100's. All I can compare these swim workouts is to imagine going for a nice 3-4 mile run, feeling great. You finish the run and are accomplished, things are working like they should be. You want to stop but then you climb onto the track and do half a Bob/Jon workout. It's brutal, just brutal. Now add 30lbs and a rotisserie chicken in your belly, you get my point. I do understand the madness, those 100's and 50's have helped each week when our larger swim gets longer and longer at the start. I keep reminding my self 1 down and only 5 to go but man it's getting tough.

Yards swam today: 1600

Watch out now!

After a week’s vacation from the pool and other forms of exercise, we dragged ourselves into the water this morning. I found that swimming like running, feels good after a bit of a break. But I really think today’s awesomeness was less about the break and more about my brand spanking new goggles. I had a pregnancy moment last week before we took off and my old trusty pair are now missing. It was a hidden gift. These new ones have transformed me into the female Michael Phelps. I’m not kidding; I cut through the water like a hot knife going through butter. The tinted lenses make me look cool even in my tent of a bathing suit. People were stopping to stare, well not really but they are really nice. It did hit me though that we are close to the mile and I’m starting to believe that we are going to be able to finish it!

Yards swam today: 1550