June 18, 2010 by Amy
Oh, so that’s what you’ve been doing…
Many apologies for neglecting to post any photographs lately. You see, I’ve become a mermaid. Or something like that.
Since my BFF signed me up for a damn sprint triathlon that is now less than a month away (remind me why she’s my BFF again?) I thought I better, you know, see if I could actually swim. So Stef went to the pool with me and taught me some basics, and held my hand (figuratively) while I began to paddle.
What I had been dreading for months turned out to be so not what I expected. Turns out I actually love swimming. Love love love it. Will continue to do it after the tri. I mean, I’m absolutely no good at it (Michael Phelps will not be recruiting me for the Olympic swim team anytime soon), but it’s a great workout and I enjoy it.
Unfortunately, my muscles aren’t enjoying it so much. They voice their displeasure by cramping up at the most inopportune times. Like, in the middle of a lap. First one foot goes, then maybe the calve, and before you know it the other foot and leg join in. A quartet of cramps, a choir of charlie horses. It’s getting better, though. Monday night everything cramped up. Tuesday night most of it cramped up. Tonight only one foot and a calve cramped up. I call that progress. Despite the cramping, I managed to get 31 laps in, which is good because I need to do the equivalent of 36 laps for the tri. I’d have done all 36 tonight but I ran out of time, and I ran out of time because I had to keep stopping to rub out muscle cramps.
I guess swimming works different muscles than running, because I pound out 2.33 miles every morning on the treadmill and have no issues. Then I hit the water and yikes!
Anyway, I’ll be back at it tomorrow night, and it’ll get better. But because I swim at night now, after Zozer goes to bed, I get home pretty tired and ready for sleep myself. Need to figure out a good blogging time in with work, running, swimming and playing with Zozo.
I did process one shot for today, though. It’s become tradition that Zoe’s Grammy paints her nails when they see each other. This time they went all out, and did a rainbow. Zoe’s carefully chose her colors and clearly instructed Grammy which nail to pain which color. Grammy dutifully obeyed and here’s the result:
Anonymous - June 18, 2010 @ 1:15 pm
You forgot to tell them how faboo you look in your goggles and swim cap!
https://www.blogger.com/profile/05465978050819239108">Amy - June 18, 2010 @ 1:33 pm
Actually, my hope is that the ridiculousness of my goggles and swim cap pulls people's eyes away from the train wreck that is currently my lower body.
I do rather like the fact that nothing jiggles when I swim in the pool, unlike running on treadmill.
https://www.blogger.com/profile/03073640554635300165">Natalie Mikolajczak - June 19, 2010 @ 12:22 am
a tri! wow. I'm envious of your ambition, and your ability. Go for it!!
https://www.blogger.com/profile/05465978050819239108">Amy - June 19, 2010 @ 12:39 am
I feel the need to clarify that it's not a full-blown triathlon…it's a SPRINT triathlon. As Stef would say, it's a triathlon with training wheels. 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3.1 mile run. It may take me all day, but I'll get it done. I'm mostly doing it for the t-shirt. And the opportunity to write numbers on my body with a Sharpie.