Saturday at the pool... some progress and some fun

If you haven't read my previous post on my current injuries, he's a quick synopsis:

• My left foot hurts - specifically the rear of the heel/Achilles tendon 
• My left side hurts - specifically on my ribs

I've been taking it easy to make sure these minor injuries don't become major ones. The heel injury has meant no running, while the side injury meant several days away from the pool.

I went to bed early last night, got 9 hours sleep, and it seemed to make a big difference. My side felt closer to right for the first time in days, so I decided to give the pool a try.

Saturday mornings at the BU pool means lots of kids. Lots of kids. Lessons for little ones of all ages start as soon as the pool opens and go until noon. While their lessons are in the recreational pool, it makes for a cramped locker room, with the dads drying and dressing all the little ones. It also makes for a fun locker room, with all the kids excitedly telling their fathers how class went, and running around talking to their friends from class.

I decided to do a nice easy swim; 500 yards, with 200 of that as a warm-up. After the warm-up I decided to do the 300 as a single workout, or a 1 x 300. I started nice and slow, and by the time I got to 300, I felt pretty good, so I decided I'd keep going until I got tired, adding 100 yards at a time, and to make up for not going 100%, I did it all as a single swim. It wasn't until I got to 550 that I started to feel it a little bit, and decided I'd end at 600.

While I've done races with longer swims, I've never done 600 yards continuously without a stop. My stamina is definitely improving. Granted it was about 5-10 seconds slower per 25 yards, but it was certainly progress; from both a fitness and injury perspective.