Throw some water on that fire

But not to put it out. To keep it going. Let me backtrack a bit....

Last week, I decided to take a bit of a break from running. My right quad is really sore (I'm seeing a sports physiotherapist tomorrow morning) and it was a fairly unanimous decision (from everyone I talked to/asked about it) that what I needed to do was rest. At first I wanted to run through it, but then I worried about a stress fracture and other wonderful things.

I got a foam roller


(if you don't have one, and work out a lot, you NEED one)

I took the weekend off. Then Monday I was feeling restless. I wanted to try something new. I wanted to SWIM. And off I went - to the pool that's about a 4 min drive (yes, I could have walked, but I was already going at about 8:45 (pm) and so I didn't really want to walk home at 10pm on the long dark stretch of road).

I'll be honest, I had a touch of anxiety about going, for a couple of reasons:
1- wearing a bathing suit in public
2 - which lane do I choose, fast, medium or slow?
3 - is the chlorine going to ruin my hair
4 - wearing a bathing suit in public
5- will anyone notice my legs haven't been shaved in over a week?

But, I sucked it up and went. In the leisure lane. Just me and my bathing suit. And I swam. And swam and swam. For 35 minutes (I took 3 breaks, less than one minute each time). I alternated between the breast stroke and front crawl. And I felt awesome. I could almost feel every muscle in my body moving and being stretched.

And guess what? I did it again last night.

This time I went into the medium lane and swam straight (I had to wait a couple times for a few seconds to give the person in front of me enough room before I started) for FORTY MINUTES. But this time I was prepared. I had a bathing cap and goggles (oh I wish I had a camera with me, I looked freaking hilarious)

(which helps, because my anxiety of wearing a bathing suit is reduced because all dressed up in my swimming gear, no one knows who I am)

(well, it's not like I'm famous in my little town, so no one would know who I was anyway, but hopefully you know what I mean)

And mfp tells me that 35 minutes of light/moderate swimming is 347 calories burned, which is just the icing on top!

Very happy to have rediscovered an old love.