swimming in fits and starts

I went swimming tonight after work. It was not pretty. First, some background. I am not a graceful person. Whatever athletic skill I have comes from a mix of height, strength, and pure will. Basically, I can run because I decide that it's going to happen. My great skill when I played soccer was that when I got myself between an opposing player and their goal, I could probably overpower her (knock her down) while going for the ball. I used similar skills playing flag football in college. So, yeah, it's not natural grace and athleticism that's getting me through runs or workouts. That is, except for swimming. I've always felt much, much, much, more graceful in the water. As in, I've felt at all graceful. Until tonight.

At my gym they have these laminated workouts that you can use to guide your swims. It's great, they're 2000-3500 yards design to take you about an hour. They totally take me longer than hour. Usually, I grab the workouts that are basically freestyle with a little bit of other strokes for balance. Tonight, I decided that I would go outside my comfort zone and do one of the IM heavy workouts. Here's what I look like doing the fly for more than one pool length: a floppy swimmer propelling themselves across the pool by seizure. It was not pretty. But don't worry it also took a long time, cause I'm slow. Turns out having a 25 yard fit isn't the quickest way to move down the lanes. And, I easily hit my wrist on the lane divider 15 times. I'd kind of forgotten that I had permanent lane divider bruises on my wrists for the four years I was in high school. It also turns out that you can make it through a 2200 yard workout by flopping your way back and forth across the pool. And that's knowledge you can take to the bank.