Monkey mind in the pool; 1.5 miles of 2.5 so far this weekend
First, let me brag. I swam a mile today without stopping for a break. Except for yesterday, I haven’t swum serious laps since the day I gave birth to my last daughter, three years ago.
At the end of the swim I felt even stronger than I did the first few laps. Until I got out of the pool — then I felt like I turned into lead. And boy am I glad I kept moving for the rest of the day because I think I would have been really really sore had I just sat on the couch or something. Unlike yesterday, I did NOT go straight into a four-mile walk/jog.
I had to laugh while I was swimming, because I had forgotten how crazy my thoughts get those first five or so laps. Anyone who meditates or prays is, I’m sure, familiar with the concept of monkey mind — jumping from thought to thought. Well, I get it bad when I start swimming. It goes something like this:
Boy, is this water cold. I’m going to do all my swimming this weekend in as few sessions as possible so I don’t have to keep getting in this cold water.
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I wonder if I miscalculated the number of laps in a mile. 1760 yards in a competition mile, 50 yards in a full lap in this pool, drop the zeros, 5 into 176…
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That would make a good math problem for the kids to figure out.
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Was that three laps or four? How do people keep track?
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I wonder what the kids are doing at the Playhouse. I should have taken them to the bathroom first.
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Am I sure about the laps in a mile? Maybe I’d better recalculate.
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I wonder how they often they paint the black lane lines on the bottom of the pool.
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Boy, I need a neoprene swim cap.
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And then I finally get in the groove and my mind shuts off and I just breath and stroke. (Get your minds out of the gutter.)
So, speaking of counting laps — how the heck DO you keep track of the number of laps you swim? Do you have waterproof watches that track laps? Any tricks you can share? Since I have a hard time tracking laps past about five, I did sets of five. To mark each set of five, I opened or closed the ear stems on my glasses, which were sitting on the side of the pool. Until some woman kicked them in the pool. And wasn’t going to tell me until she saw me start to look for them (I guess the clue was me slapping my hands around on the concrete blindly looking for them) and told me to go dive down to the bottom of the pool to get them! Hmmph!
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Swimming is such good exercise. Call me crazy but I always feel sexier in the water
Hahahhahha those water mind conversations sound exactly like mind! (only less thinking of kids and more about whether it’s time to buy new running shoes or that I should really clean out the boot of my car)
As for the counting laps thing, I have no tips to share at all
It would be so much easier if there were some sort of trick to it!
THAT IS SO ME AS WELL.
if only I could click into a meditative state and truly get a mantra (the journey to 10982374192834 laps begins with a single stroke-type thing) but I cant.
and I lose count of laps quickly.
hence the stationary bike
and YOUVE GOTTEN ME TO TRY TWITTER
How cold is your pool? Mine is 80 deg, and it feels way too cold, until I’ve swim a few laps, then it feels just right.
I can’t count laps. I never do long continuious swimming in the pool. I go to the lake for that. In the pool, I lose count anything above 300. I have this little lap counter that fits on my finger. You hit the button each time you take a turn. But it’s hard to hit the button, so it doesn’t work that great. I just don’t worry about it. As long as I’m close, and am putting time in the water, it’s all good!
Well, I’m glad it’s not just me! haha Guess I’ll keep with my lo-tech counting techniques and hope for the best.
I will have to find something other than my glasses to count laps, though — I was worried that woman had broken my glasses and I was going to have to drive home wearing my prescription goggles in the car. My kids are just getting to the age where I can do really parental strange things to embarrass them in public and that would have qualified!
MizFit, I’ll follow you — what’s your ID on twitter?
Dang, now I’m thinking about cleaning out the trunk of my car. Sigh.
Heya, Carol — our main heated pool is closed right now while they put the bubble over it for the winter, so we’re using the unheated outdoor pool which is in the mid 70s. After a few laps, it’s ok, but that first face in the water will suck the air out of you
(My husband uses one of those counter thingies to run laps — maybe I’ll use one for swimming and just click every five laps or so.)
I did just google and let’s just say there are some creative ideas out there… a few of these made me laugh:
http://news.runtowin.com/2007/04/27/9-ways-to-count-laps-while-swimming.html
Oh, lookee — a lap counter you strap to your index finger — I might have to try that.
http://www.amazon.com/SportCount-Combination-Lap-Counter-Timer/dp/B000S9BE62
Oh, and here’s one that has a suction cup for the wall so you can just hit it — cool! Not rated very highly, though:
There is a clock by the pool that I use, I know it takes me about 1 minute to do a lap and I have taken to trying to rest for the same amount of time after a set. So when I start at 5:42 I just rememebr that number and then if it is 6:12 and I followed the plan all the way I know I went 1500 yards.
Now that I think about it though this is coming from the guy who was going to do an extra lap in the triathlon until I asked someone how much we had swum. And since I was only counting to 5 I can assure you without a clock handy this is just not something I can do. I was thinking of getting one of those lap counters and just leave it on the end of the pool with a water bottle and click it each set.
I love the goggles that count for you automatically idea, right up until they said they made that one up…. sheesh.
Ah. I was going to tell you about the wall counter. Haven’t checked it out thoroughly but I thought I saw something at http://www.hammacherschlemmer.com and they usually only stock quality products. They have some great swim goggles on there and they have some other goggles that transmit music through your jaw bone so you can swim to music. VERY cool.
Haha, Brian, I was all excited about those goggles, too! Though the real ones Natasha mentioned sound pretty cool… I could spend a fortune on geeky gadgetry, getting fit, I think.
I’ll have to use the pool timer to see how long it takes me to swim a lap. I was swimming today, the only adult swimming laps while the swim team was practicing, and they put a sign up on my lane that said, “SLOW LANE,” and if that wasn’t enough, it had a picture of a turtle on it! Thanks, whippersnappers!