Totally off topic. Self indulgent. Repetitive?

 

Well, it's Monday but it's also Labor Day. We usually don't have swim workouts on Monday's at our primary pool but since it's a holiday one of our coaches decided to offer the WHAC Masters group a nice, long, Labor Day morning workout. She combined our usual 7 am hardcore group and our 8 am semi-hardcore group together and extended the workout from one hour to one and a half hours. 

The workout started at 8 am but I was up at 7 making coffee and eating some trail mix. Brushing those teeth and shaving my face. Being extra careful around the area on my face with the scars from the recent surgery. Covering myself with SPF 50 water resistant sunscreen. Doing the first push ups of the day. Listening to the Chris Issac's classic, "Wicked Game" and choosing just the right pair of Birkenstocks to wear to coffee after practice. 

I hit the pool at 7:55 and we sorted out who would be in which lane with whom. When mixing two different groups of workout participants there are weird overlaps where one lane my be faster at the first workout but the territorial imperative slides in and those folks want to stay put even if the later group users have different, slower paces but also want to end up in their usual lane. The same lane. Whatever.

I swam with Ken and Lisa this morning. They usually swim at the early practice. I'd never swum with them before but I'm nothing if not flexible so I hopped in. They are both a bit faster than me but since we do sets and we do them on timed intervals it just means that I can keep up with them if I get a bit less rest than they do. It was an absolutely smooth lane share. Of course we all swim circles. You have to in a pool that has, on average, four or five swimmers in a lane. 

We swam straight through from 8 to 9:30. The total yardage was about 4500. Roughly three miles. Mixing up competitive strokes. Not a bad way to start the day if your goal is to stay in shape and to be fully engaged. No chatter in our lane. Just moving along on one side or other of the black line on the bottom of the pool.  Generally, for me, I get five seconds on the wall between 100s. At 69 I've been doing this for nearly 63 years. Muscle memory comes into play so it's probably important to make each stroke align with good technique. Why practice something incorrectly over and over again? What's that old saying about insanity?

After workout and a shower I met my friend and former assistant, Anne, at the Whole Foods flagship store to catch up on life's endless events. Now I'm back home, my towel and suit are hung up. I ate a sandwich. Drank ever more water and settled in to write a blog that few people will read because it's not about photography it's about swimming... Ah well. 

One of my many "happy places" in Austin... going on thirty years of masters workouts in this particular pool. Routine is comforting and efficient. Hard to quit something that's so much fun... so I won't.

118/70

56

I need a few new pairs of goggles...