2013 – New Year’s resolution time

So, what else has been happening since I moved?  Well New Years of course.  And new years and new beginnings is when we traditionally make resolutions.  And here are some of mine for this year. 

·         Consistently complete a food journal – including calorie counts.

·         Attend dance lessons twice a week

·         Walk to work at least once a week

·         Lose 20 kgs by the end of the year

·         Maintain work-life balance

I’ve managed to make a head start on some of these already and have plans in motion for more as the year progresses.

A few days into the New Year, I decided that I would try out some swimming.  I've always hated swimming, hate being wet, I even have short showers so I don’t have to be in water for very long! But given that my legs and feet have still been giving me grief, I knew that it was only going to get worse, the more weight I put on.   And especially after moving house, I found my feet and ankles just swelled up.  It was remarkable – I actually developed cankles.  There was no pain, no heat or inflammation, so I put it down to simple fluid build-up.  Swimming seemed like a good way to increase my circulation and start up some low/no impact exercise.  So I found a local council pool and went along. (After I spent a day shopping, in order to purchase togs, towel, goggles and boardshorts. I really haven't been swimming in ages).  

That first day I went swimming, I decided to take it at my own pace and just see how far I could swim.  I hadn’t been swimming like that, in laps, for over 10 years.  Well, to my surprise I swam 600m.  To clear things up – I did not do this non-stop!  I’ll take this opportunity to point out I had to stop after every lap to catch my breath.  Each lap was 50m.  I should also point out that I swim breaststroke, so it’s not technically as aerobic as freestyle.  I was still very surprised though to find out I could swim that far.  I may not ever be a fast swimmer, but I may turn out to be strong swimmer.  J

Since that time I have gone swimming again 5 times and each time I have swum 600m.  I think I will try to keep it up when I start work again and swim in the morning before work.  That way I’m not getting in the way of squad training in the afternoons.  In fact, last Wednesday, I signed into a swim correction class, so I could make sure that I was swimming properly and not going to pull any muscles from bad technique.  The coach was actually really impressed!  She was very happy to hear that I can swim 600m as a beginner and even gave me a sample training program in order to pick my fitness up:

Staying with the 600m for now,  I should start with a 100m warm-up of kicking – no arms, to get the blood pumping.  Then, try to swim 100m breaststroke without stopping (2 laps).  Then one lap, rest, one lap, rest, then try to swim two laps without a break.  Then, because I’ll probably need it, swim the lap four laps with a break at each end.

The coach is confident that if I keep going everyday – which is probably going to turn into every second day, once I start work and dance – I’ll soon be able to do the whole 600m without breaks at the end of each lap.  Once I get to that point, I should start to increase my distance bit by bit.  I think when I’m at that point I’ll make another appointment with her and get another training program. 

So, so far, my swimming adventure has been going, well, swimmingly ;)

And it’s not the only fitness adventure I’ve been having…  I’m about to head off now in fact.  :-D

I’ll post again soon,