Tag Archives: swim

Taking the plunge: public pools, sharing lanes.

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This week I’ve finally decided to start swimming at the gym. I bought a bathing suit a few weekends back, and I already had goggles. Swim cap ready, I headed to the gym Monday morning after waking up too late to make 6 am yoga. I swam from 6:15 to 6:45, for a total of 31 minutes, and swam 16 laps. That’s a little less than a half mile. After consulting with my sorella, I learned that she was just as slow when she started, so I didn’t feel so badly.

But I did have questions. How do you breathe? Do you breathe every stroke? Do you exhale under water? Am I kicking my legs correctly? Does it make you feel like you’re going to drown? Do you ever swallow water when trying to breathe? Why doesn’t my swim cap cover all the hair in the back, and how can I take it off without pulling out all of my hair.

Needless to say, I need a few days (and a yoga session) before I could dive back in. Last night, though, I had about 45 minutes of free time before I was supposed to meet a friend at the movies (more on that later.) I grabbed my swim stuff and headed to the (overcrowded after work) gym. One lane was open, so I grabbed it, though not for long. Soon I was sharing my lane with a speedo-wearing man, but at least he was just as slow as me, so I didn’t feel as bad. The swimmers in the middle lane were intimidating, as they didn’t stop between laps and seemed to have thrashing down to a minimum. And they didn’t stop mid-pool to make sure they were swimming straight.

Shortly after, about 20 minutes in, I was sharing the lane with two speedo-clad men. Luckily, this made me swim faster (who doesn’t love a little competition?) I ended up swimming 18 laps in 26 minutes, which was about .55 of a mile, and was faster than Monday! Improvement! Already! Splendid!

Today my back hurts a little, so I’ll be going to yoga to see how I do, but I think it’s because I am not kicking correctly….Nikita says I should use a kickboard, which I will try next time I swim.

After swimming last night I headed to the movies (located a mere 2 flights downstairs, oh LA how I love you) with my gym bag, wet hair, in sweat pants, and holding my bike helmet (I biked to the gym.) I talked to my dad on the phone, telling him about how ridiculous I looked and how hot it was outside and how I always looked like a hot mess when going to the ArcLight and someone famous always walks by. Immediately after I hung up with him (CW had arrived) Gene Simmons walked by. Serves me right.

Weekend is almost here. Can’t wait. What are you lovelies up to? Anyone have kicking technique advice?

Triathlon Blues

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This is my sister.

This is her climbing a wall in LA. She’s afraid of heights, but when she came to visit, she insisted we go rock climbing, as it is something she wanted to try.

Nikki is having a little Triathlon Blues this week, and who can blame her? Her Tri is less than two weeks away, and she’s sick of getting up early, of only ever working out, and probably sick of writing about it. That’s where I come in.

When my sister and I were younger, we both played soccer. She was better (but I still maintain I was faster.) We played piano: she was better. We both wrote (she was better) and we both took joy out of being mean to each other (she, most definitely, was better.) I had a blog: she wanted one. (Hers is funnier.) Although I am mostly better at bossing people around, and baking, she is better than most things. I’d like to think it’s because she is two years older, so two years wiser, but I suspect it’s because she maintains the attitude of “oh yea? I can’t do whatever I want, just because I am a woman, short, and don’t have much directional sense? Watch me.”

And so, when my sister, who used to share an equal hate with me of running, declared that she loved running and was going to do a triathlon, (the idea of my sister swimming in open water made me laugh and want to call the Coast Guard all at once) I wasn’t that surprised.

She ran, a lot. She had already run 5ks, and a half marathon. With hills. Which had ALREADY surprised me.

She started swimming because the doctor told her she couldn’t run. Tendinitis be damned, this girl was GOING to work out, and you couldn’t stop her. This was nearly a year ago, and she’s now up to swimming a full mile, in OPEN WATER. Do you think I’ll be hoping in the Pacific any time soon to swim a mile? (Nope, not after this year’s special on Great White Sharks, and also, I can’t swim really…)

Then, girl writes on April 1 (so let’s be honest, she could have been joking) that in August she was going to do a Triathlon. SERIOUSLY? Is there nothing my sister won’t do? All I do is yoga, Nikki: you’ve beat me. You can stop now, I swear.

In June, my sister bought a bike.

For those of you who don’t know, my sister and I learned how to ride bikes at the same time. I am pretty sure I was up and off training wheels first. Her coordination is lacking, and although I bike through the streets of LA, I couldn’t foresee my sister EVER wanting to do so in Chicago. But here was the evidence, on her blog, of her, fearless (almost) and biking to the lake.

So let’s go over the timeline, one more time:

October, 2009: My sister gets tendinitis, and is told she can’t run. So she swims.

April 1, 2010: My sister decides that she’s going to do a triathlon.

June 11, 2010: She buys a bike

July 14, 2010: She gets into the open water for her first open water swim.

August 29, 2010: My sister will be doing her first triathlon.

Unfortunately, I won’t be there to cheer her on, and see how awesome she does. But for now, I am basically trying to tell her (and you, so you can tell her, too) that she is going to do fine. Better than fine. Great. Wonderful. She is doing something that I have never even considered. She is doing something that a year ago I would have found crazy. She has trained for almost 5 months for something, devoting most of her free time to it, and Tendinitis, coordination, avid triathletes be damned: she will win, because she will finish. And then, by September, she will be on to a new crazy project: the next one, I hope, will involved yoga, and getting herself to a handstand. Nikki: you will be wonderful. Get get ’em.