I’m a day behind on today’s entry due to the internet being moody at my house last night.  Yesterday was the first swim of the schedule, and it felt great to be back in the pool.  Last Saturday I leapt into the outdoor pool at SportsCom with 400 of my closest friends in our community’s annual Polar Bear Plunge; immediately after we all got into the indoor pool to warm up.  As I watched everyone jumping in, splashing, laughing, I thought of how different the pool is on regular days:  4 or 5 of us committed to swimming laps, one bored lifeguard, no echoing screams or laughter, just the constant strokestrokestoke of the faithful.

The swim was technically just a quarter-mile, but that’s only 14 minutes or so, so I added in an extra few laps, just to make it worth getting in the pool.  I admit that I’ve complicated the whole thing by adding some equipment, but I’m enjoying what I have.  For my birthday this year, I got (to me from me) a waterproof iPod case, so I’m swimming with my tunes.  It’s such an unusual feeling; you don’t ever think of hearing music while you are swimming.  It’s always just the constant bubbling/splashing sound, and the tunes go a long way toward keeping me entertained.  (If you are keeping track, this is the second entry in which I’ve complained about being bored during training…noticing a theme?  Sometime I’ll recount the circus story my parents tell all the time…reveals a lot about me).

My other new toy is a portable lap counter.  It attaches to the pool wall and has an electronic touch pad, so that I’m not reciting my lap count over and over in my head.  Haven’t gotten it figured out yet, but I’m working on it.  It should really be convenient when the sessions get longer…it’s no fun counting  40 laps.

In between the running and swimming workouts, I did a strength training session.  I’m a absolute believer in strength training as the foundation of fitness, especially when asking your body to respond to training for a distance event like the Half-Iron.  I enjoy the strength training probably more than any of the three cardio workouts.

Thanks again for reading.