Dipping my toes back into the water

I've added something back into my workout schedule that I used to do, but haven't in over a year.

Swimming.

I used to swim at least once a week back when I was training for some triathlons, but last year I made a decision to really focus on running and half marathons. And when I was running five days a week, I kind of lost my way to the pool. As in, the last time I was in a pool was in January 2011, when I did an indoor tri on what just so happened to be my first run with my half marathon group (and also happened to be below zero that day).

So I haven't swam in over a year. But three weeks ago I was up at my parents' house and my mom and aunt were going to head over to the YMCA on a Sunday morning to water walk. They both recently joined t he Y and are really enjoying the ability to use the pool. So I went with.

And as I was floating up and down the walking lane with my noodle, I was glancing over at the people in the other lanes. Swimming. And I was jealous. Wishing I had my goggles and swim cap. Because darn it. I wanted to swim laps.

With broken goggles and no wearable swim cap, I made a quick shopping trip and picked up the necessities.

And two weeks ago I swam. And I did it again on Sunday. Both times I cranked out 925 yards. I admit. That first week? I remembered how hard swimming was. Seriously. I was lucky if I could crank out 50 yards and I'd be gasping for breath. But I took it slow, swam back and forth and got the laps in and in the end felt good. And it got easier this week.

So I'm happy I found my way back to the pool. And I'll be back this weekend. It's a nice change up from running and a little cross training is probably a good thing.