True to my word I hit the pool today. In Oerlikon there is a 50m pool, which is great as you don't have to keep turning constantly. I used to be a good swimmer when I was at school, but I haven't done any serious swimming for years now, other than the odd dip in the sea or splash around in the pool. The aim of today was not to splash around in the pool though. I wanted to do some serious training.
I had no idea what I was capable of. In my mind I thought that if I could do 1km I would be quite happy, but when I got in the pool and started swimming I realised that 1km would not really be a challenge at all. In a 50m pool it is only 20 lengths. Not wanting to overdo it, I decided to do 1.5km today, and then next time I go to try swimming a bit further.
The pool was pretty busy considering it was early afternoon and most people are at work. I expect that a lot of people go to that one because of the fact it is 50m long, and also the 50m pool in Sihlstrasse is closed at the moment for renovation. Nevertheless I was able to find a space where I could swim up and down without too many interruptions. There was also lane swimming available, but considering my lack of swimming practise I didn't want to hold up the faster swimmers. For the first kilometre I alternated between front crawl and breaststroke in order to work as many different muscles as possible. Whilst front crawl is much faster I find breaststroke a lot more relaxing, and for the final half a kilometre I switched to breast stroke. Every second length I also tried to do a proper turn where you do a forward somersault and kick off the wall. It will take me a little while to get used to doing the proper turns again, as several times the water went up my nose when I was doing them. But considering I haven't been to the pool in ages, I was very happy with my progress.
The only drawback of the day was that my goggles were too tight and now I have stupid red lines around my eyes. To be honest I was surprised they still work and that the seal hasn't perished, as I bought them over 10 years ago. I guess they must have been good ones when I bought them. Anyway, considering the crap weather and the fact I have already had a really good cardio workout today, I will save going to the gym till tomorrow and just do as many pressups as I can now instead. Take care everyone and I will check in again soon.
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