Monday, December 29, 2008

Swimming

One of my former students is a lifeguard at the Blacksburg Aquatic Center and when I ran into her there the other day, she challenged me to reconsider my approach to swimming, which is pretty straight-forward and boring - to swim a mile (36 back-and-forth laps). Swimming is not a regular part of my routine, but I've gotten to the pool a few times lately in the hopes that it will give my sore foot a break.

She explained that there is a whole range of other swim-fitness possibilities out there! She participated in the Blacksburg's Aquatic Center's Master's Swimming program and highly recommended it, but I don't have the time or desire to add to an already full schedule! But, through a SparkPeople swimming group, I found a free website called swimplan.com that not only constructs swimming plans, it actually includes the instructions for what each exercise is - key for a novice such as me. You can select the strokes and equipment. I like free and breast. Never learned butterfly and hate how in backstroke you can't see where you are going or when you are about to hit the wall! It concocted a great plan. I printed it, encased it in a ziplock baggie, and off I went. It was a great program and having it there in black and white (rather than in my head) meant no cheating or slacking.