Out of the way

I spent a lot of the weekend working, trying to catch up on various outstanding stuff after travelling and having a sort of vacation.

But this afternoon I decided that it would be nice to get out - and extremely nice to swim. ∏ has been going to a swimming course recently, so after a few hours of thinking we should do this, I asked if the pool was open on Sundays - Yes, until 8.

By the time we got Chris some bathers, and figured out that we would walk instead of driving (it's about a 20-30 minute walk) we got there a bit after 6. The guy wondered if an hour and a half would be engouh time for us, but we thought it would.

Actually, I find it hard to think of anything to do in a public Olympic size pool except swim laps. And I think the last time I swam at all was two and a half years ago. Still, I got in and figured I could try a couple of gentle laps to see how I went. And it went well enough to try a couple more - 1 crawl, 1 breaststroke, then 2 crawl, and 2 breast. I figured I could probably make 3 more of each - and then realised that if I then did 4 more of each I would have swum a kilometre. But I thought I would take it bit by bit and see how I went.

The sets of 3 were tough, as I tried to put a bit more effort into the technique and a bit more power into the strokes themselves. I had a few seconds of thinking before I decided I would begin on the 4s - at least the freestyle, because I could do 750 or 800 metres and be reasonably pleased. And those were the hardest laps of the lot. The Getafe North outdoor pool is Olympic size, and pretty nice, but there are no lane dividers and about this point I started running into people swimming across the pool.

Finishing the 800 metres was hard - but swapping back to breaststroke and winding down to a kilometre then seemed easy. By the time I got to the last lap I decided I would do it in a "crawl sprint" (although it was much more crawling than sprinting) - and finishing it I felt it would be reasonable to do a warm-down lap.

The end of the warm-down had me pretty knocked out, but getting out and looking for Lili and Chris I found them about to embark on another lap. In the end I decided to keep them company, although only in lifesavers' backstroke - one of the easiest ways to swim long distances that I know of. But having completed that one, I figured another 3 to make 25 laps would be easy enough - and they were easier than anything except the first 4 or 5 laps.

At that point it was really time to think about going home, and although I felt I could potter may way through another 5 or 15 laps, I didn't have much time and did have some pretty sore spots. So we called it a day - and for the rest of the day I have had a few stiff muscles that have been hard to stretch to their normal lazy points. But I am at least feeling properly tired for something, and like I have achieved something. Hopefully I don't wake up with cramps in the middle of the night, since that isn't in my real goals.

Unfortunately the outdoor pool closed after today. And I am not sure about the indoor pool. Maybe I should get a bike, or take up walking to visit Facundo and Mariana or something. Exercise not only gets me away from the laptop, but it's sort of good for me. And 1250 metres is a better tally than last year even if I don't get back in the water (I hope I do. I feel good swimming, whereas most exercise stuff I find boring. And the idea of paying to be allowed to use a machine to walk just strikes me as somehow obscene).