Yesterday, as my errands finished at noon, I wondered what fun thing I could do in the city seeing as I had no plans. Just then, like something out of Twilight Zone, my phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Bakes, it’s Todd, what are you doing? Let’s get our swim on.”

“Hell yes! See you in 20 minutes.”

And with a simple phone call my fate for Saturday was sealed.

SIDENOTE: Are you kidding me? You think I didn’t know it was Todd calling me? What ‘phone’ of the year 2011 doesn’t have caller ID? A crappy one. I added our names for affect, and in case you forgot who’s blog you were reading. You’re welcome.

I haven’t swam since the Harriman Sprint Triathlon last August!!! That’s like 6 months.

After some coffee, prepared for me by Ila (thank you Ila!) we hit the pool. Todd said we were to swim 1 Mile and to document our speed and time so we can follow our progression over the next few months. I was down, but more importantly to me, I just didn’t want to drown during Ironman Arizona at the end of this season.

This is my ‘To infinity and beyond’, ready and willing to swim pose. My goggles are awesome.

After a 20 lap warm up we stet the clock (Todd has one of those underwater timing thingys) and started the swim. Todd is faster than me, but for some reason I always try to keep up the first couple of laps before I realize I’m burning out.

When you take me out of Air and put me into Water I turn from fast to slow. It’s quite frustrating. Last year after getting help from Brandon (who is a sick swimmer) and a few others, the consensus is that my form just needs time to marinate.

Focused on this, my swim was based on my technique rather than trying to be a speedster. The first few laps were difficult (seeing as how I haven’t swam in 6 months) but I slowly clicked into pace. I practiced keeping as aerodynamic as possible and having quick powerful strokes. I felt good about everything, even though I wasn’t flying along, I was doing well.

Half way through the mile my body was on fire. Seriously. I thought about getting out of teh pool and walking onto the roof deck and into the snow to ‘chill out’ for a hot second. But, I didn’t. My runner mind was fully active and I wanted accurate data upon finishing my swim.

Todd finished about 10 lengths ahead of me. As I wrapped up, he gave us our times.

31.08 = 1,6500 YDS (1 Earth Mile)

I was happy with that.

I quickly popped out of the pool and went to the roof deck. I stepped out into the snow and it felt awesome! Instantly, my body cooled down.

Back at Todd’s place Ila had made us some delicious Kale Chips! I’m including the next photo because it’s silly. Todd had leftover pasta and so ‘created’ a pasta sandwich for us to eat while we decided on what our ‘real’ food should be.

I love swimming. My favorite part is that (normally) I sleep like the dead that that night. Unfortunately, last night I woke up at 3AM.

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SUPER UNRELATED SIDENOTE: Amy C. showed my this free app called ‘Instant Heart Rate’. It’s very cool!

I got a 42 BPM resting rate which I understand to be good, but I am told I need to eat less? I’m not a doctor.