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Swimming was really hard work today after sleeping quite badly last night thanks to the humidity. I was feeling so tired after forty lengths and pushed on a bit further, but fifty-two was the best I could manage which is quite poor really.

Rest day tomorrow, then Thursday is going to be fun as the only major road that I can use to get to the sports centre is closed all day. There are some single-lane roads I can use, but usually there’s at least one lorry driver who has decided that his truck really will fit down them.

Another trip to the pool late this afternoon. Given that there were fifteen people in the same session last week I was expecting it to be relatively busy, but in fact only five people turned up and I had the fast lane to myself. Looks like the post-lockdown excitement at being allowed to go swimming has already worn off for some 🙂

I worked hard today and it was tough going, but things went pretty well and I did better than any of my swims last week so I’m certainly happy with that. My technique was getting a bit ropey in the last few lengths though, and my right bicep suffered from a bit of cramp where I have a mahoosive inflamed area from being stung by my bees yesterday. I’m finding that sometimes I have to concentrate so hard on technique that I miss my markers for the turns and make a complete pig’s ear of them. I intend to use passing under the 5m flags as an indicator that the end of the lane is coming, take a last breath as I reach the “T” at the end of the lane line, take one more full stroke and then flip into the turn with the following stroke, but when I’m concentrating really hard my eyes sort of “switch off” and I end up reaching the “T” without realising it was coming and then have to try desperately to get a breath in before I run out of space and hit the wall 😀

Already looking forward to going tomorrow now. I just hope my body can keep up the pace!

Another swim today. In some respects it wasn’t so hard as earlier in the week, but my body is clearly tired. There really wasn’t a lot of power in the stroke. Friday must be more popular too, as there must have been at least a dozen people swimming. Apparently in one session on Wednesday there was only one swimmer!

I’ve booked myself in for four swims next week, but properly in the fast lane this time (rather than just using it anyway having booked for medium) as it’s becoming clear that regardless of the “official” designations, the actual split between lanes is “slow and not very confident”, “slow, but swims regularly” and “everyone who is not slow”.

I’m hoping that after a couple more weeks of this I can get back to “proper” training, actually using times and suchlike, but for the moment I need to give my body time to adjust.

I went to the pool again today having skipped yesterday to give myself a bit of recovery time. Numbers have dwindled from fifteen on Monday (half the capacity of the pool I think) to only five (including myself) today and I was the only one in the fast lane. I didn’t feel very fast though. It felt like swimming through treacle. And I’m so tired now. No muscular soreness though, which I guess is a positive. I suspect however that it’s going to be a long road back to where I was at the start of the year.

Ohhhh, I ache now…

Another fifty minutes in the pool. Not counting again, but I probably did anywhere between sixty and eighty lengths. My tumble turns are improving a bit and the swimming is becoming less about surviving, giving me time to think about technique a little more.

Two days on the trot is clearly enough punishment though. When I got out both my arms and legs were distinctly wobbly and walking in a straight line took some serious concentration. Tomorrow I shall have a day off to recover a bit.

I swam for the first time since March 20th this afternoon. It was very well organised, though we did have to queue outside the centre — fine if it is sunny like today, but I can’t see that being popular if it gets wet and/or cold. I’d booked a place in the medium speed lane, but as it wasn’t too busy (about fifteen people there in three double-width lanes with a maximum allowed of ten per lane I think) I decided to use the fast lane when I saw people I know are significantly slower than me getting into the medium lane.

As chance would have it, I arrived in the car park immediately after one of the swimmers from the swimming club and his dad (neither of whom had been in a pool since lockdown started either) and we shared the fast lane. At first maintaining a relaxed rate of breathing was quite tricky and I swam the first dozen lengths (front crawl) breathing every other stroke after which I got a bit more settled and dropped back to alternating sides. My tumble turns weren’t too sharp either. I ended up inhaling water quite a few times on the turn 🙁

I’ve no idea how many lengths we did, but at the end both the dad and I found ourselves unable to boost ourselves out of the pool at the deep end to get out and we had the ignominy of having to swim to the steps to climb out 😀

I ache now. Particularly my lats, traps and lower triceps. It could be a bit painful later. So obviously I shall be going back to do it all again tomorrow 😀