Posts Tagged ‘ swimming ’

Resistance Training

05/11/2009

If you were expecting a post on strength training, this isn’t it. My thoughts today are more about “resistance” in general and why we resist the things that are good for us and don’t resist those things that we should. Are we hardwired to sabotage ourselves at every turn? After a week of groaning and turning back over to go to sleep instead of going to the gym last week, I finally got back on track on Saturday. I could give a million excuses…I had a cold, allergies, it was raining…but mostly I just wanted to sleep. And the “feel good” exercise aftermath wasn’t enough to get me moving at 5:30 am. But Saturday, even though it was still raining—even the weather is resisting here on Long Island—I got out of bed, threw on my workout clothes and went to the gym to go running…on the treadmill. Maybe that’s...

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Swimming Lessons

03/02/2009
Swimming Lessons

I’ve been a swimmer all of my life. I really don’t even remember learning how to swim. I remember being in swimming lessons with my then 6-year-old brother, I think to keep him company and alert my father when he was turning blue from the cold water. Our swimming lessons took place in the Great South Bay on Long Island. My father was a lifeguard when we were young and learning to swim for us was like learning to walk – natural. Today, I am eternally grateful for my swimming training when I was so young. I was a competitive swimmer in my early teens and a lifeguard, which is by far the best summer job ever, in my late teens and early 20s. I swam and swam and swam. And then I had kids. And I stopped swimming….until I signed up for this triathlon. My triathlon decision was...

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From Exercise to Triathlon Training

01/29/2009

I’m exercising with a purpose now. I realized that this week. While I’ve been exercising all along with my upcoming triathlon in mind, this is the week I went from “exercising” to “training.” I get on the bike, the treadmill and into the pool with very specific goals. It’s not just about getting fit and healthy anymore. It’s about digging in and improving my times and my form, and putting together the pieces. I mean, it dawned on me this week that while I can run/walk 2 miles, I can swim 400 meters and I can bike 6 miles (the distances in my first race in April), that’s not enough. I have to be able to do all three in a row. And I need to do them competitively. When I swam this week, I didn’t just do 40 laps like I’ve been doing. I dug in the last...

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I Joined the Gym

11/17/2008

So I did it. On Monday last week I joined a gym. It was something I was trying to avoid because I’ve never been a gym person, but it’s dark out now and I haven’t been able to get my walking in. And besides, I have a big fitness goal for April that would be almost impossible to meet without a pool. So I joined a gym with a pool. I finally went to the gym for the first time on Saturday (and then again yesterday!). Surprisingly I enjoyed it. I found that it’s easier to run on a treadmill right now than the street (I’m still mostly walking and then running a half lap every half mile or so). And I went swimming. I’ve always been a strong swimmer, having spent my youth at beaches, my teen years as a competitive swimmer and then as a lifeguard through...

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I Am Proud Of My Body

10/14/2008

I went walking tonight. 2.5 miles. That’s what I’m up to now. I rarely walk less than that and sometimes I’ll walk 3 miles. I’m doing this after only 10 weeks of walking, starting with a mile at a clip. And I walk 4 to 5 times per week weather and schedule permitting. I must say, I’m awfully proud of my 49-year-old body. I still have a long way to go to get to my goal weight but the fact that my legs and heart and the rest of me can carry me that 2.5 mile stretch and feel good at the end of it? Well, that’s an accomplishment I am proud of. I was athletic when I was young, but I can honestly tell you that the last time I exercised this consistently for this long was some 29, 30 years ago when I was a lifeguard, and...

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