Swimmingly

This week my running is still not quite back to normal. My lower back continues to feel a bit tight, and in my determination to remain injury free for this summer's marathon training, I'm loathe to push it. That said, I did try running on the treadmill yesterday: sort of a Valentine's Day gift to myself. I did 3 miles at a very gentle pace, and not once did my lower back get angry with me. I left the gym feeling so happy. 

I can thank my lower back for something, however. It led me to throw on my 10+ year old Speedo and try some lap swimming for the first time, really, since I was in high school. For the first 100 yards or so, my left shoulder felt slightly pulled or tight, probably because when I'm running, I don't exactly use my arms that much. After that, the shoulder loosened up, so I decided to try and see how long I could go. I see the triathletes' workouts on DailyMile, so I had a rough idea of what distance an experienced swimmer can do. I took that number and subtracted about a million to come up with my very loose, very unscientific goal: Let's see if I can do at least 1000 yards?

I did it. And it felt really great. So great that I went back a few days later and did it again. And then I bought a bright pink kickboard, cause that's how I roll. 

Now I just need to figure out how to budget in the $7+ it costs me every time I want to use the pool at my rec center. Arrgh.

The family was with me the second time I went swimming. Owen tried out his underwater camera for the first time and got some really cute pictures of himself and his buddy. Maybe I can train Owen to take pictures of my freestyle stroke from underwater?