I swam, I biked, I ran
Today I got serious about my crosstraining. I looked into a local place nearby and signed up for a month membership. This place is really perfect for me. It's like a community center rather than a gym. (Which means I don't have to feel like I'm the only person there with a neck.) It also has a swimming pool as well as a basketball / paddleball court. It's far from fancy, but it should be ok for now. I kind of feel stupid having lived around the corner from this place for years. It looks like a little nothing from the outside, and I never gave it much thought. Only now that I'm probably leaving in the next month or two, do I realize how big it is on the inside. Typical...
Anyway, I haven't done any significant swimming or biking in... ever. So I figured I wouldn't do much of either and that I'd get that "first time" over with in both of them. I started on the bike. After 3 minutes it was already hurting. But not from lack of cardiovascular conditioning. It was more of a, uh, anatomical problem. Maybe I need special shorts or something, but it's not like everybody on a bike has them. Since it's bothering me in minutes I can't really figure out how they do it. Maybe they all have some sort of surgical procedure in preparation... In any case, I managed to persevere for a little more than 10 minutes. I upped the resistance a little so I would actually feel it. Which I did. My HR made it up to 148 by the end, compared with the 160's during running. According to the machine I biked 3 miles, before cooling down a bit.
Next up, the pool. The whole bathing suit thing requires so much more effort. (Especially when you can't swim that much, the preparation to exercise ratio is really ridiculous.) You have to change into a bathing suit. You have to have a whole gym bag with compartments and plastic bags and a towel. You have to walk around without glasses and not seeing a darn thing. (I'll probably get those aquagoggles.) It seems like a good thing to do in that it's so different, but there's a lot of work involved. (And I haven't even thought about what I'm going to do with my pager and cellphone...)
I finally made it to the pool. (Apparently I also need a swim cap, but he let me go this time only.) It was a 25m pool split down its length in half: one side for horsing around, and one for laps. At first I was too intimidated to head into the "serious" side, and swam one lap on the other side. It didn't seem too appropriate, and looking over to the other side it didn't seem too bad. So I slipped under the rope thingy and started out. It went something like this: 2 laps, rest, 1 lap, rest, 1 lap, rest, 1 lap, out of the pool and rest in a chair. It took me 15 minutes to catch my breath st this point. It was a little tough in the pool, but I didn't notice it that much until I was sitting in that chair huffing and puffing. (The lifeguard asked me if I had asthma.) I eventually recovered enough to get up and go home.
I was thinking of skipping my planned run at this time. I've been trying to get a few people from my community to go out running as a group. With all of our crazy schedules it's been hard to set up a time. Well while I was sitting in that chair by the pool I had gotten a voicemail that they were heading out shortly. I wasn't sure we'd run into each other (we didn't) but it was a good incentive to go out and run, rather than push it off until later. By the time I changed (again!) and made it out to the running path, I felt okay. I had hoped to push my new long distance to 3 miles, but my knee was bothering me after 2. I finished it out at 2.5 miles, and was happy with that. My knee bothered me a little, but now it's a few hours later, and it feels fine.
All in all, a pretty good day for training. I think I'm going to go out to eat now and negate the whole day...
;-)
Anyway, I haven't done any significant swimming or biking in... ever. So I figured I wouldn't do much of either and that I'd get that "first time" over with in both of them. I started on the bike. After 3 minutes it was already hurting. But not from lack of cardiovascular conditioning. It was more of a, uh, anatomical problem. Maybe I need special shorts or something, but it's not like everybody on a bike has them. Since it's bothering me in minutes I can't really figure out how they do it. Maybe they all have some sort of surgical procedure in preparation... In any case, I managed to persevere for a little more than 10 minutes. I upped the resistance a little so I would actually feel it. Which I did. My HR made it up to 148 by the end, compared with the 160's during running. According to the machine I biked 3 miles, before cooling down a bit.
Next up, the pool. The whole bathing suit thing requires so much more effort. (Especially when you can't swim that much, the preparation to exercise ratio is really ridiculous.) You have to change into a bathing suit. You have to have a whole gym bag with compartments and plastic bags and a towel. You have to walk around without glasses and not seeing a darn thing. (I'll probably get those aquagoggles.) It seems like a good thing to do in that it's so different, but there's a lot of work involved. (And I haven't even thought about what I'm going to do with my pager and cellphone...)
I finally made it to the pool. (Apparently I also need a swim cap, but he let me go this time only.) It was a 25m pool split down its length in half: one side for horsing around, and one for laps. At first I was too intimidated to head into the "serious" side, and swam one lap on the other side. It didn't seem too appropriate, and looking over to the other side it didn't seem too bad. So I slipped under the rope thingy and started out. It went something like this: 2 laps, rest, 1 lap, rest, 1 lap, rest, 1 lap, out of the pool and rest in a chair. It took me 15 minutes to catch my breath st this point. It was a little tough in the pool, but I didn't notice it that much until I was sitting in that chair huffing and puffing. (The lifeguard asked me if I had asthma.) I eventually recovered enough to get up and go home.
I was thinking of skipping my planned run at this time. I've been trying to get a few people from my community to go out running as a group. With all of our crazy schedules it's been hard to set up a time. Well while I was sitting in that chair by the pool I had gotten a voicemail that they were heading out shortly. I wasn't sure we'd run into each other (we didn't) but it was a good incentive to go out and run, rather than push it off until later. By the time I changed (again!) and made it out to the running path, I felt okay. I had hoped to push my new long distance to 3 miles, but my knee was bothering me after 2. I finished it out at 2.5 miles, and was happy with that. My knee bothered me a little, but now it's a few hours later, and it feels fine.
All in all, a pretty good day for training. I think I'm going to go out to eat now and negate the whole day...
;-)
posted by Danny on Sunday, December 18, 2005
5 Comments:
I'll have to remember the asthma thing. Yeah, it's ASTHMA!! ;-) Heh. Or a broken lung transplant, or something.
Way to go, anyways. Rinse and repeat. Just like running. The first mile is the hardest.
Your notes about the pool visit bring back memories of my first visit this past summer. I swear the life guards were ready to jump in and rescue me, they were really keeping an eye on me! This was incentive enough to sign up for a swim course. So now I either have a better form, or they got used to me swimming like I'm going to drown at any minute.
LOL!!! Amen on the bike. How do people take those spin bikes. To me it's so different than a real bike. I hear you a "gel" seat cover makes a big difference.
& swimming is so much harder than it looks. I'm always amazed at how fit I feel & then get in a swim a few laps & feel like I could die. You rock, Danny!
To save time changing... well, just don't change. Just keep your speedo on and head out for a run. Just remember to write some numbers on the top side of your leg in a Sharpie so that people won't look at you funny.
Good job on the swim! That's much better than I could do.
Granted, being a female, I don't have the same, um, anatomical issues on a bike. But I'm a spinning class devotee, and I can say that that pain under your 2 hip bones does get better with time. I had considered buying a gel seat pad as well, but now I really don't need one.
In the meantime, you can try playing around with the bike settings so you're not leaning forward at an extreme angle. Put the handlebars at the tallest setting, and adjust the seat so that you're pedaling straight down (as opposed to in front of yourself). This could help relieve some of the pressure!
Good luck!
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