Day 348: Soccer

So ... after my long run on Friday, I was at a child's soccer tournament all day Saturday (no exercise for me), and got up fairly early for a long bike ride on Sunday: 53km. It breezed by so fast that I was sure we couldn't have been out for that long. I'd love to do 100km some time this summer.

Yesterday, I was back at the pool for swim lessons, and the instructor showed me another finesse to my technique. Wow. It helped amazingly. Already, during that one session, I felt faster and more efficient (and the instructor timed me, and I actually was faster, averaging under a minute per 50m). Exciting. Now to build up the right muscles. I was swimming with my arm outstretched and long, pushing all the way down, rather than bringing my stroke close to my body. There's a little pocket of air there that makes it easier to push hard. It felt good. Can't wait to try it out again on Wednesday. Plus, it was the perfect day for the pool. Hot, hot, hot. I felt like a lucky woman to be jumping into cold water. I swam about 2400m. There were moments when I felt fast and proficient, and others when I felt more tired and was thinking too much, but when I'm learning something new, especially when swimming, I think about all of the other elements that I used to have to think about that now come naturally, such as breathing every three strokes, and breath control.

I biked home from the pool, gobbled some supper, and then we gathered up the whole family and went to my husband's soccer practice. He'd booked a field for a practice for his team, but most of them couldn't come, so he decided to make it an all-family event. I got the chance to practice dribbling and ball-handling. Boy do I feel fit when I run. It was fun. We played hard for an hour and a half. I ran as much as I could, figuring since we'd be up late, I wouldn't want to get up early to run on my own (my running friend is away this week). Late-night exercise doesn't work well with early mornings.

Today, it looks like the only thing I'll get to do is a yoga class.

Basically, I'm trying to make the exercise this summer fit in with our lives ... and that's so far meant less early mornings than during the school year.

But my husband and I are talking about joining a co-ed rec soccer league and playing together in the winter. I've never been much good at team sports. I think it would be good for me! And make use of the fitness I've gained.