Day 350: Lethargy

I must have counted wrong. I didn't get the idea for the triathlon last year in July; I'm sure it was August. Oh well. I'm sticking with these numbers because going back and recounting would be way too tedious.

Checking in, here. In the absence of another triathlon to aim for, I'm amazed that I've kept going. But regular exercise feels normal now. In fact, missing a day of exercise feels weird--or, more precisely, makes me feel like I'm being lazy. Which may not be a good thing. I shouldn't feel like a slug on a day when I get up and bike 30km, and then that same evening swim another 2300 metres, just because the day before I did "nothing" (pulling the kids in the bike stroller to soccer practice = "nothing."). I just shouldn't. Which makes me think I may have got some kind of exercise dysmorphia going on. But the odd thing about becoming more fit is that I actually feel less fit. Suddenly, 5 minutes/kilometres sounds, well, not that fast, not when I realize how fast I can go when I push myself hard. I think I'm happiest when I'm pushing myself just a little bit too hard. Not sure that's entirely healthy.

Yesterday's swim lesson, the instructor gave me one more tip to finesse my technique. He saved the toughest for last, he said. My hand has been entering the water basically at my furthers reach, then pulling straight back; but the correct technique is for the hand to enter the water near my head, then push forward under the water, pause in a moment of glide, and then pull back with greater force. The way he explains it, my stroke will be more efficient and move me faster through the water if I can take advantage of the push at the very end of my stroke: it should almost give me a little bump ahead. Just trying to get my hand to go into the water and glide forward took all of my mental concentration. I felt like I was learning to swim all over again. And I wasn't convinced that it would make me faster, because my arms would be moving more slowly. My plan, to go faster, was to stroke faster, but he's advising me not to go that route because the speed I'll gain will be minimal compared to the energy I'll spend. Learning this new way of moving my arms through the water should give me more power, more efficiently. If I can just figure the damn thing out.

I'd like to get back to the pool before next Monday's lesson to swim laps and try to get the hang of it. My shoulder is sore this morning, too. The new technique uses different muscles. I need to build those up. But I also need to run more this week, and haven't; that's making me feel like a slug, too.

And I think, if I am to be honest, that I'm fighting something off: a summer cold or flu. Need to remind myself to take it easy ... be healthy ... enjoy life ...enjoy this body as it is, right at this moment; rather than wishing it could be that much stronger or faster or more graceful.