Hippocrates In San Diego

Swim 9.15.07

After going surfing yesterday, I realized that my swimming is atrocious. As a child I spent many summer days in Ohio at the local municipal pool, and I grew up on the shores of Lake Erie, which afforded many ocean-like swimming situations. So the realization that my swimming skills had become atrophied prompted me to do some laps in the pool today, with the intention of doing some swimming on days that I’m not running. I’m hoping to incorporate this cross-training to make up for my recent laxity in running, but also to improve my surfing. I clearly was one of the weakest swimmers out there at Tourmaline yesterday, and I think it affected how much fun I was having.

Don’t get me wrong, I love surfing, and enjoyed myself immensely yesterday. But on days like yesterday when I fail repeatedly to catch waves that are within my grasp, I feel like I need some work on my skills to make it worthwhile to be out there. So today I hit the pool in my neighborhood, doing about 20 minutes of laps (in a short pool, maybe 40 feet in length), resting about 30 minutes, then returning to the pool for another 15 minutes. It’s amazing how my heartrate will rise after just a couple laps; despite not being gravity-dependent, swimming is a pretty good cardiovascular workout. Hopefully as my conditioning improves (with swimming, surfing, and running) I’ll be able to improve my upper-body/shoulder strength, which I think has been lacking significantly since running became my main athletic activity. So improved cardiovascular fitness and upper body strength should combine nicely to help me catch some gnarly waves!