swimming and me

[susandennis]

hopefulspirit asked me how I got into swimming... This is how.

I spent every summer while I was growing up in the swimming pool. We belonged to a club and Mom would dump us in the pool and go play tennis (now, there's a gene I did NOT get). We took all the swim classes and loved it. But once I left home for college, I did not see another pool for 50 years.

In 2004 I took a job that enabled me to work at home. My commute went from 30 minutes on the bus and 15 minutes walking, twice a day to 20 steps from bed to work. I worked long hours. I loved the job. And then, one day, about a year or so later, I realized I had not actually moved in 18 months and my body was screaming WTF????

So I joined the gym across the street and went every day. I walked the treadmill, I did floor exercises. I sucked at it and I hated every single minute. It got so that I'd wake up in the morning and immediately start thinking of excuses not to go or reasons why I could only stay for 20 minutes that day.

Then one day in 2011 I heard about water aerobics and found out they had classes at the city pools and I went to one. The minute my fat ass hit the water, I knew I had found bliss. I enjoyed the class so much. It did not feel like work at all. And there was no mirror and no sweating and the other people in the class were old fat people like me.

It wasn't long before I quit the gym and started going to aqua fit classes at every pool in the city. A good teacher made a fabulous workout. But, sadly, most of the teachers weren't that good and working around the class schedule was kind of a pain. And the lap swimmers looked so cool.

So in 2012, I started swimming laps. Initially, I swam for 30 minutes doing real sets. 100 yards and rest and then switch strokes and more rest and so forth. But, all that got tiresome and one day I just started swimming - American crawl - and didn't stop until my 30 minutes were done. Then I wondered if I could swim a mile. In May of 2013, I did it! The city pools don't have a lot of lap hours that are good for me. Weekends were particularly difficult. So I ended up swimming 45 mins 5 days a week.

Then, in 2015, my medicare clicked on and my insurance offered up Silver Sneakers that gave me access to gyms with pools. Just about that time they opened up an LA Fitness 15 minutes from here. They are open every single day from 5am - 10pm and weekends they open at 8 and it's nice and quiet and lovely.

Soon I was swimming every single day - for an hour and loving every minute of it. And that's the story. To me, it's like discovering fried chicken and cream puffs are really kale. I'd swim every day even if it was discovered that it was harmful. I'm so grateful I found it.

Comments

[gracegiver]

"To me, it's like discovering fried chicken and cream puffs are really kale" LOL!

Good for you, finding that exercise niche and sticking with it. Because it's fun. It's been that way with me and yoga. Especially one particular studio.

[lifeinroseland.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Fascinating. I bet that's the best kind of exercise, all around.

Now, how did you get into doll and bear making?

[susandennis]

ha! another great question! Ok... watch this space.

[dcjaywalk.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I was a competitive swimmer all the way through high school, and I've never seen or heard the name "American crawl" for that stroke. Is it an older term?

[susandennis]

hahaha! Must be! What do you call it? The stroke that isn't back stroke or butterfly or breast stroke?

[dcjaywalk.livejournal.com]

Front crawl. A lot of competitive swimmers call it freestyle, but technically freestyle just means there's no restriction on the type of stroke, and everyone uses front crawl because it's the fastest.

[susandennis]

Ahhhh gotcha. I actually have heard people calling it freestyle but that's confusing since they also call all the other strokes freestyle...

Front crawl. Yep. That's me. The UPDATED me!

Thanks!

[dcjaywalk.livejournal.com]

So I looked it up. Apparently "American crawl" is a British term because it was introduced to the UK by Americans in 1844.

[susandennis]

So you were right... it is old even older than me. Blimey.

[hopefulspirit.livejournal.com]

Such a great post! It really makes exercise fun when you find something you love to do. I used to feel that way about roller skating, but I haven't gone in years.

It's nice you have some different options for where to go. Up here I think two or maybe three gyms have pools. A few of the high schools have pools and they're open to the public at different times, but they tend to be full of kids so it's not very appealing to me.

[susandennis]

We do have a bunch of pools available. It's astounding really. But, yeah, the ones with kids... er, no thanks. Happily, the gym pool has a lovely sign at the entrance:

"For the enjoyment of our members who are 17 years or older."

LOVE it.