Decided to do an easy swim today because I was oooh-so stiff and sore from hard-core weight training yesterday. (After which, btw, I ran a mile. AGAIN!!! Actually, ran a little bit more than a mile this time, which I'm especially psyched about since it followed 90 minutes of killer training.)
Anyway, since I was taking it easy, and since I'm green with envy reading about all y'all fishy flip-turning machines out there, I decided to devote this workout to practicing them. I work on it sporadically, but I get frustrated and give up easily, figuring I've got enough to work on at this point without adding another skill.
I hadn't done half a dozen flips when I managed to schnort so much water up my nose the level in the pool dropped. Oh. My. God. It was over an hour ago, and it still burns. We used to do all kind of acrobatics in the pool as kids and I got the occasional snootful, but this topped 'em all. Once I managed to calm down, breath normally, stop the tears flowing... I couldn't swim any more. Specifically, I couldn't swim any more because I couldn't put my face in the water. It was this wierd mental block - really wierd, since I've never been afraid to do that. I'd start to do it, try a few strokes, and come up sputtering. This went on for about 10 minutes. I knew if I gave up and got out I'd be giving in to this strange little roadblock my brain was trying to construct and it could have disastrous consequences. So I stuck it out, and gradually convinced my brain that it was ok to put my face back in the water, and I concluded by swimming normally for another 15 minutes or so.
Freaked me out, though. I've got enough trouble with being afraid of lakes, last thing I need is to backslide 18 months to when I wouldn't swim with my face down.
Goofy stuff happening here guys, not sure what to make of it. Not that long ago I'd have sworn up and down swimming was my favorite leg and that I would never do a race where I couldn't walk the run leg. Now I dread swimming, been feeling clunky and graceless in the water, and I'm loving to run...
2 comments:
Sucking water up the nose gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "feel the burn" doesn't it? :)
i'm the same way with flip turns. i watch everyone else at the gym do them so easily... but when i try to do it, well, i've almost drowned four times.
but then again, i'm 28 years old and still get soap and shampoo in my eyes. i really am helpless.
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