I’ve been slow getting off the mark with my 50 mile challenge. But I swam a mile today, gosh darn it! It took 50 minutes, which surprised me, as I was sure it’d be a least an hour[1].
Last year when I was talking to a friend about the 50 mile challenge and asking her if she was going to do it, she commented, “I couldn’t do that. I’d lose count.”
I didn’t try to convince her, as I think the real reason she wasn’t doing it was a much more valid one. She didn’t want to. But I got to thinking about keeping count.
My pool counts a mile as 1800 yards[2]. That’s 72 lengths of a 25 yard pool, my friends, and is going to take between 40 minutes and an hour for the average lap swimmer to complete. If you’re counting down by lap, not only are you going to lose count, you’ll probably get bored.
I don’t just hop in the pool and start counting down from 72 doing freestyle. Forget losing count. That would be daunting[3].
What I do is sets of laps[4].
1 X 50 Freestyle, backstroke and breastroke 150 yards
1 X 100 Freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke 300 yards
1 X 50 Freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke 150 yards
1 X 200 Freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke 600 yards
1 X 50 Freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke 150 yards
1 X 100 Freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke 300 yards
1 X 50 Freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke 150 yards
Total Swim: 1800 yards
What this really means is that I never count higher than eight, what with 200 yards being 8 lengths. But it is also a lot easier to face. By the time I’ve warmed up with the shorter sets, 200 yards of a stroke isn’t particularly intimidating.
I also had a funny thing happen in the locker room today. Like many women in the gym, especially ones with really long hair who need to dry it, I walk from the showers to the lockers with my hair twisted in a towel, but otherwise am not wearing anything.
It really quiet, only another woman and I. She was swathed in a towel and dressing under it. She commented that she admired my confidence about walking naked to the lockers. She sounded really kind of sad and wistful.
I turn around as I’m putting on my underwear. She’s about 5’7”, and maybe a size 8. Had I seen her first, I would have suspected condescension. But the vocal tone combined with the careful draping of the towel made it clear enough.
I made a joke of it and asked if she had kids. When she said no, I commented, “Eh, well, giving birth will blow away any body modesty.”
The thing is, that she felt badly about her body was hurting her. I think it was a bit of a shock to her that the body modification you can achieve in a gym wasn’t necessarily going to cure it. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for working out and all that smack. Obviously, what wit me being there and all. But I’m not there to make myself acceptable to what I think outside perception is. I wish I could have thought of something to say that would have helped her. I wish I’d commented that her body is fine the way it is. I wish I’d commented that you don’t have to fit a physical mold to earn the right to live.
I just hope my example said something to her, as the pain she clearly felt really bothered me.
[1] Note to competitive swimmers: I know, I’m slow. Go laugh at me somewhere else.
[2] Yes, a real mile is 1780 yards, but that’s not divisible by 25 yards – the length of the pool.
[3] And courting a rotator cuff injury
[4] This will look familiar to competitive swimmers, though a bit of a light workout.