swimming by numbers

one of the really thoughtful gifts that dice gave me for Christmas was a lap counter that I can use in the pool. Every time I swim I always forget what lap i'm on and I zone out and I never get the count right so I always end up doing about 5 extra laps "just in case" I overcounted. i'm obsessive compulsive, so I always want to make sure i'm over rather than under. Having not even expressed this frustration to dice, he got me this great gift and I was like, "sweet! how did you know i'm stupid at counting when I'm in the pool?!"

So fast forward to Sunday, when I get to use the superawesome lap counter for the first time. because I haven't swam in for.ev.er. So i'm in the pool and it's cold and I get through about 4 laps and i'm like, this is really not as fun as I remember it being but then I just chilled out, got in a zone and went. But since it's a new pool and all, I wasn't sure the length. I *thought* that the pool I used to swim at back at Michigan was longer for some reason, and I remembered that I swam 36 laps to get a mile there. So I figured that this pool was probably about half that length. so that's like, 71 laps that i'd have to swim to get a mile in.

I get through about 32 laps and i'm like, "screw this, i'm done." I remember distinctly thinking that it had taken me an awful long time to go just a measly half mile. I mean, usually I can get at least a mile in in 40 minutes, and on Sunday I had gone half that distance? good grief am I out of shape.

So we asked at the front desk what the length of the pool is, and they said 25 meters. and I was like, well, that's right... I'd need to do 64 laps to get a mile in.

it wasn't until yesterday, as I was sitting in the locker room lamenting my slowness in the pool after having swam 18 laps, that I realized that it's 64 lengths that equals a mile in a 25 m pool. evidently I am TOTALLY STUPID AT MATH when it comes to swimming or something, because I had this TOTALLY screwed up. and to think, I thought multivariable calculus was a breeze in college. hmph.

I did some investigating when I got home and sure enough, the pool that I used to swim in at michigan was 25 yards, so it's even shorter than the one I am swimming in now. It's amazing how much chlorine can distort your depth perception, eh? :)

anyways, so that means I did a mile on sunday and over half a mile yesterday. And more importantly, it means i'm not nearly as slow as I thought I was. granted, still slow, but whatever.

so YAY FOR FIGURING OUT NUMBERS IN THE POOL.

on a side note, after we swam dice and I were sitting in the hot tub and these two dudes walked out of the sauna in what was CLEARLY their underwear, not a swimsuit. They proceeded to get into the hot tub; we proceeded to get out. ick.

we also lifted chest and shoulders yesterday and let me tell you, I am a beast when it comes to bench pressing. GRRRRRRRR!

This morning I woke up with a super awesome sinus infection/head cold/general ickyness. I still got up and trudged down to dice's to meet up with him to head to the gym, but he ordered me inside to go back to sleep. I guess my misery was pretty evident or something. So no workout today, and probably not tomorrow either unless this mess clears up. The good news is that I think the ankle only has some bruising. it's tender to the touch, but putting weight on it doesn't hurt at all. super excited about that.