I ended up skipping my swim last night for two reasons. I still ached like crazy and there are people at the pool in the evening. I just can't imagine strutting out of the locker room in my suit with kids and families looking on. In the morning, it's still kind of dark and the old guys in speedos are far worse than I am. Yeah, I didn't swim because I'm embarrassed. Ouch, I just admitted that.
But I went this morning and I'm kicking myself for not going yesterday morning. Sheesh, I did my normal laps, felt completely out of breath but surprisingly strong. And, I'm a lot less sore after the swim than I was before. Something about lactic acid that I don't completely believe but is probably true anyway.
But here's what I realized. I'm strong enough to swim a LOT more laps, I just don't have the cardiovascular endurance. But I have to do more laps to be able to swim more laps. I feel like I'm at a bit of a crossroads or plateau even. So, I'm going to continue towards my goal of swimming 20 laps without stopping. But I'm also going to do another 10 laps afterwards of just kickboard. It will help my kick and give me an extra cardio workout.
Maybe, just maybe, I can break through this little "out of breath middle aged guy" problem.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It could be your capillaries, you know.
ReplyDeleteI read about this years ago when I was a semi-serious biker, and probably have it goofed up in several major ways, but I think your newfound strength has to do with capillaries - those tiny little blood vessels.
Somehow, when you start working muscles after years of lethargy, the little capillaries wake up and realize they better start growing so they can do a better job of getting oxygen to the muscles and lactic acid out of them. In the first few weeks after extended couch sitting, those old, sleepy muscles get a lot more efficient because of all the new capillaries.
So while your cardio is ramping up, the muscles are doing their part, too, needing less cardio strength than they used to, to do the same work,.
There really should be a National Capillary Day.