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September 5, 2008
Chicken Arms
While I was looking at today's picture selection I finally figured out why I'm not a good swimmer.
I'm the 2nd from the left. Now look at those chicken arms! No muscle whatsoever! This is a picture from my high school senior year track season. (by the way - we had theme days at practice and this was apparently "wife beater" day as we usually did not wear this type of thing!) And this, my friends, is what I started with when I began swimming about 3 years ago. :)
Seriously, no excuses. And I know I'm not a bad swimmer either. But you have to admit, I had some work to do in the arm/back strength area before I could actually go about pulling some water to actually move forward!
Yesterday at masters practice we did 22x100 on various intervals with an all-out 100 at the end. The faster guys group in the lane above me essentially had 5x100 on 1:30, 5x100 on 1:25, 5x100 on 1:20 and 5x100 on 1:15 (not in that order but those were the totals when it was all over). I thought briefly of the possibility of trying to jump in with one of them. Can I do 100s on 1:15? Well, not exactly. But that might be because I never try. Or because I think in my head that I can't.
So I opted for the safe route, doing the workout by myself on slower intervals.
Stupid, stupid Beth.
Now why in the world would I have done that? Other than the fact that I was afraid of failing. But who the heck cares right? Who cares if I don't make the interval? Nobody!
I could have kicked myself. Not that my workout wasn't still challenging but why not aim a little higher? And who knows - maybe on their feet I could have swam 1:14s with 1 second rest.
When I got out of the pool I was angry with myself and disappointed in myself. And then Coach Jen told me "time to move up with those guys". Really? "Yep, you need to try and swim on their feet if you want to get faster". UGH!!!
I've been wanting to try to move up lanes for a bit now but for some reason I keep getting in the same lane every time I go to practice. It's not a big deal I know, but for some reason I am making it a much bigger thing than it is! I'm not sure what I'm waiting for. A hand delivered invitation? Someone to walk me over and introduce me to the guys that swim in those lanes? I don't think so!!
So I made a promise to myself to swim with those guys the next time I go to masters (Monday) and every time there after. No excuses. My coach wrote to me in an email the other day "Beth - you are a good swimmer and you better start believing that." Yes Coach, must start to believe...
So that's my swimming saga as it continues. :) I did have a great bike ride yesterday evening. It was hot but good training for my upcoming races! Not surprisingly I thought a lot about swimming while I was riding. I'm not really a big thinker and I don't over analyze things ever. But swimming has been on my mind lately. Or shall I say - always!
This morning, more swimming! Just an easy, short workout. And this evening some lifting. Working on those chicken arms of course... :)
Have a great weekend everyone!
Posted by beth at September 5, 2008 8:01 PM
Comments
This gives me hope that someday I can build up my chicken arms and swim better! I just started last year and so I have a long way to go.
Posted by: Molly at September 5, 2008 8:59 PM
You are a good swimmer! Get in that lane and hang on for dear life. Pretty soon those guys will be trying to keep up with you.
Posted by: maija at September 5, 2008 9:36 PM