Stress Relief

Some time back (April, actually) I rejoined Gold's Gym with the intention of swimming again. Through the plant-closing process and its associated stresses, swimming has come to be my main stress reliever. It also makes my knees feel better, and I sleep better, though I have yet to lose any discernible weight. I tell myself that I weigh the same because I have gained muscle weight and lost fat, but it's not true. It's still fat. (OK, I actually use swimming as a way of allowing myself to still eat the bad stuff.) But I can go a lot longer and faster without gasping for breath like I did at first. And my swimming has been officially endorsed by both my orthopedic surgeon (who is a swimmer) and my gynecologist (not because "that" has anything to do with swimming, but because he is a swimmer, too).

Once the plant closing is over I plan to do what I do in Florida. When I'm there, the first thing I do every day is put on my swimsuit and go to the beach. I swim, or whatever, for as long as I want, then I go home, clean up, and go on with my day. I plan to do the same with going to the gym here - get up, swim, shower, then go on with the day. For now, though, I have to squeeze swimming in between work and whatever else is going on in the evening, which means that many days I don't get there at all. And when I do get there, I might have limited time, so I can't get much distance in.

I last swam on Sunday morning, which is my favorite time. The pool is usually empty and quiet, and there is sun coming in the window... it's very soothing and peaceful. Monday I couldn't go. Today at work I just knew that I HAD to get to the pool tonight, no matter what. Work has been incredibly stressful this week (as of today, we have 41 working days left). The final push is coming, and in my group, we have been promised lots of overtime as we pull the remaining stock out of the stockrooms and get it sorted to be scrapped or sent away. Particular people have been even bigger idiots than they usually are, and no one seems to know what anyone else is doing. Machines leave every day, strangers are all around pulling equipment and doing the environmental cleaning, and we are both busy and looking for something to do all the time. My knees have been horrible lately (since I've spent less time on the forklift and more on my feet). In short, I knew if I didn't swim today, there was a good chance that I might kill someone tomorrow. (It could still happen, but it's less likely now.)

I've discovered a pattern to my workouts. For the first few laps I just stretch, check in with all parts of my body to assess what hurts or what my limits are, and get settled in the water. Then at some unknown time, sometimes 10 laps in, sometimes 30 laps in, it feels like I could just go on swimming forever. At the risk of sounding like a total dork, I feel like I live in the water, like there is absolutely no effort in going from one end to the other. And at times, I even wish the pool was longer, when I really get a good rhythm going and I don't want to stop and turn. If there are other people around I completely tune them out at this point. They just don't exist. That's when I really love it - when it feels like the water is where I belong.

Since I got the Zoomer fins and the paddles, I have been able to mix up my workout a lot, which has been great. It makes it more fun, and I get a better workout from it. I can really feel the difference in the morning. When the amount of time I have decided on is up, I quit, check my number of laps (I never look until I'm done so I don't know how many I've done along the way), sit in the hot tub and stretch for several minutes, then get back in the pool to stretch further and to cool down. Tonight was really great, but I wish I had had an additional 30 minutes. No one will die at work tomorrow, at least not by my hand. Unless it's an accident - or I can make it look like one. :)