Swimming for the temporarily disabled

Being disabled sucks, to put it bluntly. No running. It actually still hurts to do the stairs but it's getting better. No cycling. This would just continue to retard the healing process. I guess I can walk. But that is so boring. No speed, no wind through my helmet. The withdrawal that comes from not being able to exercise is kicking in. My muscles are getting sore, my heart is starting to feel achy, and my mood is plummeting. I actually caught myself close to tears yesterday for no apparent reason.

But then I cheered up when I realized that there is an activity, in addition to heading to the gym, I can do while my ITB heals over the next 4-6 weeks.

Swim.

I don't particularly like swimming. I can do it, and usually do at least the breast stroke and the front crawl well, if not slow. I don't know how to do the butterfly, effectively, and I hate the back stroke.

Swimming is just not a sport I seek out.

Maybe it's because I hate getting swimmer's ear and the inevitable ear infection that comes afterward. I know I hate the necessity of trying to hide the razor burn at the top of my legs where I try to stifle my pubic hair from escaping the confines of my bathing suit. I should get it waxed like everyone else does but the razor is so much more convenient, and cheaper.

I like to do things alone. Solo. Did you catch the blog title? It's so true. The reason I like it this way is because I neither wait for nor depend on anyone else but me. Understandably then, waiting for a free lane at the local pool is not a favorite activity of mine. It wastes time and wages battle with my will power to stay and complete my activity. More about this later.

I also do not like having to share a lane. This is a theme with me. Maybe a theme with anyone having to share a confined space. Cyclists are not the best sharers; but neither are drivers, as evidenced by some of the experiences I have had on the open road as both a runner and a cyclist. Sharing is difficult.

Sharing a lane at the pool is more cumbersome than sharing the road. Doing the front crawl is one thing; I can handle that because all the limbs are moving in the same direction front and back. But the breast stroke is a completely different story. Picture a frog in a crowded fish tank. You have to have one or the other. Maybe that's why you never see frogs in fish tanks.

There are a few other reasons I do not prefer to swim: the highly chlorinated water (and things in that water that didn't die with all the chemicals), the locker room, and my slack belly that I still can't get rid of no matter how many ab-crunches I do.

No matter. For my health, and my sanity, I have to throw in {on :) }the towel on this one. In the long run it will benefit me and my family. Who knows? Maybe I can use it to springboard into completing a triathlon soon......nah, maybe not. Open water is not my thing. More on that one later, too.