Swimming

Tuesday morning saw Flyfour and I drop the children off at school and then head off to the Swimming Pool at the local gym. We had decided to take advantage of both children being at School and go swimming together, something that we hadn't done sans children since I was pregnant with Top Ender back in 2003.

It had been a few days since I had been to the gym (I've lost my mojo) and I was intending to go to the Aquafit class on the Tuesday morning but with Flyfour agreeing to go with me this was an opportunity to push myself a bit more, I like competition, I like knowing that I'm faster or stronger than someone and Flyfour doesn't mind competing against me so we figured that this would be a good way to get back into me doing daily exercise.

We decided that as Flyfour was kind of skipping work (he was going to stay late to make up for going in late) we would only swim for a half hour and so getting in at the deep end we set off down the 25m pool. Flyfour has been going out on his bike every night for up to an hour, (and for long rides at the weekend) and his fitness is really improving. He would tell you himself, but as he doesn't blog you'll have to take my word for it!

I've found it rather harder to see that my fitness is improving on a daily basis, I mean I know I can go on the machines for harder and longer but I still get out of breath running up the stairs and I doubt I could go on a bike ride like Flyfour does on a daily basis but I realised as soon as I was half way down the pool that I was fitter than the last time I had gone swimming.

I was easily out swimming Flyfour and yes I was working hard and my breathing showed that, but it felt good and easy and I wasn't stressing about my heart rate or how much longer I "had" to exercise for as I was enjoying myself.

Swimming is easy, it's a total body work out if you use a variety of strokes (I alternate lengths between breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly which I'm rubbish at!) and it helps improve strength, cardiovascular fitness and endurance all of which is rather handy for someone like me who likes to see their fitness improving in measurable amounts.

We swam for just under half an hour and with breaks to chat at either end and to let other swimmers get out of the way we managed to swim 250meters. It isn't going to help me burn enough calories to lose weight, but it is helping me to enjoy exercise again.

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