Let’s be clear about this – I’ve never been a swimmer. It’s just not me. Growing up I never had enough body fat to float, and swimming just never stuck.

Don’t worry, I’m safe in the water. I can tread water like nobody’s business.

Given that it’s great cross-training, in the last year or two I have given swimming a really good try. I’ve learned many things – good goggles are imperative, a good swim cap keeps water out of your ears, and a nose plug, while being helpful, is really hard to get put on correctly and comfortably. I need a new swimsuit, but that will just have to wait until I can afford it.

So, my scheduled workout for tonight was a swim.

I was tempted to skip a workout altogether, as it was the day after a hard workout and I had scheduled cross-training. Plus I was already home as Chris had an eye appointment this afternoon. I was also tempted to do tomorrow’s 40 minute run. But, I convinced myself to stick to the schedule. It’ll pay off later.

You know, the 30 minute swim (broken into 10 minute segments because I’m really not a swimmer) wasn’t so bad. I did 28 lengths of the pool, I think, so 14 laps. Assuming it’s a 25m pool, that’s 700 meters. Could have been worse.

It was a slow night at the pool, so they also had all the fun ‘lap swimmer’ pool toys out – kick boards, flippers, and hand paddles. I gave the paddles a try, as they are supposed to help with your stroke (guess what? they did!). I also gave the kick board a go, as doing it backwards with the board behind your head is supposed to be killer for your abs.

Overall, we’ll call this workout a success, despite the fact I still feel like a fish out of water in the pool and it took nearly half the workout for me to even remember how to correctly move my arms during my stroke.