In Hot Water

This is our second summer in Phoenix and while May was unseasonably cool (not really chilly but just below average temperatures for the area), June rolled around and brought the hot weather with it.  I call it the hair dryer – even the breezes are hot.  Temperatures all week are above 110 and it makes outdoor activity, especially physical exercise, virtually impossible for a heat weakling like me.  Summer in Phoenix takes on qualities of the winter in the Midwest – a lot of indoors time leads to cabin fever and a little weight gain.  Not so fun.

However our new house brought us into a new neighborhood and we have a community pool.  I started out by just getting a punch pass and over time I may become a monthly member.  It’s great because the lane lines are always in place and there are diving blocks and the warning flags – it’s a real “competition” style pool available to me 6 days a week and all year round.

Being able to get in the pool and get a workout will make this summer tolerable I think.  JT is not a swimmer (I was on the high school swim team for three years) so he has invested in a mountain bike that he takes out on the mountain you can kind of see in the background of the image above while I’m cruising in the pool.  It works out because while I enjoy bikes while on a flat, stable surface, South Mountain is the opposite of flat so we both get some exercise into our 30 something selves.

The pool stays open until 9:15 pm during the week so during the work week I have been swimming in the dusk and evening.  It’s such a cool feeling to glide through the water with the night sky above you.

Here was the workout I did last night:

-1 x 200 freestyle with 100 easy then 100 intense
-1x 50 breaststroke
-1 x 200 freestyle with 100 easy then 100 intense
-1 x 50 backstroke
Repeat the above twice
-500 freestyle with a moderate build
-100 cool down

I’m not Olympic material and don’t necessarily want to join a Masters swim group just because I don’t really have a competitive bone in my body when it comes to sports.  However I do go “full swimmer” and wear a swim cap, goggles and do flip turns during my workout.  It felt like riding a bike (ha ha) – I haven’t done a real “swim practice” since probably 1998 but getting back in the pool and working on my strokes felt so natural.  It’s also a great release from all the “screens” in my life – the work computer, the home computer, the work tablet, the home TV.  When you’re in the pool, swimming in your own lane, it’s just you, your breathing and your thoughts.  I also count each lap to hold my place in the workout (for some of you non-swimmers, a 200 is 8 laps in a 25 yard pool and a 500 is 20 laps) and it’s very meditative.  I’m in (not very) hot water and I love it.

Cheers!
CT

(PS – JT and I have been having a lot of home conversations about the Charleston shootings.  I hope you have conversations with the people in your life too.  We need more conversations and we need change.)