Pool Workout…

I love long weekends! I just do. It is so nice to have the three days and as far and I am concerned every weekend should be 3 days. I think 4 days of work and 3 days of play is perfect, no? This morning I slept in until 8am and then chatted with bestie May on the phone for 4 hours. Yes, 4 HOURS! That is what besties do, right?! Once I got off the phone with her I realized I never ate breakfast and it was lunch time already…oops!!! So I got right to making lunch. I had a buffalo tuna salad sandwich (tuna, vegan “mayo” and buffalo sauce) on toasted whole wheat bread with cherries and a single serving bag of smart puffs.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning, doing laundry and ordering this week’s groceries since I can’t really grocery shop because of my injury. Around 4pm, I headed to the gym. Yes…the gym! I went armed with an old friend.

I haven’t worn this bathing suit since I was about 15 years old! The fact that I still have it is actually some kind of a miracle. Before getting into the pool though, I did an upper body strength workout.

My workout focused on my biceps and chest:

3 sets of 12 bicep curls with 10 pound dumbbells
3 sets of 12 push-ups (on my knees since I can’t use my toes to balance)
3 sets of 12 machine arm curls with 30 pounds
3 sets of 12 chest fly with 30 pounds
3 sets of 12 hammer curls with 15 pound dumbbells
3 sets of 2 chest presses with 30 pounds
Bonus: 3 set of 12 (on each side) side leg lifts

After my weight training, I hopped into the Speedo and headed down to face THE POOL (cue scary music)…. Luckily, I was greeted by a handsome and eager swim teacher.

You see, I have ALWAYS wanted to learn to swim but I have always had a fear of it. FFF Dad has a huge fear of water and I think I learned the fear of it from him. I did have a great time snorkeling when I was in the BVI’s this summer, but that took a lot of coaxing and encouragement before I really gave it a real chance and then I was a pro in no time. I always joke that I can swim to stay alive but not to get anywhere. Since swimming has minimal impact, I thought it was time to give it a try since I can’t really do much else. This came along with the hope that I would learn to swim well enough over the next few months that I would be able to finally sign up for a triathlon. Luckily, Adam is a phenomenal swimmer and swam competitively for about 12 years.

We spent about 45 minutes working on free-style stroke without my face in the water yet. I get freaked out when my face is in the water without me being able to see. I am going to need to buy goggles this weekend when someone can take me (I still can’t drive ). I used this flotation device to keep me more upright while I tried to get my legs moving too.

Towards the end of the lesson, I started to use my feet to kick and my left foot felt a little wonky. I could feel my break, so I stopped right away. I will see how I feel in the morning. I also tried the in water running. I used a float belt to keep upright while I ran in the pool.

The running actually felt great and was MUCH less pressure on my broken foot than the kicking when swimming. If my foot is sore in the morning, I will cease the swim kicking and just focus on the pool running. It felt like I was running but with zero impact since I was in the deep end. I loved it and it is my understanding that it is completely safe for me with my injured foot. It certainly felt like running on land in the sense that I could feel the blood pumping and I could feel my cardiovascular system really working. It’s a lot like regular running….I even lost a toenail.

HAHA! I am kidding, I did loose the toenail, but that bad boy has been hanging on my a tread since my marathon. It finally bit the dust tonight. Don’t worry, I didn’t leave in the pool, I grabbed it and threw it out. We finished our 7 lap or so workout with 10 minutes in the sauna before calling it a night. It felt so great to workout and get the blood flowing. The lifting and pool running felt great.

When I got home I prepared dinner. I made steamed green beans, baked bbq chicken breasts and 7 grain pilaf.