48 days and counting..it has been over 20 years since I have not swum in a pool or open water for that number of days consecutively. This whole pandemic thing along with social distancing is not good for those that have built a life around their aquatic pursuits.
Realizing this no pool and open water problem could last for awhile I pivoted the exercise routine and started walk/running per my prior blog~No pool, no problem (ish) In fact, last month I walked 27.5 hours for 102 miles. To shake things up I bought stretch cords to work on the upper body. Despite it being an Amazon Prime order it took over three weeks for them to arrive. I used the cords maybe four times and…they snapped!
Clearly, I don’t know my own strength. So much for my upper body strength. So its back to walking until the new stretch cords eventually arrive.
Urban living has been fun though not what we expected in this Covid world. Nonetheless, Shannon and I needed a break from our urban living environment. While perhaps not totally kosher in our pandemic world we headed to Cape Cod for a few days.
Hope sprung eternal that we would have a change of pace and perhaps…a chance to jump in the water for a swim. With an unusually cold spring I knew that if I had any hope of getting in the water I would have to resort to…a wet suit! A wetsuit? Yes, the first of my two desperate measures. It had been at least 5 years since I have donned a wetsuit. Would it fit? Fit it did, but I forgot what a pain they are to put on!
That led to my second desperate measure. Everyone knows that over the last several years Cape Cod waters have become overpopulated with seals and well…you know what that means. We were at the beach, I had a wetsuit on, and my non-swimming mental state was such that I had to get in the water. Ignoring the warning signs it was time to get in the water.
Walking towards the water I was excited and nervous at the same time. Was the water cold? What was out there (even close to shore)? Importantly would I still be able to swim? I hadn’t swum in 48 days.
After slowly wading in I was finally able to take the plunge. I only did about 800 yards over the course of 13 minutes. There was plenty of starting and stopping to stave off the effects of the cold. Eventually, I got some sort of weak rhythm. Not sure I ever really warmed up. The temp was 48 degrees.
It was great to be in and to feel the water despite the very cold temp. I could still swim-kinda. When the time comes it will be a process to eventually get in shape.
Bottom line-there times in life where desperate measure need to be taken…that is ok and it actually can be quite freeing for the soul.
Looking forward to non-iso days and warmer waters.
P.S.-I trust the reader noticed this blog was written without using the “S-word” 🦈
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