I think lap-swimming is a workout activity that sucks.  Those are words that I’ve said for years.  I’d rather go for a 20 mile run than try to swim 1 mile.  The fact is, I can’t very far without pain.  Life doesn’t go as planned and instead of focusing on what I can’t do, I am finding wins doing other things.  My running abilities are slowly coming back as I’m feeling stronger each day, but I am more focused on building my overall strength so that my body can protect my back. This is how I’ll qualify for the Boston Marathon within the next 5.5 years.

So let’s flash-back many years ago when I was fat and out of shape while taking scuba diving certifications classes.  I was barely able to swim 3 laps at the YMCA during our first day of pool training.  You should have seen how pathetic I looked during that last lap.  After that fail we practiced gear assembly while I watched some guy a few lanes swim a mile.  I thought that dude was some sort of athletic freak for being able to complete that feat. I also resigned myself as someone who would never swim a mile.  Yeah, that voice in my heads sucks too.

Lap-swimming as a method of cardio was suggested to me by many people after my accident.  My back was so jacked up after being struck by a drunk driver, the low joint impact of swimming was a logical workout.  Although I love water and am very experienced scuba diver, I’m not that great of a swimmer.  Think of it like this:  I only know how to move forward and not sink. 

In years past, I’ve had a few other runners encourage me to try competing in a triathlon.  Bleh, I can’t swim that far was always my first reaction.  No thanks, sir.  I admired anyone that could compete in one, especially an ironman or a half ironman.

I decided to finally give swimming a try back in June. My wife swam competitively in her youth and had worked it back into her training routine six months prior.  She jumped in the pool at the same time as I did and swam over 1,000 yards with what looked to be little effort.  Me? I squeezed out 200 yards and couldn’t go one more lap.  I saw this as a challenge and decided at that very moment that I would be capable of swimming one mile by the end of the year.

I’ve been grinding in the pool since then.  My plan has been simple:  swim 1-2 more laps than I did last time.  I’ve been executing the plan since that time and just like that, I’ve gone from 200 yards to a full mile in less than 5 months. 

My form is horrible and I am still working on establishing a perfect breathing cadence.  I’ll get these things corrected.  I am considering enrolling for swimming lessons.  Who does that at 44 years old?  You do that at 6 years old, right?

What have I learned?  Just like everything else:  write it down, come up with a plan and do it.  I spent 44 years telling myself that I was not capable of doing something else that I was fully capable of doing so.  And guess what?  I haven’t been doing it very long.  Could I swim 1.5 miles?  2 miles?  Heck yeah I can! 

Although it’s not my favorite workout, I am at the point where I look forward to swimming laps.  I’m past the stage of thinking “swimming sucks”; I now see it as something knocked without trying.  I’ll continue to work on it and become a faster swimmer who can go longer distances.  I plan to compete in a half Ironman before I am 50 years old.  The cycling part will be the challenge at this point as I’m still unable to ride a bike without pain.  I’ll be strong enough to do it someday.

I would not have tried swimming without the accident.  I would have never believed that I could work my way up to a mile, nor would I have wanted to try.  My newfound challenge is a blessing in my life.  It’s another opportunity to get healthier as I am working out different muscle groups while logging no-impact cardio minutes.  The injuries still continue to impact my life, but I see my new swimming abilities as a blessing given to me because of the accident.  I am continuing to seek out other blessings as they help my overall recovery process.

I get motivated to do things when someone tells me I can’t.  Doctors told me to re-think my running expectations.  That motivated me. Doctors reminded me that I’m getting older which will play a role in what I can do; I thought of local runners 20 years older than me that compete in marathons. I don’t buy that age thing as those older fellas give me motivation to know that my best running years are yet to come. This motivation isn’t exclusive to fitness.  Early in my career, a new boss told me she didn’t think I was capable of performing at a high level in my job at that time.  Proving that ex-boss wrong was motivation to succeed for over a decade.  I think it is normal for many of us to get motivated when others tell us what we can’t do.  Why don’t we do the same thing when the only person telling us we can’t is the person inside our own head?  That was the only person telling me I couldn’t do this… I need to quit listening to that guy.  He’s a jerk sometimes.  If I can encourage you to do something today it is do something that you think sucks.  Go get it.

Oh look a pool.  Catch you later,

Beast