oops…
…I seem to have overdone things again.
I went swimming last week, and if I’m honest with myself, I haven’t been the same since. I tried to be careful - I didn’t make my usual mistake to counting how many lengths I was doing, I didn’t keep swimming, I didn’t stay in the water too long.
Actually that last one is a lie, I did stay in too long, that was my mistake. I probably should have spent ten minutes in the water and not forty-five. It feels embarrassing getting the water for only ten minutes though. I find it hard enough taking regular breaks between lengths. How silly does it look climbing in the pool, doing a couple of lengths and then getting out again? Probably a lot less silly than paddling up and down for forty-five and not being able to do anything much for a month afterwards. What’s more I’m sure no one was looking at me. The urge to do more than is good for me is all in my head, there is no one at the side of the pool pointing and laughing at me (and even if there was why, oh why would I ever take any notice?). So, I only have myself to blame - and I’m trying not to do that too much.
I’ve made a mistake, I’m going to learn from it. It might be a bit of a ho hum time again for a while, but it will pass. I shall put my swimming goggles away until I feel better and next time make sure I only swim for ten minutes (well, maybe fifteen)…
December 17th, 2005 at 2:36 pm
I hope you are doing better now…It is too bad that you have to watch yourself as close as you do.
Great drawing of the goggles, by the way.
December 17th, 2005 at 3:03 pm
no 5 then the next time you can do 6
one question what would have happened to a person who went swimming for 45 mins had no health issues at all but was unfit?
answer they would be bloody bloody tired and sore.
michael michael michael…
December 17th, 2005 at 8:35 pm
my health issues are much milder than yours
and the most i can do on certain days is 15-20 minutes
and i’ve been at it for a year
the water feels so great…and moving…i’m learning to savor the seconds, as well as the minutes
December 18th, 2005 at 5:05 pm
Just began to swim a little myself here in Wash. DC and its great! I had simular issues about how long to stay and how many laps to do and what to wear but my breath told me when to stop, I was winded after a a couple half laps. I did some time in the hot tub with it’s theraputic bubbles and warm jets afterwards. In the end I am sore because I over did it on tender parts of my body that I am not sure how to use in the water. Physical therapy did not teach me how to swim with my spinal degeneration. I have made it into pool twice in the first week, but I lost interest in my workout on land to keep the weak parts strong! This is the battle I have been fighting for the last 4 years. Winter is a difficult time to stay in shape and even harder if you are in anyway fraigle.
All we can do is the best we know how at any given time and be happy we know better next time. It is nice to hear you enjoyed your swim and see your goggle drawing. Sad your demon voices were pushing you to over exert yourself during your first visit.
Hope your holidays are bright and warm and you don’t have to wait a whole month to go back to the pool for a brief swim,
Frederick
December 18th, 2005 at 7:00 pm
Hiya Michael!
Don’t despair, this is precisely where I was about one and a half years ago, but now I have worked my way up to surfing for up to an hour and a half a day, even twice on the occasional day of classic surf when I can’t resist. I still have to play it carefully, like when I had a virus for three weeks, followed by the flu jab after effects recently, but after a sensible break for my own protection, I am back up there surfing again. Coming from someone who has had ME with some very severe symptoms indeed over the last 6 years [I still have to pinch myself when I say that bit], I just want to say, there IS light at the end of the tunnel, and I am bathing in it as proof. May your recovery come as dramatically as my own has come. I still get tired, that’s a human thing, and it’s quite normal, and I no longer panic when it happens, but I can do all kinds of stuff without getting really poorly, which is what was happening, just as you describe. Go with the flow, don’t take the bad times personally, don’t let them put you off trying, and go for gold - it WILL come. I am meeting more and more people who, after years [some up to 12, some 18 years] of this rotten illness, are now fit, active, and well. Most of them did it by finding their own way to health, not by taking meds, not by listening to their doctors’ advice, because the medical profession are still experimenting with approached to this condition.
Good on ya for trying mate. Enjoy the rest, don’t kill yourself with the poisons of Christmas, and enjoy the opportunity of a New Year, and a new start. May it be a more energetic one.
Apologies for very long comment,
Blue.
December 20th, 2005 at 1:11 am
Don’t mind what other people might think. Also, 45 minutes really would be a long time for anyone! I only stay in for 30, and I’m healthy - 10 minutes wouldn’t be bad at all, seeing where you’re coming from. Go for it Michael!
And merry christmas, too
December 24th, 2005 at 6:18 am
Oh, Michael — I so relate to this. Before I got sick, I swam about a mile a day. This slowly decreased to about 1/2 a mile (something I should have noticed with more attention) — and then, wham.
I hung in there for a long time — years. But it’s so true — to go to the pool, undress, get in the pool, swim two laps and get out — then all the showering and redressing and and and ….
It’s so frustrating.