Last week I went to Maryland/Washington DC to meet my new niece, who of course is adorable. I spent 3 days visiting, feeding and entertaining. I also read an entire book and cooked on the last day (because she's only 8 weeks old, and sleeps a lot). Because I only went for 3 days, I bought the cheapest seat on jetblue, which only allows you to bring a personal item that goes under the seat. Terrific way to travel! No worries about luggage. Also, since I just had one bag, I realized that I could blue bike to the airport, which just sounded like such a fun adventure. So, that's what I did.
To get to the airport, I left at 7 am on Sunday. The roads were pretty quiet, without much traffic, and it wasn't too hot out. I took a route through Everett, Chelsea, and East Boston, and left the bike at the airport subway stop, where I caught a shuttle to the airport. It's not the prettiest ride, but there were bike lanes for most of it, and it never felt unsafe. The only downer was that the bike that I got had a loose seat, and it kept slipping down so I was riding all bunched up. Fortunately I was able to switch if for a new bike in East Boston. On the way home, it was later in the day and hotter, plus more traffic, and I didn't want to take that same route. So, instead, I took the bus to a water taxi to the aquarium, and then a blue bike home from there. It was a much nicer ride, though a few sketchy spots in the city. All and all, a good adventure and way to stay away from the tunnel traffic.
Thursday was my third swim lesson, and it was another good one. We worked on some swim drills for endurance, including doing sprints, and then we learned the basics of flip turns. We did a few drills - first we swam 4 50-meters x 3, with a 10 second rest between each one. Then we did 6 25-meter swims, trying to sprint. Then, we did 4 25-meter swims only taking half our usual breaths. Finally, we did 12 25-meter swims trying to sprint for the first 6 strokes on the first 6, and 4 strokes on the second 6. We took 10 second rests between each lap. After, we were all tired, and started to learn flip turns. I did that when I took private lessons long ago at the Y, but this time I was much more successful. He had us swim to the wall, take 2 strokes after the T at the bottom of the pool and then do a somersault and try to push off the wall. I only swallowed water once, and a few times I got in the general vicinity of doing a turn, though one time I wound up in the next lane by accident. Plenty of work to do on that, but not impossible.
I checked the registration for the second half of summer, and I was able to get a spot in the stroke refinement class, which is a level below the one I'm in now! I was super excited about it, because I want to keep taking lessons. It's a little funny to be going down a level, but whatever, I have a lot to learn so I think it will be helpful.
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