35 degrees

It's christmas eve and I spent the morning doing things that are good for me including going to the gym and then doing a dip. Now I feel I can spend the rest of the day on the couch. :)

Since it's christmas eve I had to go early in the day before the gym closes. At the gym I've been doing a regular erg routine where I do a one minute warm up followed by 16 rounds of 40 seconds on/20 seconds off (double tabata) and then, in the spirit of parkour, I do one more. So my last round is 80 seconds, and then I cool down for a minute and a half. It winds up being 20 minutes and I typically do the bulk of the workout in zone 3 heart rate, or even zone 4 when I'm feeling froggy. After I lift for a half hour or so - doing a combo of exercises for my glutes, squats, arms and core, and now stretching my IT bands because the doctor says they are really tight.  I always feel good when I am finished, even if it's hard to motivate to start.

I met 3 friends at the lake for a nice swim. When I left home it was snowing out, and it continued to snow when we got to the lake. It was so pretty - they were those huge flakes that sort of dance around - the water was really calm, the sky was a hazy gray, and I even saw one of the bald eagles. I'd been really wanting to do a swim swim instead of just a dip, and decided it was a good day to go for it. It wasn't too windy and the temp wasn't that cold. I did bring along my thicker 5 mm swim gloves instead of the 3 mm ones because I've been waking up with numb hands at night, which I don't think is a good thing. And wow did they make the swim easier.

I walked into the water up to my waist and then just went for it. After I got in I realized that I forgot my ear plugs, but by the time that I had really thought it through my face was acclimatized to the water and I didn't want to stop. I've been counting strokes instead of just relying on the poles on the beach, I think in part because it gives me something to do. My first length I did 45, and then made up for being below 50 by doing 55 a couple times. In the end my watch said that I did .17 miles, which is 273 meters, so more than 200 meters. So, I know I can go a little less than 50 strokes per length and be fine.

As per usual, I started off too fast, but fortunately I quickly caught myself and slowed down so I could catch my breath and keep going. The water was obviously pretty cold (according to my watch it was 35, so it was really cold), but I didn't feel too bad. Amazingly, while I was swimming a patch of the sky opened up and the sun came out! Such a weird weather day. The whole thing, with walking in, swimming and walking out took me 10 minutes and 16 seconds, which I think we can all agree is more than 5 minutes. According to ai, I will be about 1 minute and 46 seconds over the time limit if I swim at that pace. Last year I was about 13 seconds over the limit. So, it seems I am getting slower. I could go to the Y and practice swimming, but I really don't want to. Next time I'm doing a trial run I will try to focus a little more on my reach and pull.

I was really cold and a little stumbly after the swim, even with the thicker gloves on. But then one of my friends was like "you stayed in for a really long time," so I had to act all cool about it. I was really cold, but once I got dressed I felt like I warmed up fine, and I was at like 80% warm by the time I got home. When I arrived here I took my boots off to avoid leaving sand on the floor and rushed to the bathroom to hang my things to dry. As I got close I slipped on the floor and almost fell on my butt on a huge pile of cat vomit. So gross. But definitely a good excuse to take a nice hot shower. Now I'm on the couch with my cats, feeling super warm and cozy.