Here's a recap:
1) Locate a nearby sporting goods store that both carries the necessary swimwear (suit and goggles) and does not employ annoying sales people. Mission was accomplished by visiting City Sports on 19th and L.
2) Purchase suit that is modest, supportive, relatively inexpensive and (as much as possible) is flattering. Also, purchase goggles that keep water out of my eyes, preferably not giving me the puffy raccoon eyes I remember from my days on the Monroe Area Swim Team. I achieved most of my goals by selecting these two beauties:
I do need to point out that this suit is navy. Yes, I am swimming wearing the poor man's black, but when I put it on, there was just something about this suit that felt right. It might have been a side affect of the poor, fluorescent lighting of the fitting room or my low blood sugar while shopping, but I really like my newest purchase. Plus, I forgot how much competition swimming suits are like Spanx for your mid-section. I might start wearing one on a daily basis.
3) Locate local swimming facility and desperately hope that I remember how to swim. As a resident of the District of Columbia, I may not have a voting member of Congress (an issue for another time and another blog) but by golly, I DO have free access to quality and well-maintained indoor swimming facilities. Gosh, it's good to remember why I live here!
The Wilson Aquatic Center is just a block from the Tenleytown metro and a great facility. Even though it is well out my daily commute, I would very much like to visit here again, hopefully on a regular basis. As an added bonus, there is a Guapo's a block away.
4)Swim! Oh, and swim I did! It felt really good to be in the water, using my muscles in a way that I haven't for a very long time. On the downside, I'm not really sure what I've previously done while swimming. Talking to myself got very boring, very fast. I mean, I do that enough everyday.
My pre-training instructions indicate that I should be swimming for about 30 minutes, with few breaks in between laps. So I swam for the prescribed 30 minutes and completed 22 laps or 1100 meters. I did have to break the strokes and did about half and half, freestyle and breaststroke. Still, in 30 minutes that's about .68 miles. I feel pretty confident that with a little training, I will be able to swim .9 miles with no issue. Although, I still do have to deal with the fact that I'll be swimming in the Potomac...ew.
Next up, where oh where are my compression shorts???
