Enjoy Your Swim

"Enjoy your swim." That's what I was greeted with tonight at VNSO pool as a new pool locker room attendant took my GYST bag.  I'm not sure why, but it really hit me.  The ONLY reason I was at the pool was for exactly that reason, to enjoy the swim.  It was so simple!  Gone was the pressure of an Ironman.  Or a race of any kind.  I'm still in "recovery mode" so I wasn't planning to even push it hard tonight.  I just wanted to stay in my fitness routine and enjoy the swim.

Which I thoroughly did, and for crying out loud I did my fastest 100 of the entire year!  1:18. Where the hell did that come from?

I honestly think it had something to do with simply enjoying the swim and having no agenda or pressure.  That, and for the first time since I've been a part of Fortius Racing, I paid Gerardo in cash for a single workout.  I'm no longer on a monthly workout plan as I explained in yesterday's post.  I'm just paying as I go for swim sessions.  The simple act of taking cash from my wallet and handing it Gerardo meant something different to me tonight.  It was as if I was making a personal choice and investment of "real" time and money to be in the pool for the next hour. When the money isn't physically leaving your wallet, instead coming out of a Paypal account, credit card or check, I think perhaps it's easier to mail in a workout here and there.  But when you actually see that money exchanging hands, it's a little more real.  I don't want to waste that $10.  So I better bring it.  I'm paying for it right here and now, making a choice to be here in this moment.

Just some random observations after a hard swim workout.  Harder than I expected, that's for sure.  Gerardo gave me drills to do involving swim gloves (web-like paddles), a pull buoy and an ankle wrap that I'll becoming very familiar with over the next several months.  It certainly helped me go faster tonight for some reason.  I'm still mystified about that.

"Enjoy your swim."

I'll have to try that more often!