Endurance

Well, I have not gone running since just over a week ago, in Indiana County. But I am sticking with my thrice weekly swimming. I have been pretty good about completing 20 laps each time; more often than not, I manage 25 or more.

I have found that for the most part when I swim at a reasonable, almost slow, pace, I hardly tire; I am pretty sure I could swim 40 or 50 laps. Not at once, mind you, but over the 1.5 to 2 hours that I am at the pool. Typically, I swim about 10 laps. Then I play with my kid. Then I swim another 10 laps. Then back to kid time. My fitting in any more laps depends on how long we stay at the pool and if my kid has found someone else to play with. (During the rare times when my kid is not at the pool with me, I usually swim 15 laps at a time.)

Today after I did my first 20 laps, when I was not dodging a group of kids or playing a couple rounds of tag with a few of those same kids, I swam probably another 10 laps over a 45-minute period. I also fit in some treading water and jogging. If the chlorine was not burning my eyes and skin so much and I was not hungry (the downside of swimming), I am pretty sure I could have swum another 10 or so.

I may not be the fastest swimmer. And I am certainly not the most graceful swimmer. (In fact, the wake I leave behind [or ahead, really] when I swim the butterfly is something.) But there is something to be said of endurance.

Which I just did. :-)