Cross-Training: At the pool

because in 2011, nowhere is off-limits for blog pictures

Well, it must be winter. Because I'm actually cross training. (Are you????)

I didn't really know what cross training was until I checked Wikipedia (basically it's doing other forms of exercise). 

During the cold, dark winter months, I always get reacquainted with swimming, and remember how much I love it. I used to teach swim lessons back in the days when my source of income was from life guarding, and teaching swim lessons was a part of working at the community pool. Seriously, I loved getting paid to basically swim around, tell kids what to do, and play games in the water. I would say maybe that means I should have been a teacher, but swim lessons only lasted an hour, so I'll stick with marketing.

And in the grand circle of life, when I was a kid, I used to take swim lessons at the pool where I eventually taught them. And boy did I take swim lessons. The rule in our house was if you wanted a membership to the community pool (and you did, because that's where all your friends were all summer), you had to take swim lessons. Every summer. And you could stop when you basically passed through all the levels and ran out of classes to take. (I still never mastered the butterfly. Maybe I should work on that as a goal this winter. Judie?) I took swim lessons for probably 10-11 years. I hope that means I have good form. But knowing the type of swim teachers they employed (um, teenagers who needed summer jobs), it very well could be that we learned enough just to not drown.

Anyway, it was cold and rainy today, so I went to the gym and decided to see if I could swim a mile (32 laps). It took me 50 minutes. And it felt really great. I'm sure there's some kind of baptismal metaphor in there, but sometimes it feels really good to be submerged in water, shut off from the world. And if I keep this up, I wonder how fast I can swim a mile by the time spring rolls back around, and the weather improves, and I once again forget how much I enjoy swimming. Because I also really enjoy running ... yes, completing a triathlon is on my to do list. Heck, I might even start taking spin classes at the gym again this winter. 

And luckily I can mix it up with cross training even more at my sister-in-law's dance studio. Hula hooping and belly dance count as cross training, right?