Go-faster Stripes

Today was a swimming day.  I got up at the time I used to call the middle of the night and found that it wasn't so bad after all.  It's probably because it's now properly light when I get up.  I also had two very exciting things to look forward to this morning.  One of them was picking up my swimming pool membership card.  The other was trying out my new swimming hat.

When I got to the pool I asked the lady at the counter for my membership card.  I had my picture taken (for their records but, bizarrely, not to put on the card itself) and I was good to go.  The next thing I had to deal with, once I was in my swimsuit, was putting on my hat for the first time.  I don't know for certain, but I believe that one of the reasons that I have never before worn a swimming hat is that my hair was so thick and long as a child that my parents couldn't be doing with trying to get it all into what is, effectively, a rubber glove with no fingers. (Now there's a thought, you could go swimming with a rubber glove on your head and look like a chicken - this might be the answer to the question "why did the French supermarket I frequented in 1999/2000 sell rubber gloves in packs of five?"  I digress.)  I thought that my once again long and still thick hair was quite likely to cause me issues but, having put it in a sort of loose bun on the top of my head, the hat went on pretty smoothly.

Modern swimming hats tend to be made of silicone, so wearing one is a bit like having a cupcake baking tray on your head.  Well, sort of.  It felt a bit snug at first, but it was alright after a while.  You might remember that I also bought a tri-mask on Saturday.  I decided that trialling one piece of new equipment per session was sufficient, so I'll leave that for another day.  It's a bit like my number one rule for a night out - only one piece of potentially troublesome clothing per outfit; for example, if I have to wear a strapless bra with a particular dress, then the 5-inch heels are staying at home.  As a result of leaving the tri-mask at home, I had to put up with the foggy goggles one more time and adjust the strap to fit my new, streamlined head.

The swimming hat and the membership card!

By this point, I was actually ready to get into the water!  Today's session involved 4 lengths of breaststroke, 2 x 3 lengths of front crawl, 4 x 2 lengths of front crawl and then 2 lengths of breaststroke as a cool down.  Apparently this week is a consolidation week, so the sessions aren't quite as tough as last week.  The hat definitely makes a difference.  I think I was swimming faster than normal, but the main difference is that swimming just feels easier without the drag (and dripping) of my hair to contend with.  I was able to focus on the form of my stroke a lot more because I wasn't panicking so much about breathing, too, and that included making sure I was looking straight down to the bottom of the pool (no frogmen today!) rather than slightly ahead of me.  I also worked on getting my upper body rotation right, which I find a bit difficult - the main problem is that I still really only want to breathe to the left, and I think that makes my stroke generally a bit lopsided, as my right arm doesn't come far enough out of the water and my left arm spends too long in the air.  By the end of the session, I'd improved a bit, but when I get tired, my form goes, so it's something to keep working on.  In total, I swam 600m today, which makes my total to date 2.52km.

When I was getting out of the pool, I realised that I must have been going at quite a lick (in the medium lane, no less - there was only one other person in it, so it made sense!) as I was changed and ready ten minutes earlier than normal, having done about the same amount of swimming and having spent time getting the hat on before I even got in!  I put this down to the stripes on the hat, which must make me go faster.

One of my favourite things about my morning swims is the walk to work afterwards (apart from the actually getting to work bit, obvs).  I walk past the London Symphony Orchestra's rehearsal space in an old church, past the church gardens and down Whitecross Street, where there is a lunchtime market every day - when I'm walking down there, the traders are just setting up for the day and it is bustling and full of life.

If you would like to sponsor my swimming hat, then click the Justgiving link on the right of the page.  I will also pledge that once the donations hit £100, I will post a picture of me wearing my swimming hat on this blog!