Swimming

I have never thought of myself as an athletic person. This was just not something that was ever really encouraged by my parents, in fact extracurricular activities in general were discouraged. After my parents got a divorce, my mom just didn't have the time to drive us around to various after school activities, so I never had the chance to get involved in sports in junior high or high school and my only real exposure to exercise was PE class, which honestly was just a joke at most of the schools I attended.

It wasn't until I got to college that I started making an effort to get exercise. I started running and weight training when I was at Evangel with friends in the dorm. Chris and I played ultimate frisbee during the summers in Kansas City. I found myself enjoying being active and liking the way I looked as a result. And then graduate school started. Anything that could be cut from my schedule was as I threw myself into becoming a scientist. As a result I gained about 20 pounds and was really out of shape by the end of my second year. After qualifying exams, I decided I needed to do something about this problem and started taking kickboxing and step aerobics at the Cal rec center. While I enjoyed the classes and was getting a good workout, I got bored fairly quickly with the classes. They got me in shape, I lost 18 of the 20 pounds I gained (and I've managed to keep it off!!) but I knew I had to find something that I really enjoyed if I was going to stick with it.

When I was growing up we had a 4 ft deep above ground pool in our backyard and I swam almost every day in the summer. So much so, that my hair had a green tinge to it due to the chlorine during the summer months! I never received formal swim instruction-well I did have swimming lessons when I was 5 years old, where I learned to kick and blow bubbles underwater, but that was about it. I basically taught myself to swim freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke, but mostly I just spent my time making whirlpools in the pool, practicing my handstand underwater and diving for objects at the bottom of the pool.

Last fall I decided to take a swim class through the PE department here at Berkeley. It's kind of nice to have the department paying my tuition-I can take any class offered at Berkeley as long as I get approval from my boss. Berkeley offers five levels of swimming instruction: Beginner, Low Intermediate, Intermediate, High Intermediate and Lifeguard Training. I was a little unsure of my skill level when I enrolled, but decided to go for the intermediate swimming course. It was cool, I got my first real instruction in all four strokes (free, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly) as well as learned how to do flip turns. I struggled and still struggle with butterfly as I had never even attempted to swim butterfly until last semester. I also had developed a lot of bad habits over the years and all of my strokes needed a lot of work. But I did ok.

I should point out that I am not a fast swimmer. I am a member of the "not so fast lane" in the swim class (The lanes are labeled: Fast, Medium Fast, Medium Not So Fast, and Not So Fast). But I made real improvement last semester. When I started the class we had to swim a 200m freestyle for time. I wasn't even sure I could swim 200m all at once, let alone swim it fast. When I swam it at the beginning of the class last fall, I swam 200m in 4 minutes flat (not so fast-the average in the intermediate class was probably about 3:20) and thought I was going to die from lack of oxygen. At the end of the course, when we repeated the timed 200m, I finished in 3:27, a 33sec improvement! I really felt good about myself and the instructor even commented on how impressed he was with my improvement over the semester. When I asked him what class I should enroll in for the spring, he said he thought I would do ok in the High Intermediate course. So upon his recommendation I took the more advanced swim class this semester.

I am still a resident of the "Not So Fast Lane" which is markedly slower than the rest of the class. We swim about 200m less then the rest of the class over the course of the 35 min class because we are so much slower. But we get a good workout. Typically we swim about 1600m in 35 minutes, compared with the 1700-1800m the rest of class usually completes. My freestyle has improved dramatically. I usually lap the other members of my lane over the course of the workout when we swim freestyle. But when we switch to any of the other three strokes (or swim IMs), I don't have any lead at all. In fact, when it comes to butterfly I fall to the back of the line, coming in slowest in the slowest lane. Butterfly really puts my ego into check.

I guess the important thing is that I really do enjoy being in the water. Especially now that the weather is warming up. The pools here are all outdoors, they're heated, but it's still hard to get excited about swimming when it is cold and rainy outside. And swimming is one of those sports that I know I will be able to do all of my life. It's low impact, but still gives a cardiovascular workout and builds muscle. I can't believe how much broader my shoulders are now that I have been swimming and my arms are definitely more defined. As Chris points out often though, I still need to try to get to the gym and lift weights - particularly with my legs - or backpacking this summer is going to be a big shock! I just have to find time, which is not easy to come by these days. It's hard enough to make my swim class on Tuesdays and Thursdays!