Cross Training
The best part of any day--beyond turning on the computer and having the first cup of coffee--is an excursion with Iris and Murdoch. Today, after yesterday's debacle with the Doggie Police, was away (as I took it) from their purview. This meant in the direction--north--on the Platte away from gentrification and toward dereliction. We headed across the 20th St. bridge and down into Cuernavaca Park, across the bridge over the Platte, and on toward--whatever. This section is distinctly non-upscale--RTD--the bus people--and FedEx have locations here. We ran by Hispanic vagrants--they have the idea that dogs respond to "tsk" sounds being made at them--and turned around at the--former, unfortunately--site of "Bob's Big Ass Burgers." Despite yesterday's rather expensive encounter with the Doggie Police, Iris and Murdoch got a short swim and we all took, as is my intention, what I have read described as "recuperative walking breaks." Out in 19 min., back in 23. As I said: minimalist.
A little later, I swam at the Ashland Recreation Center. My workout is minimal and tries to adhere to the dictates of totalimmersion.net: sleek, long, fish-like, mindful, relying on feeling, rather than muscling the water. I swim 200m with my fists closed--there are Fistgloves offered on the site for $9.95, but I find that closing my fists seems to work fine and does not cause my arm to tense. The idea here is to allow the body to discover that it is not an open hand pulling the body through the water but rather a sleek body slipping by a hand holding its place in the water that is the goal. But I'm just a novice; see the words and videos available through the site for the words of the masters. I have also managed to get over the self-consciousness of doing what seemed like dorky drills. What I do has to do with rolling from side to side and then staying in the "sweet spot." This is essentially swimming on one's side with the upper arm resting relaxed on your hip. Sideways swimming makes you swim more like a fish and less like a barge. And the drills seem to help me be more comfortable breathing to my right. For nearly all my life I have been a left side only breather: unbalanced. Alternating breathing sides makes you more balanced, but also means you are taking fewer breaths. About this, more later.
A little later, I swam at the Ashland Recreation Center. My workout is minimal and tries to adhere to the dictates of totalimmersion.net: sleek, long, fish-like, mindful, relying on feeling, rather than muscling the water. I swim 200m with my fists closed--there are Fistgloves offered on the site for $9.95, but I find that closing my fists seems to work fine and does not cause my arm to tense. The idea here is to allow the body to discover that it is not an open hand pulling the body through the water but rather a sleek body slipping by a hand holding its place in the water that is the goal. But I'm just a novice; see the words and videos available through the site for the words of the masters. I have also managed to get over the self-consciousness of doing what seemed like dorky drills. What I do has to do with rolling from side to side and then staying in the "sweet spot." This is essentially swimming on one's side with the upper arm resting relaxed on your hip. Sideways swimming makes you swim more like a fish and less like a barge. And the drills seem to help me be more comfortable breathing to my right. For nearly all my life I have been a left side only breather: unbalanced. Alternating breathing sides makes you more balanced, but also means you are taking fewer breaths. About this, more later.
posted by Reality Man at 5:24 PM
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