The Great Chesapeake Bay Swim is only 2 1/2 months away, and I’m convinced I’m not swimming enough.
Non-swimmers say, “You have three months,” as if that’s plenty of time. It’s not. They wouldn’t be so cavalier if they faced a 4.4-mile race across the cold and choppy Chesapeake Bay.
My training has to be finished by the end of May so I can rest before the race. Also, I plan to compete in some races beforehand for training purposes. These will sharpen me competitively, but prevent me from logging more miles. Because I want to do well in those races — the first of which is April 24 — training hard now is critical.
And I am training hard — when I get in the water. But I’m typically swimming only four days a week instead of the planned five, and I’m late for swim practice most of the time. Talk to my editor.
The tendonitis in my left shoulder flared up during two back-to-back practices last Wednesday and Thursday. It throbbed throughout the day Friday, which meant I had to scale back, instead of trying to swim through the pain. That’s easier said than done. But I spent my weekend mostly kicking in the pool and scrapped my planned hour-and-40-minute swim. By Monday, my shoulder was mostly better and I managed a full workout.
Still, I need to be careful. I’ve redoubled my efforts to do regular physical therapy on my shoulder, which means lots of stretching, massaging my shoulder and lifting one-pound cans of beans. I can’t afford to slack off and skip my daily exercises since my shoulder needs to hold up during the long slog across the Bay.
And life is interfering with my pool time.
Easter is coming, meaning closed pools. I also need to carve out time to buy a wetsuit. I haven’t done my taxes — and time is ticking.
My lawn needs mowing, my gardens are covered in dead leaves and weeds. Because of my work and workout schedules, I don’t get many chores done during the week, unless I want to revert to my college days and start pulling all-nighters.
But I also need to swim, preferably for 100 minutes without stopping. That kind of strenuous workout takes out a huge chunk of the day, by the time I drive to the pool, stretch, swim, hit the hot tub, shower and drive home. I’m pretty exhausted — especially my arms, so critical for lawn work — by the time I’m done.
I realize my anxiety is mostly in my obsessive head. But that knowledge is not enough to stave off my panic attacks. I need to remember that I’m not even remotely close to being an Olympic hopeful. I can do only the best I can, with the time I have. Perhaps I should add another task to my daily routine — repeating the motto that hung on the wall of my second-grade classroom: “If you do the best you can, then no one can ever ask for more.”
Cathy Gainor can be reached at [email protected]. She is the editor of the Personal Best page. She is writing an occasional column chronicling her training for the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim on June 14.
