Refreshed - Swimming

It’s been a rough summer for me.  Started out good with the dry heat, little pain.  Then the monsoons rolled in humidity and barometric pressure rose and I’ve struggled on and off since July.  We don’t have a pool in the backyard, but I love to swim and so do my kids, so we made an effort to get to a pool at least once a week over summer vacation.  I soon started to notice how great I felt in the water.  ZERO pain while in the cool water.  It was wonderful.  And even after swimming I felt good, my muscles were more relaxed.  Refreshed is the word I would use.  As long as we didn’t stay too long that is.  We stayed about 2 ½ - 3 hours when we first started going, and that was too much.  I would get very tired after.  I found though when we stayed 1 – 1 ½ hours, it was very good.  I even had more energy later in the day than normal.

I grew up swimming laps so I decided to give that a try and while I’m no Olympian, I can do about 10 laps without pain.  I will vary up the strokes every few laps so I’m working different muscles and it’s a good workout for me.  I swim very slowly now, and according to Fitness for Weight Loss I probably burn around 500 calories an hour swimming at a leisurely pace.  Better than sitting around on the couch!  And BONUS!  I was spending great quality time with my kiddos making summer memories.

Oh yeah, and there was the day I decided it would be a good idea to take them and their friends to a water park for a day.  6 hours in the sun, walking and swimming.  I’m sure I burned around 4000 calories that day, hee hee.  I had to rest for 3 days after that!

I have heard from others with fibro that swimming in the cool ocean has the same effect of taking pain away.  We haven’t made it to the beach yet this summer, but maybe we can work something out before it gets cool and I can see another sunset on the west coast.  I’ll let you know how the Pacific Ocean feels.

Now that school has started, the pools are closing and I won’t be able to get in the water as often.  Thankfully I have a few friends that have offered their pools to me anytime I need it.  It’s good to have such caring friends.  The weather will still be warm well into September so hopefully I will get to swim awhile longer.

I’ve even thought about joining a gym with a pool (and childcare) but actually getting to the gym on a regular basis is tough for me.  I much prefer to work out at home.  I may try it for a season though. Maybe take a mild water aerobics class to get some more exercise  in.

Have you had a chance to get in the water this summer?  Have you found it refreshing?