CMSC

Holy god, does my body ache. Between my shoulder blades is a constant tension and deep down hurt. It's a very strange sore that you get from swimming. Unlike running which produces an isolated soreness in your legs, swimming produces this deep tissue full body screaming ache. All day I ate with a vengeance to recover and I knew that no matter how much caffeeine I ingested it wouldn't help me wake up. So, I stopped after two cups of home brew and ate my way to recovery and back to my bed, where I'm laying now with a heat pad on my back.

Somehow yesterday I found some inspiration and searched the internet for masters classes around the Boston area. I zero'd in on the Cambridge Swim Masters Club (CSMC) which looked like a pretty serious group with lots of classes. The pool is on the Harvard University campus and is touted to have cost 4 million to build. Upon arriving, I could see that this was probably true. The lanes are setup in 25 meter lanes and the length of the pool is 50 meters. I never realized how big this really was. It was absolutely huge. Thank god I don't reguarly look down a 2.4 mile lane and think about swimming that distance.

I showed up for the 7:30pm class and immediately met one of the team members on the way in. He showed me where to go and I felt more comfortable right away. Amazingly, I was early, which never happens, so I had plenty of time to look around and make sure I was in the right place. With plenty of time before the class started, I introduced myself to the coach Lauren, who was very friendly. She assured me that if I needed to sit out a set or leave early that I could and that class is very flexible. This worked out in my benefit when I got a cramp in my foot just after the warm up.

The warm up was 400, 4x100, 2x50. 4x50 kick. 2 x the following set: 2x25 sprint, 2x50 desc 1-4 (which I'm still not sure exactly what that means, except that I'm supposed to build in speed), 2x100 on base (maintain your fastest sustainable pace), 2x200 on base, 50 chill, all on 5-10 seconds rest. I got through about 2000m all together. My foot was cramping, which I think was due to wearing high heels and walking a fair distance in them to get to practice.

The swim felt great. It's amazing to me how fast the hour flies by when you're in class versus when you swim alone. The pool temperature was much cooler than the BSC, which I think is a good thing since it will prepare me for even cooler temps when I race. Also, people seemed to be very friendly. Overall, I'm so hapy that I went to class. It served as a huge wake up call to get in the damn pool and workout.

In summary, I'm so psyched I went and I realize that I need to continue to swim with a group, and probably run and bike with a group too. Luckily, it's still only January and heavy training doesn't start until March.