Swimming Spree

Firstly I would like to thank Virgin Active, for being kind enough to keep the pool open all year round by having the ability to heat the pool. This further facilitates the emotions of us poor souls who find relief in the feeling of relatively cold gushing water over a warm over-worked body. Also what i really enjoy is the rhythm my breath makes, the sound of movement under water along with the act of breathing in oxygen every four or six arm movements. It makes me feel as if the whole process is as rhythmic as a song!

Well it could be a dance as well, as i feel quite flexible when I am stretching under water ;) but nah would get too monotonous for me..

However, what i really miss about swimming in this pool is that there is no deep end! All of it is 1.2m, which is a bit annoying for me. I remember when i was learning swimming with my friends, we use to challenge each other with "who can stay in the deep end the longest contest" or "who can dive in to fetch the coin" or even go pull each other down in the deep yeah quite silly i know! But I have to admit that I get a strange kick when i swim from the shallow end towards the deep and see the floor beneath slide down and disappear in the dark blue/green (well yeah I guess chlorine levels are exceptional in Indian pools!). I do miss that, but i also like the fact that swimming is treated like this serious exercise and everyone instead of finding coins, pulling legs and wasting time in deep contest are actually busy swimming. Its almost like "gosh I've got to keep up with this swimmer" whose swimming in the same path as yours.
But today the pool was empty, and i had two lanes to myself, and i was in a relaxing kind of mood, swimming leisurely the back stroke, trying somersaults, stretching more swimming less.
As a swimming class had finished just before i arrived in the pool, there were a few floats hanging around, along with inflated toys that kids use. I was tempted, but then i said no way Shreya, i last used one when i was 10! It would be a bit embarrassing being the only adult flapping around with a float, but then some how i managed to convince myself and tried the float. Man i was so slow! But i could really feel my core and hamstrings really work.. and that felt so good. I think once in a while I guess we shouldn't forget that going back to our basics can really strengthen what we have already and probably remind us the things that have changed over the years.. A weird swimming-philosophy day!