fully equipped

Last night I started on the Doublemint Challenge (darn you, John with your crazy ideas). It wasn’t as hard as I was anticipating, but it wasn’t easy either. My shoulders and back are feeling that hour of swimming with much intensity today, and they will be going through it all again tonight (and the next two nights). I swam about 70 laps – that’s 1,750 meters, folks. Be impressed.

I have started using swim fins (flippers) on some of my laps. I don’t know why I haven’t done this before because they are freaking amazing. I swim super fast with them on, which makes me feel like a champ, and they also provide a nice leg workout, since trying to control their awkwardness underwater is a bit of a challenge. My favorite thing to do with them on is to do a sort of backstroke-sans-arms and watch how fast the ceiling goes by. Not only is it fun, it really burns the quads. Bonus! Using the fins makes me jealous of fish - they get to use them all the time. They think they are sooo special.

Here’s a little run down of the advantages of using swim fins:

Improves kick strength.
Increases ankle flexibility.
Improves body position.
Improves speed.
Makes you fish-like.

Five for one - not too shabby. Short-blade fins should be used – not those giant ones like you’re embarking on a snorkel adventure. The blades should be about two inches and should be flexible to reduce stress on the ankle. These are provided at my gym, but if you needed to buy some a good brand to look for is Zoomers.



With all of this Doubleminty swimming, I'm grateful to have new toys to switch things up. And to improve my swimming.