Sidelined...

Sigh. This whole Gabby thing is really putting a damper on my Olympic career. 

Don't get me wrong; I realize I'm so lucky to have my almost ten-year-old dog even survive after being under a train for two or three minutes, and I really don't mind sitting with her, which I have done pretty much 24/7 since she came home on Saturday, but I do really miss swimming.

Back in June, I mentioned that I was going to start working out hardcore. I would be turning my living room into a home gym and hitting the pool daily for long, hard workouts. Well, shortly after I posted that, I decided to leave the Unabomber Cabin (and got really sick for about a week, and my mom had 8,000 doctor's appointments), so I no longer had a living room or time to swim while I tried to pack a house in two weeks. Once I got settled in with my parents new roommates, I had a lot more time on my hand to concentrate on fitness.

I found a website that offers free beginning, intermediate, advanced, and long course swimming workouts, so I texted one of the "beginner workouts" to myself and went to the pool. I had to do a lot of math, because sadly, my family did not opt to get an Olympic-size pool, but when I finished I realized the yardage did not even equal half of what I normally swim, so I moved up to intermediate, did that for a week, and went on to advanced.

For the last few weeks, time and weather permitting, I've done the advanced workouts or some combination of intermediate and my own plan (usually equal to about three miles), and I was trying to work my way through the entire list on the website (minus the ones that focus on the butterfly, because I hate the butterfly with a passion). I spent hours in the water, and I've seen such a change in my body in just a few short weeks. My muscle tone is unbelievable, my waist is whittling away, I feel 100x better overall, I have lost some weight, my stamina is great, my stress and anxiety levels have dissipated even though my life is anything but stress-free lately, and the list goes on. I just felt great, better than I have in a while.

But I haven't been in the pool since last Wednesday (other than to cool off for about ten minutes), and it's driving me nuts. I feel like I'm losing everything I gained. My goal for the end of the year (whenever my grandfather decides to close the pool) was to swim ten miles without stopping. I still hope to do that, and I probably could do it without much practice - I just haven't had time to spend that many hours out there.

Gabby is doing so much better than she was when we brought her home, unbelievably so, so I'm hoping I can start leaving her some next week. I have an indoor pen that she can stay in, but I have a feeling she won't like that. And I have a feeling my parents will call me to come back inside at the first little whimper.

I'm planning to join a gym this fall, but the one I used to belong to did away with its pool, and there's another one near here with a pool, but I drove by it the other night, and I get the feeling I would not be comfortable there. And, of course, there's the big county-run pool that is newly built and amazing, or so I'm told, but every time I've been there, it's usually full of kids. It's also way across the country from me. And then there's my whole refusal to swim and wear a bathing suit in front of other people until I've done more swimming thing.

In my dream world, my grandfather decides to keep the pool open through the end of the year, either due to an unnatural heat wave or because he buys a heater, but I know that's very unlikely to happen. It's a whole lot of work (that I haven't been able to help with), and I'm really the only person in the family who uses it anymore.

Also, I'm kind of ready for some slightly cooler weather, so I'm not down with a heatwave.

Anyway, I've read that people who swim daily will live up to 25 years longer than those who don't, so maybe I can find  away to overcome my fears.