Does Chlorine Clear The Gunk From Your Lungs?

Good news! I am no longer the newbie on the swim team! Yay! There’s a new guy working out with us who is training for a triathlon (we’ll call him Tri Guy, since I’m so creative). It is nice to not be the new person. I even know 5 or 6 people’s names, which is quite an accomplishment for me. I’m horrible with names.

It was my first day back at workout after being sick – or I should say, while being sick. I dragged myself there knowing that one of two things would happen. Either I’d feel a) better or b) worse. So far I’m going with a. I am exhausted though. I even made it through part of the main set, too! Yay! I was pretty excited. We were supposed to do 4x(3x50, 2x100, 1x150) swimming our mile pace. Which, by the way, still cracks me up. I have one “pace”, as I’ve already explained to you. And it is the same for the mile as it is the 50. Anyway, I humored the poor coach and attempted what one might call a mile pace. And I did it! I completed one full cycle (3x50, 2x100, and 1x150) at the pace I was supposed to do.

Man…. How I have missed that sense of accomplishment – of doing something I didn’t think I could do! I had forgotten what that rush was like. Feeling it again takes me back to some very specific moments in my swimming career (which, interestingly enough, typically happened at workout and not at meets. I was a fabulous workout swimmer who sucked when it counted!). One of these moments was a time that we were doing 3x400m free on an interval that was not much off of my best 400m time. (It’s times like this that I REALLY wish I remember my best times.) Anyway, the interval was maybe 5 seconds off my best time. And I made each one. I didn’t think I could do it, but I did.

Anyway, my accomplishment today was not nearly as great but felt just as good. I have decided to mentally draw a line in the sand between the past, present, and future. What I did before, while not that great by many people’s standards, was great for me. And what I’m doing now – as pathetic as it might feel to me – is the best I can do for today. Who knows what the future holds.

And no, chlorine does not clear the gunk out of your lungs. You just forget about it, temporarily.