My neck is sore from swimming and other tales of woe.

I woke up today and my neck is sore, and I'm pretty sure it's from swim practice last night. Turning your head from side to side doing freestyle constantly for an hour apparently is strenuous. Also apparent, just simply moving in ways you wouldn't normally at least an hour a day exhausts and strengthens and builds muscle. oy.

Went for a run tonight, wore way too many layers, and was exhausted even before I started. I'm having trouble keeping up with everything, and when it's cold I would sometimes just rather stay inside, especially after I've been running around all day. Still, the run was really lovely and I couldn't help sitting and just staring at the waves hitting huge piles of sparkling ice as the sun set behind the city...

Swim practice last night was less than ideal, as I realized three things:

1. I have a bit of anxiety when expected to swim with other people around.
2. My goggles are useless.
3. It is hard to "catch your breath" when surrounded by water. Really hard.

I borrowed my coach's goggles, but his were so clear, that I thought I was above water when I was still under and started taking breaths under water... bad idea. My coaches kept saying to me, "Heidi, your stroke looks great, what's your deal?" and then I explained how I wasn't really used to, and by that I mean I never had to "work out" while swimming. I mean, I was sweating by the time we were finished. It was probably helped by the fact that I swam as fast as I could to the other side to just be able to hold on to the wall. I tried to slow down while swimming, but then I felt like I was in slow motion. This is going to take some getting used to!

I also kept picturing this ad while swimming and looking at the bottom of the pool, which didn't really help my anxiety...