water workout

Went to the pool today for my weekly swim. It was weirdly crowded -- I think I was later than usual, and the 8:30 class has been shifted up to 8:00 so there were more people in the space than I'd seen before.

Each of the three roped off lanes had 2 or 3 people already, and another guy was swimming in the area next to the lanes. I slotted myself in next to him. My ankle is still feeling a bit tender, but I figured swimming wouldn't be any problem. But when I jumped in the pool and the water hit my ankle, it hurt.

I swam a slow 200 meters, very aware of just what my ankle does when I swim. A lot more than I thought, apparently. So I decided to just use the pull buoy so I could immobilize my legs. Did another 600 meters of just arms. But the unroped part of the deep end was filling up with the 8am water exercise class, so I knew I needed to move. Meanwhile, the lanes were still 2+ full. What to do?

I decided to move into the separate shallow area and swim crosswise lengths. Swam a few more lengths using just my arms, but felt silly swimming on that side of the divider. Then I remembered something I'd read about water walking being a great rehab. So I spent the second half of my workout simply walking and running back and forth. It was surprisingly hard work -- hours later I can feel it in my legs. And my ankle, while still tender and seriously unhappy if I turn it, feels otherwise okay.

Not the best water workout ever, but 20 minutes of swimming and 25 minutes of water walking is much better than nothing.