Victoria shared a couple of resources with me to get me kick started in the world of aqua running, one of them being this blog.
I arrived at the pool, grabbed a belt and jumped in the "leisure" lane since, in case you weren't aware, aquajogging moves you at about the pace of a snail. An aquarobics class was in the back half of the lane, but no worries, I thought, I could just use the half of a lane.
No dice. Two lifeguards and a manager came over to tell me I needed to move. Fine, I get it. In our ridiculously litigious society, their permit wouldn't cover me if I acted like an idiot and hurt myself and decided to sue. I was offered the therapeutic pool (which is just over 3 feet deep). When I declined, to the credit of the manager, he went over to the high school girls cross country coach who was shepherding in her 20+ girls to the far lane.
And just like that, I was invited to join the Wilson High School Cross Country Aquajog workout.
Mostly, I did my own thing and let me tell you, if you want something that simulates the heart rate you can achieve running, you can find it with a water belt and a deep enough pool. Occasionally, the coach would cheer me on, give me a few pointers and tell me to just push her girls out of the way if they were being slow.
It was kind of like a bunch of bobbing snails chasing each other, but in the end, I accomplished a 30 minute "shake out" run from the race this weekend and a lot of admiration for the Wilson High School Cross Country Coach.
Two notes:
- I'm getting a lot of heat at the point of contact between my suit and belt. Victoria's suggested that the belt needs to be tighter than a weight lifting belt - hard to breathe kind of tight - prior to getting in the pool
- I need to work on loosening my arms. While you are supposed to maintain fists when running in the pool, perhaps I was a little too anxious and wound up with sore forearms from squeezing for 30 minutes
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