Senility Encroaching
June 19th
Sunny skies, glassy water, and a perfect 27 degree air temperature greeted the senile old man as he gingerly waded into the waters of Juniper Beach.
"You're still wearing your shorts" the group shouted. To his horror and
embarrassment, he looked down and realized it was true. His first
thought was to tell them a BS story that he wore them until he could
confirm that the temperature was okay to go without,
but realized in an instant that this would not fly with the likes of
Darin, Gary or Phred.
Instead, he smiled meekly and admitted "I knew in the back of my mind that I'd forgotten to do
something. Thanks for letting me know what it was." After
checking the thermometer at 19 degrees, he hoped that the incident would
be forgotten as he put the thermometer away, grabbed his swim buddy,
and removed his shorts.
The group of six, plus the senile old man, took off for the Point, three
of whom were in the lake for the first time this year, Adrienne, Rhian,
and David. Everyone made it out to the Painted Rocks, although Phred,
ever the slave to technology, swam an extra
100 metres just so that his smartwatch would give him credit for a 2
kilometer swim.
All were pleased to have done such an idyllic swim and vowed to do it again on
Sunday at 8:00 when they will celebrate the Summer Solstice,
Father's Day and the lake temperature topping 20 degrees. The "Wardrobe
Checkers" will be there, so should you!
With pool swims ending next week and our focus on lake swims, we are
getting aerobic training only. While this is critical to our overall
health, it is not sufficient in itself and should be complemented by
higher intensity strength training. Especially as
we get older, this training has the following benefits:
- It boosts our metabolism, really important for those of us who like that dish of ice cream for dessert;
- It increases our bone density, making us more resistant to injury when we fall, which happens more often as we get older and think that we can do stuff that we actually can't;
- It helps with chronic disease protection, such as diabetes by controlling our blood sugar;
- It supports heart health, which we need for recovery when we do pool sets;
- It helps maintain mental well-being and cognition (although perhaps not wardrobe awareness).
While all exercise supports longevity, a complete exercise routine of
three aerobic workouts coupled with two strength training workouts per
week will substantially improve the quality of those later years. The
good news also is that for those of us registered
in the Masters program at the pool, the weight room is free all summer
long. Anyone who would like to learn about what specific exercises
actually help your swimming, just let me know. In addition to core work,
lats, triceps and pecs are key muscles used by
swimmers. Maybe it will ward off the senility!