I just realized that I can’t swim. Nor did I ever think to add it to my list of things I need to improve on. Well, let’s make that, things I need to learn to do. Mind you swimming pools have been closed for a good while. And I don’t know of any lakes I can go to. When you look at the thing I want to improve on at the same time: running, cycling, lifting (olympic and regular), functional, etc. I left swimming out. I’ve never done much swimming in my life. So I can be forgiven for that. Right? There isn’t much reason to not start doing it. I just need to find a pool or a lake or a river that I can visit. Maybe I can go swimming with the whales in the Fleuve Saint-Laurent.

Earlier this summer I bought myself a skateboard from a local Montreal shop. I have never ridden one, nor do I know how to. So once I got it, I did some quick digging on YouTube for a beginner video and off I went. Skateboarding isn’t hard. With the running I’ve been doing and some OCRs in the past, plus rope jumping that I do, my ankles and legs are fairly solid. So doing the skateboard thing wasn’t too bad to learn. I can’t do stunts or anything. My feet still get numb a little when I right on pavement. But the part which I thought was going to be the hardest was relatively easy.

So how does that fit into swimming. Well with swimming I need strong lungs. Mine are getting there from cycling and running. I need strong shoulders and arms to pull me through the water, and that’s getting there. That part might also connect well with the pull-ups I’m trying to improve. My legs are definitely strong. So I just need work work the same body parts I work now, just in different ways.

This skill would come in handy in a zombie apocalypse. How many people go swimming in those zombie movies? None. It’s like the bear thing. I don’t need to outrun the bear. I just need to outrun a slowest runner.

And this reminds me of an obstacle course race I had seen on YouTube where part of the course goes through a lake. Has a monkey bar floating island in the middle. And more lake you have to swim through. Think of being able to outrun, outlift, outswim and outclimb everyone in the race. If not that, at the very least, just being able to do it and run past the finish line.

So anyway, back to swimming. I did a quick Google to find out how to measure fitness for swimmers. For me, it turns out I need to find a swimming pool first. Cause I’ll need to do a lot of swimming. And learn how to swim. Before I can even determine how many 200 meter laps I can do. Let alone how fast I can do them. But that would be cool.

On another note, what’s the difference between a CrossFit athlete and an OCR athlete? My guess, about 50lbs. I watched the national OCR races a couple of years ago. Man, those athletes are small. They looked like marathoners.