We’ve got ice dams. Like really bad ice dams. Realized it yesterday evening when the GFI in the downstairs bathroom kept tripping, and I found water dripping in the baby’s closet. Crap.
I tried climbing up to the roof to break them down – Uh, no. Sorry. Maybe I’ll swing by EMS tomorrow and pick up some crampons, or by Home Despot and grab a 20′ ladder to reach one of the non-suicidal pitches of my roof, but I the climbing was not happening.
So I spent part of tonight drilling holes in the ceiling and arranging twine and buckets to catch the runoff. Oh, yeah! But patching a small hole is going to beat replacing drywall in the spring. I climbed into the attic, too, to see if I could see the source of the leak – no dice, which means almost certainly that it’s pushed up the shingles near the edge of the roof. Guess this means I’m installing more soffits next summer.
In any case, helplessness and frustration got the better of me (and the boy pulled his all-time worst stunt ever just prior to bath time – I’d document it, but I’d rather just pull it out for his dates in high school), so I headed down to the Y to take out my issues on my body.
45 or so laps – 10-ish breast, 2 sets 10 free, 1 set 5 free with speed breathing pattern, 5 breast to stretch and cool-down, and a couple kickboard laps thrown in for good measure. Good times.
I was feeling kind of bad because the guy next to me was flying, and regardless of what I did, I was having a tough time keeping up. I saw him in the locker room after, and the dude was like 6’6″. So on every stroke he made, he was reaching a foot further than I could. Granted, I, sometime in the future, can probably make up the time by concentrating on turnover, but it was kind of amazing to watch. He also had the coolest flip/turn – When he did his flip, he’d slam his heels/calves into the water and make kind of a “boom” splash sound. Very authoritative.
My motion was much smoother than it was the last time – I didn’t feel like I was thrashing. Swimming seems to be a whole lot like yoga – all about form and repetition. Watching the tall guy swim, I could tell he was reaching further than I did. As a result, I concentrated on getting full extension with my arms, and could feel a speed increase without having to work any harder. On my last set of breast stroke, I concentrated on stretching my arms WIDE, and sweeping them back. Very relaxing.
Nothing like some good exercise to relieve the frustrations. Sorry about the roof leaks–they can be so tricky to find and fix.
another simple tip to help increase speed, keep all your fingers together during your stroke. the more like a paddle you make your hand, the better you can pull yourself through the water.