Swim 50 laps in the indoor pool, which I now suspect could be 20 yards, not 20 meters. Of course I can feel the difference of at least five meters between it and the outdoor one, but it does seem even shorter than that. If it's 20 yards, not meters, then a mile is 44 laps, not 40, and the 50 laps I swam today are therefore, uh, 1.83K and I would have to swim 55 laps to log 2K.
Those who work there have claimed it's 20 meters, but I have previously heard members murmuring, and today I have a better reason to think so. I swam one lane in from the westmost one, and in the westmost one swam a nine- or ten-year-old boy with an elderly man walking alongside or sitting at one end, coaching. At one point I broke to ask if he was a grandfather or a coach. He said he was both, and we smiled. He was a nice coach, I thought: encouraging (praising the degree to which the kick broke the surface--just enough, not too much) and giving sensible advice (keep the elbow higher than the wrist) and obviously, for all the 70+ years I'd give him, still a swimmer himself.
The boy and I finished our swims at the same time and fished ourselves out, freeing two lanes for an approaching swimmer to choose from. She asked how many laps make a mile, and I said 40 in this one and 32 in the outdoor one, since this one is 20 meters and the outdoor 25. The man told me nay, that it's yards.
The reason I want him to be right, even though it would mean I haven't swum as much this fall and winter as I've credited myself with, is that the next thing out of his mouth was, "You're good enough to be a masters swimmer. Why aren't you?"
I kinda wondered how he knew I wasn't. Do masters swimmers get a diamond tattoo indicating Imperial training on their foreheads (Dune reference)? Do my paunch and flab betray how unready for competition I really am? Or does he know all the masters swimmers in Denver?
Obviously, I want him to be right about the pool length because that would mean he has as good an eye for all things swimmy as I would like anyone to have who watched me swim and thought I was good.
I am a good swimmer, by the bye. This morning I read in my triathlon book about fist gloves, which you wear to prevent your hands from extending and cupping in order to force you to get a feel for the water, to pull with your forearm as well as with palm and fingers. I already keep my elbows above my wrists, and today especially during my middle, sprinting 10, I felt how much I do use all the surface area of my arm to push water.
Still can't do a flip turn, though. I can do a sort of mangled manuever that reverses my direction, but a flip turn it's not.
P.S. Yep, it's 20 yards.