Under Pressure

I’d forgotten how much pressure and tension swimming puts on your hands. That’s the one thing that I really notice when I go back to it after not having swum for a while – the palms of my hands hurt. It's not like the exertion feeling that comes after you've been running or doing weights, but a much deeper ache. I think it comes from the fact that your hands are under almost constant pressure from the water and you can't let up otherwise you'd be going nowhere. For me as a result much of improving my swimming is making my hands strong again just as much as it might be the aerobic strain being accomodated. But then I suppose some of that is due to the fact that I don’t kick enough with my legs and so tire my arms our rather badly. Funny since I do so much running; the muscles I use must be completely different, or at least used in a completely different way. I think I'm going to like getting back into swimming.