Conquistador

Yesterday Melbourne experienced one of those warm, sunny days that make you think "gee, spring is a pretty nice season." After a long, cold, wet winter we are finally starting to enjoy some consistently nice spring weather and I for one am making the most of it! Come summer, it's too hot to be outside for more than 30 seconds at a time so in spring it's all about being outdoors right now. The change in the weather has made me decide it's time for a little less conversation, and a little more action. It is time to swim at the Brunswick Baths.

As you know, I have been itching to give the Brunswick Baths pool a go; it's got like twice the lanes of the MCB, is 50m instead of 30m, and is outdoors instead of indoors.

Well ladies and gentlemen, today I conqured the Brunswick Baths!

It was daunting at first, swimming in a new pool that is nearly twice the length of my regular pool. Being a newbie, I decided to stick to the slow lane, though I know from my Sunday morning yoga pool perving that I'm plenty fast enough for the medium lane. But the slow lane was along the outside edge of the pool and was empty, so I was quite happy to get the lay of the land from there.

The first thing I noticed was that the chlorine was not nearly as harsh as I thought it would be. Actually, the first thing I noticed was that the shallow end was really shallow. The water was lovely; nice and warm but still refreshingly cool in the sun. I pushed off and away I went! MCB is a mixture of salt and chlorine, so the water is just a bit cloudy. This is not the case at Brunswick Baths. The water is incredibly clear! Which was a bit disconcerting when I first got to the deep end, which has a big WARNING sign written on the bottom of the pool, then drops to a depth of 5m.

My first few laps left me gasping for air. I really only stop for a couple of seconds between laps at MCB, but 1 lap at Brunswick Baths is nearly 2 laps at MCB and it took awhile for my body to adjust to the longer laps. It was great though, having longer lanes. Sometimes in the 30m pool I feel like I'm just getting into the groove when I get to the other side.

When I swim I alternate between freestyle and backstroke. The nice thing about doing backstroke at the MCB is because it's an indoor pool, I can align myself with the ceiling and swim in a straight line. Looking up from the outdoor pool, it was all sky. And sun. I'll need to get tinted goggles so I'm not swimming with my eyes closed. I think by the end of my swim I'd gotten myself swimming in a reasonably straight line, but I sure was glad to have the lane to myself at the start!

Around my 20th lap someone decided to join me in the slow lane, which annoyed me and prompted me to move over into the double medium lane. There was only one other person in the double medium lane, so I figured we'd have plenty of room to navigate around one another if the need arose, which it didn't.

I did a total of 30 laps, or 1.5km (which is what I swim at MCB, in 50 laps). I couldn't really see the clock, so I don't know what my time actually was, but it was slower than usual, which I expected it to be this first time around. I'll have to get one of those waterproof stop watches so I can properly time myself. Stretching out at the end of my laps, looking out across the pool, I was tempted to keep going. But I reminded myself that I still had a kilometer walk home and may be more tired than I realized. This was a good call. I'm sure I would have survived another 2 laps, but I was certainly feeling the burn on my way home.

I try to get to the pool 3-4 times a week. It's pretty easy to do when I'm at uni; I just go down the road to MCB for a swim on my way home. But on the weekends this means making a special trip into the city, which I don't always feel like doing (though I have discovered the perfect time to swim on a Saturday). And, going into the city just for a swim seems like a silly thing to do on the days when I work from home, which I am doing more frequently. But now that the weather is warming up, popping down to the Brunswick Baths seems like quite an easy option. In fact, I think I will make it a regular part of my Tuesday routine!