Elf Blood

As I type this, I’m pretty sure I can just feel my muscle fibers disintegrating in my upper arm. I hope it’s a sign that I’m working harder at the swimming pool, but my word does it leave my arms all noodly and useless for most of the day!

Granted, this week was nowhere near as bad as last week, and I put that down to being sensible and stretching before I went for my swim. I’m trying to up the number of lengths I do before taking a rest, and I think I’m doing better. But it’s not the actual doing of the exercise that’s intolerable (oddly enough, as I avoid expending as much effort as possible as a general policy). It’s the aftermath! The painful limbs, the weakness in the muscles for a few hours… I swear, I reached out to grab a pole on the bus on the way home. Now, I could pull myself towards it, but when the bus changed direction and I had to try and push against it, my arm just sort of… Collapsed. Fortunately, I was able to stop myself with my shoulder, but is that normal for a workout? read more