Swimus interruptus

Wake at 7:45, breakfast on rye toast and honey with strong, black Italian coffee. Outside the weather seems to have improved as it is bright and sunny. Wash, dress, pack my swimming gear and drive to Cherry Burton to take out the dogs. As we walk down to Etton Bridge and the railway line there are rain clouds to the west but the wind has dropped a little. We get back at 10:30 without incident and then drive into Beverley for tea with friends at the Poppy Seed cafe. Afterwards drive to the leisure centre and arrive poolside at 11:45, where I find a single lane with one other swimmer.
After a few minutes breathing meditation, push off to swim 70 lengths front crawl. Today I deliberately resist the temptation to go too fast and instead focus on a three stroke breathing pattern, breathing first right, then left. After ten lengths, have settled into a thirteen stroke per length pattern, this is ideal as I breath on the twelfth stroke before tumbling into the turn for the next length. The other person in the lane is a teenage boy swimming breaststroke, he stops every couple of lengths and rests well to the side of the lane end. This means that I can tumble turn without problem, which is important because I'm breathing only five times per length, and this is a delicate balance between stroke efficiency and getting enough air. In order to manage the length count, I'm counting them up to ten and then beginning again. In this way it is possible to keep track, ten, twenty, thirty, forty lengths etc.
After forty lengths or so a woman swimmer joins the lane and I have to swim round her as I overtake. Perhaps because the delicate balance is disturbed, or perhaps because I may be tiring slightly, my stroke count climbs to fourteen. The significance of this is that I have to swim two strokes before the turn and feel short of breath coming out of the turn and glide. Find that if I breath after two strokes after the turn before going back to three, it works OK. Fifty lengths passes and I am confident of reaching my target of seventy, but am interrupted at 56 lengths as the pool is cleared for a life saving practice. Take a drink and then recommence the swim after a minute or so, and 8 minutes later finish the swim.
An aerobics class arrives, and they and the life saving class take up half the pool, squeezing the rest of us into four lanes. Nevertheless, manage to swim a further thirty lengths easy backstroke and complete the hundred. With two and a half weeks to go, or seven more swims, I'm confident of being able to complete the hundred lengths front crawl.
After showering and changing retire to the cafe for a tea and a scone. Tomorrow is a running day but the showery April weather looks set to continue for the next week.