I’m an awful runner, but I’m an even worse swimmer, and that’s despite living on an island in the middle of the ocean with near perfect weather. I don’t know if that will change, but in the last couple of weeks a couple of my coworkers and one of our former interns have decided we’re going to give swimming a try.

A public pool near to our workplace is open late a few nights a week so Thursday after work I’m going to try a bit of swimming. So far I’ve gone twice; what I’ve found out is that while my aerobic conditioning is fine, my form is horrible, and it’s taking all I can give to do half a lap at a time. Yes, half a lap.

That said, this isn’t much different from when I started cycling again back a few years back (although I was still a better cyclist then–I could at least do 11 miles, in approaching an hour!) or when I started running more recently, even though I don’t hurt the way I did either of those times. In fact, swimming may be an even better exercise than cycling for those trying to lose weight since it’s so easy on the joints. However, I do have other things going on when I swim: I cramp more easily; I get wrinkled; the chlorine is hard on my eyes; and there’s more self-consciousness dressed for swimming than running or cycling.

Still, I’m going to give it a shot, and see if this helps me get my weight down further or at least teaches me to be a better swimmer. Gambate!