Lee - swimming in Dushanbe

As you might know, I had been swimming regularly for the past five years or so at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center, and swim in three to four Master's meets each year.

I had a LONG layoff after leaving So Cal--no swimming for six weeks, then one low/medium intensity 900 meters or so (just over a half mile) at the spa-like, expensive Hyatt pool. 

Finally, another six weeks later I looked into another more convenient option--Gold's Gym:

It's about a ten-minute bus ride up the main boulevard from our apartment.

It took some extra work to learn vocabulary for "day pass" and "pool" (basayeen).

Males are allowed to use the pool on Mon-Wed-Fri. (women get Tue-Thur-Sat). I usually share the 18 meter (?!) pool with one or two others. Most others are leisurely swimmers.

I choose the lane next to the edge, which has the best walls for flip turns.  One friendly man knew some English, and last week asked me my age. When I told him 60--he seemed surprised, and was kind enough to think I was younger.

 

After the second long layoff, I had my second workout here in Dushanbe. Ugh--I felt 10 years older that day, stiff and much weaker. I've gone back at least once/week since then, and the last two workouts have allowed some brisker two-lap intervals. I still only do about 900-1000 meters, but now do a little more intensity. It'll still take a few months back at my normal 3x/week pattern to get back into competitive shape, but I'm grateful for this option.