Buridan's Ass

Buridan's Ass is a figurative description of a man of indecision. It refers to a paradoxical situation wherein an ass, placed in between two stacks of hay of equal size and quality, will starve to death since it cannot make any rational decision to start eating one rather than the other. (Wikipedia)

I was the first and only one in the pool at 11am. I assumed the life guards were in the snack bar room. I didn't want to start swimming until they knew I was in the water. I whistled and Graham came out immediately to say hey. Soon all came out and sat down in chairs facing the pool with their backs to the entrance, 4 abreast. Watching me. I said to them with a smile that I felt really special having 4 guards watching me. Then I began my laps. It was physically harder today.

My heart was racing just after one lap. I was using a snorkel so I could do freestyle. I never got use to bringing my head up the right way to breathe. So the snorkel compensated for bad form. But unlike the side stroke, freestyle is more physically demanding for me. I started with freestyle. I was out of breathe and my heart was racing. Unusually fast. So I did another lap freestyle and then went back to side stroke.

At first, the choice of whether I do one or the other of these 2 strokes was about breathing. Now I have the snorkel, so it is about my swimming speed. I can go faster with freestyle. There is no stopping or glide built in the stroke like the side stroke. So in the first set of 10 laps it became an irrational decision based upon fear which stroke to use. I was worried that I would have a heart attack if I kept doing the freestyle. My heart rate did go down after waiting a few minutes.

In the last set, I was warmed up, less jittery, not fully catching my breath, so I paused longer than usual to decide what stroke to use in this next set. That's when I started thinking about the donkey and the hay bale dilemma...were the strokes equal after all? With the breathing issue handled, still no. Freestyle pushes me, it wants speed. Side Stroke wants to move forward with leisure. They use different muscles too. Which offers the greater good to my body? Freestyle. And overall peace of mind? Side Stroke. Well I guess that is a matter of what research I want to believe. See this article for more clarity.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/can-you-get-fit-in-six-minutes-a-week/?scp=1&sq=6%20minute%20workout&st=cse