H20 Audio & My One Fear About Swimming

When I had my foot injury in January, I began incorporating swimming into my fitness routine as a way to continue exercising and rehabilitate my foot.  I admit, I was not thrilled at first to be swimming.  My injury forced me to stay off my feet for several weeks which meant biking and swimming only. 

I dreaded swimming for a lot of reasons.  For starters, you have to put a swimsuit on and seriously, who likes doing that?  Then your hair gets wet even wearing a swim cap, which requires a complete wash, blow dry and flat-iron.  I have high maintenance hair, very thick and long.  It requires an hour of attention.  Um...yeah, my schedule doesn't have time for daily hair care especially during the work week.  You get my point though.  Swimming is more work than just going to the gym, jumping on a machine, rinsing off in the shower and getting on your way. 

Swimming is not something I've ever been good at either.  We tend to do things we enjoy and are good at.  While I learned to swim as a kid, I've never been a strong swimmer unless you count lounging by the pool.  I could swim if it meant saving my life, but swimming for fun and fitness?  Yeah, not so much.  While I have skills and basic technique, I'm not going to be competing in the next Olympics. 

After talking to a spin class friend, I realized what was missing was music.  Any activity I've ever done has always been fueled by music.  My entire life I've loved music.  It's energetic, motivating, provides rhythm and distraction to focus on getting into a "zone" aka the mental place you go to when pushing your body through activity.  She recommended I get H20 Audio to solve my music dilemma. 

I ordered it on Amazon that day.  It's ~$20 cheaper on Amazon than purchasing it via the retailer.  I've had so many people ask me what this is when I'm swimming and where I got it.  I assumed the real swimmers would know about this already, but apparently this is one I know that they don't. 

H20 Audio is waterproof case (up to 12 feet) for 4th generation Ipod shuffle.  It includes integrated headphones with 5 sets of earplugs sizes for personalized and ergonomic fit.  Something I like is that the headphones have a short cord.  They reach perfect from my head to my ears without any dangling cord.  I have that problem with the Ipod I use to workout and am always stuffing peripheral cord into my workout tank.  Annoying.

You store the Ipod in the waterproof case and plug into the integrated headphones. 

When you close the case, it latches with an air tight seal.  The buttons on the front are easily accessible to adjust the volume up/down, stop/play songs or forward/reverse songs.  It's convenient and I can tell it was made for swimming.  The X-1 website claims H20 Audio delivers improved bass quality sound.  I find the sound quality to very good and it improves when submerged in the water. 

The waterproof case has loops and clasps easily onto goggles.  It sits near the back of my head depending on where my high maintenance hair bun lands that day.  Because the case is heavy for the goggles it can be difficult to get goggles on without tangling everything.  I'm often untangling the ear cords and case a few times to get them straight.  After a few attempts, I will get the goggles on without re-tangling everything.  This, I don't like. 

This picture freaks me out. 

Over the last 6 weeks, I've grown to like swimming more and have become good it at too.  Honestly, I was fearful of swimming because I've always been scared of putting my face in the water.  I felt claustrophobic staring at the bottom of the pool.  I was left swimming laps with my head dangling side to side like a gliding doggie paddle.  Finally, a few weeks ago I got the courage to put my head in the pool and have been ever since.  I'm confident the music helped me get over this fear by relaxing me, which allowed me to get in my "zone." 

Before my injury, I dreaded swimming but now I look forward to the day I swim because it relaxes me.  It's almost like mediation.  Umm....

I think I graduated.  I'm a real swimmer now. 

Do you need music to workout?  Have you ever felt claustrophobic in the water?

Linking up with Erin at Table for Seven, Becky at Olives n Wine & Anyonita Nibbles

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About Megan

Megan is a certified nutrition practitioner, author, freelance food photographer and fitness instructor living in Phoenix, Arizona. On her blog, Skinny Fitalicious she shares EASY, gluten free recipes for weight loss. Follow Megan on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for the latest updates.