My fear of the deep water helped a lot, I think, in that I was constantly in motion in the water, even when I could have, possibly, been still. I also realized that I'm pretty dense, because even with four floats, which even the largest of the women there thought was a lot of buoyancy, I sunk under the surface every time I was either still or when I emptied my lungs. There wasn't ever a point, however, where I thought I was in any trouble, really.
The interesting thing is that while I also might have been a little breathless, my heart rate never seemed to go up terribly, but when we got out of the pool, I felt kind of rubbery, the way I do when I've had a really extensive workout. I really liked that. I'm very sure that it did push my heart rate, though, good aerobic workout that it all was.
I was definitely glad that Joan went with me and vice versa. We provided company and encouragement for each other, with a whole pool full of strange women, and the whole experience of donning a swim suit in a locker room with a bunch of other people was just fine with someone to giggle over it all with. I was also glad that I'd dropped by McGuckins and gotten a locker lock, we both used it to keep our bags in a locker while we were in the pool.
So, overall, I think it was a success. While we did find out that they actually had the classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I think I'm just going to stick with the Wednesday one for a while, make sure I don't burn out on it and do some low-impact exercise some other days, as walking is good for my bones, too.