BY PAUL PEAVY//Special Columnist
You left the casserole in the oven on the bake timer. You didn’t bother to slip into shoes (much less a shirt and shorts that matched).

Not that you would ever go faster than the speed limit or do the old “rolling stop” at the stop signs (but maybe just this one night). You ran a few “orange” (kind of yellowish, kind of reddish) lights to get to the pool in time to pull your swimmer out so you could make it back before the casserole burned.

Then what to your dismay do you hear the coach say but, “Ok, wrap it up with a 200 warm down.” Cool down!? Cool down!? What’s with this cool down thing? Your child just swam 4,500 yards and his last 200 was so slow how could swimming any slower do any good? Besides, if he needs to cool down you’ll just turn the A.C. up in the car on the way home.

Before you grab the pool hooky thingy to grab your kid out of the pool think about this. Remember the last Saturday you decided to play wiffle ball with your kid in the back yard. Then fast forward to the Sunday morning afterward and remember how you tried to move your legs that felt like moving two large oak trees. That is what happens because you didn’t “Cool down” by jogging around the few extra times.

What happened was that too much lactic acid had built up in your body and your body could not get rid of it. I am pretty sure “Lactic” is Latin for “Concrete” and “Acid” is Latin for well, I’m sure “Acid”. So you leave a little concrete acid coursing through your swimmers’ body for practice the next day so that your casserole does not burn. What harm could that possibly do? If you really are asking that question I am apparently not making myself clear enough. For those of you who are more experiential learners take two bricks (any size will do) with you to the pool next time you brave the water. Now carefully place the bricks in your hand and swim your favorite stroke using the bricks as paddle. (For a more realistic re-enactment feel free to tie a couple of bricks to your ankles also.)

I hope you are starting to get the picture here. Now to add to the confusion some of your coaches may actually say, “Warm down” instead of “Cool down”! I know, I know your head is spinning now. Regardless of whether it’s cooling or warming down it is what allows your body to balance itself out and get rid of that gooey concretey stuff. Any way, the point is to allow optimal performance and enjoyment of swimming please allow him or her the extra couple of minutes to drain his or her body of the concrete acid so she doesn’t have concrete beam arms the next day.

And hey, I know, I know – who actually really cooks supper anymore but humor me on this one. If the casserole burns just introduce the meal by throwing on your best Cajun accent and tell everyone everything will be served blackened You will also notice a slight smile creep across your face as you take great pleasure in noticing how easily your child’s arm moves to his mouth without all that concrete acid build up!

Paul Peavy is a Licensed Psychotherapist and former stand-up comic making him, well, a very stand-up therapist.  His personal competitive swimming experience entails coming out of the water near the end of his age group in triathlons. He and his wife, Sherrie, have completed one Ironman together, in which Sherrie barely nudged him out by only 2 1/2 hours.  Despite her parents' inexperience and lack of talent in swimming, their 10-year-old daughter, Lauren, is a happy and even very good swimmer.