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I wasn’t sure I could do another non-stop 1,500m today as I could feel the tiredness in my arms and shoulders even before I got into the pool. I broke it down though, first aiming to get to 500m, then 750m and then 1km. At that point I could see the end of it and though the next 250m was a bit of a struggle, the final ten lengths weren’t too bad at all.

After that I did two more 500m swims, kick, bilateral breathing drills and finished off with 100m front crawl swim with bilateral breathing, much the same as yesterday, for a total distance of 3,200m again.

Again I had the pool to myself for the tail end of the session. It didn’t start that way though. It was quite busy at first and I came very close to taking out a tri swimmer who had drifted over towards me as she came out of a turn 🙁

Good to see that I’m less than 10km behind my target distance at this point of the year now, though I’m not sure I can swim on Friday so the figure might rise again. Another 3.1km tomorrow would see me to 250km for the first six months of the year, but who knows how I’ll feel by then?

Total distance for the month: 51,900m
Total distance for this year: 246,900m
Distance compared to annual target: 9,100m under

Today was pretty much a re-run of yesterday. I got into the water and just felt as though I should go for another 1,500m front crawl to start with. Again, it got tough towards the end, but I made it and then went on to swim another few sets up to 2,500m followed by some kick, drills practising bilateral breathing and finally some lengths actually swimming with bilateral breathing to take the distance to two miles, or 3,200m.

For the last twenty minutes of the session I had the entire pool to myself which was quite odd. Can’t object though. It’s pleasant to swim in still water.

Total distance for the month: 48,700m
Total distance for this year: 243,700m
Distance compared to annual target: 10,300m under

After a weekend off (which I spent poolside coaching swimmers at a competition — just can’t get away from it), back into the water today and I just had it in my head that having done 1km front crawl non-stop last week and then 1.25km non-stop the following day, I really wanted to make 1.5km non-stop today. I can’t pretend it wasn’t tough, but I got there, and faster than I’ve ever swum 1,500m before. After a short rest I did another 1km in three sets, followed by some front crawl kick and then pull, again practising bilateral breathing. I finished off at 3.3km with 100m swimming front crawl and breathing bilaterally; the first time I’ve ever been able to do it over any distance, never mind 100m. So, two major milestones today and I’m feeling quite pleased with myself.

My plan is to keep up the pull work for a little longer until I can comfortably start off breathing bilaterally without needing the drills and then start switching it about a bit, doing drills such as breathing to one side when swimming from the shallow end and breathing to the other side swimming to it, and breathing every N strokes (where N is an odd number greater than 1).

Total distance for the month: 45,500m
Total distance for this year: 240,500m
Distance compared to annual target: 11,500m under

Well, today was really quite hard. I could very much feel the tiredness in my arms from the week’s exertions in the pool. Fortunately for me the Friday pool sessions are shorter, so it was just a question of hanging in there. I swam 1,500m front crawl, made up to 2,000m with kick and pull bilateral breathing practice. I could perhaps have found time for another 100m but I decided not to push my luck with the pool staff.

Hopefully I’ll be able to make it over 50km for the month next week depending on how things go. That would easily make June my best month yet. I’m not sure there’ll be time to swim on Friday though, so I may not make much headway against my target for the year.

Total distance for the month: 42,200m
Total distance for this year: 237,200m
Distance compared to annual target: 12,800m under

For a change today the pool didn’t feel cold when I got into the water. Either the cooler weather or the lower temperature on poolside (it apparently reached 43C on the pool deck last Sunday) made the water feel warmer.

Once again I stuck to front crawl, but it was a very tough swim today. Some combination of lack of sleep due to the hot weather and tiredness thanks to already swimming over 9km this week meant I struggled quite a lot through the first 1,500m, but eventually made 2.5km and made the distance up to 3km with some kick and more bilateral breathing practice. As there was a minute or two left I did another couple of lengths and almost fell straight into bilateral breathing without even intending to, which feels quite promising. I think there’s still more work to do there, but it feels like I might not be too far off now.

As a bonus I passed 40km for the month and I’m now only about a week behind where I would like to be against my target for the year of 500km (though I prefer to say it as half a million metres because it sounds more impressive 🙂

Total distance for the month: 40,200m
Total distance for this year: 235,200m
Distance compared to annual target: 12,800m under

It was so warm today that even at around 30C the pool felt quite cool when I got into the water. I thought it was going to be fairly quiet as there were only two of us queuing when the public session started, but it soon started to fill up and there were no designated swimming lanes so I stuck to the same sort of session as I’ve already done this week. Even then I still had to avoid other people a few times.

It was a good session, starting with 2,500m of front crawl including one stint of 1,250m non-stop, followed by 200m kick and 300m pull practising bilateral breathing.

Total distance for the month: 37,200m
Total distance for this year: 232,200m
Distance compared to annual target: 13,800m under

Another lovely day to be in the pool. Quite a busy day, too. I guess lots of people were taking the opportunity to cool off. I ended up in a lane between two people swimming breaststroke, so it was a bit like swimming in the sea…

Because I was sharing a lane I just did front crawl, finishing off with some kick and more bilateral breathing practice with a pull-buoy, for a total of 3,000m. I’m still “hunting” for the right place to breathe a lot of the time, but occasionally I’m getting it right, so I think I just need more practice.

Total distance for the month: 34,200m
Total distance for this year: 229,200m
Distance compared to annual target: 14,800m under

Such a pleasant day to be in the pool, and I was very much enjoying it. I stuck to front crawl, swimming the first 1,000m non-stop, then another 1,500m in three sets, finishing off with some kick and finally pull practising bilateral breathing. My plan had been to stop at 3km, but I clearly had my swimming arms on and kept going to make the distance up to two miles (3.2km).

As well as continuing to work on developing an “early vertical forearm” catch which is proving hard work to get into “muscle memory”, thanks to some comments from a coach on Saturday I also wanted to keep thinking about the elbow leading the recovery. I discovered it’s very hard to think about both at the same time.

Total distance for the month: 31,200m
Total distance for this year: 226,200m
Distance compared to annual target: 15,800m under

An extra half hour or so in the water this week that I spent just practising bilateral breathing, swimming lengths with a pull-buoy.

Total distance for the month: 28,000m
Total distance for this year: 223,000m
Distance compared to annual target: 17,000m under