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The pool was fairly busy today and quite a few people were lane-swimming so I stuck to front crawl. My plan was to do 2.5km, but when I’d done that I felt good for another 500m and after that I decided I’d do the extra eight lengths to make the distance up to two miles. Doubtless there will be payback tomorrow, but that’s another day. Takes a good chunk out of the distance I’m behind target for the year, too.

Total distance for the month: 3,200m
Total distance for this year: 150,600m
Distance compared to annual target: 21,400m under

My last swim of this month unless something unexpected happens at the weekend. And a hideous fight it was, too. After 1km of front crawl I was pretty much running on empty. I even started to get the shakes because I had so little energy left. I pressed on to 2.2km, all front crawl, but there was no real joy in it. I think my efforts with the Swimfit session earlier in the week really just took too much out of me.

Still, an acceptable total for me for this month and I’ve improved my position compared with my annual target by a whole 400m.

Total distance for the month: 40,400m
Total distance for this year: 147,400m
Distance compared to annual target: 22,600m under

One more go at the Swimfit session for this week, made up to 2.6km with front crawl. It was a bit of a struggle to be honest. I just didn’t seem to have the energy any more.

Total distance for the month: 38,200m
Total distance for this year: 145,200m
Distance compared to annual target: 22,800m under

Yes, that session again 🙂 This time made up to 2.7km with front crawl.

It was very tough today and my legs felt like jelly by halfway through the session, but it does feel as though my breaststroke (particularly) and backstroke are slowly improving. Somewhat oddly I’ve noticed that I tend to close my eyes whilst my head is under water when I’m swimming breaststroke. I don’t know if that’s because I’m trying to concentrate so hard on what’s happening, but it does mean I tend to drift off the centre line a bit.

Had the pool pretty much to myself for the entire session too, which was quite pleasant.

Total distance for the month: 35,600m
Total distance for this year: 142,600m
Distance compared to annual target: 23,400m under

Being something of a glutton for punishment (or as some might put it, “unbelievably pig-headed” 🙂 I repeated my current Swimfit session for the umpteenth time, with much the same result as yesterday. For some reason despite feeling rather tired on my way to the pool I’m in quite a positive frame of mind about it today. I’m getting the distance done that I intended so I stay in touch with my target for the year and it does mean I’m getting practice in on my breaststroke and backstroke which I really do need.

Breaststroke is supposed to have a certain amount of undulation in the stroke and I think my body is too rigid in the water. Today I tried to be a bit more flexible and relaxed, stopping my hips being permanently low in the water, and to achieve a good streamline position with my upper body before starting the kick. It also occurred to me to question exactly how the “A-pull” might be performed. Naively perhaps, I’ve always done it with my arms starting in a streamline position and my hands describing an arc in the horizontal plane back to my hips. I wonder though if it might not produce more forward motion if it were performed more like a butterfly pull, with the hands and forearms dropping to the vertical near the front of the pull to catch the water, then rotating the arms backwards to the body around the shoulder, keeping the elbows high. Experimenting over the course of a few lengths it seems to me that the pressure wave I feel along my lower legs when doing the pull this way is far stronger than if I do it the original way. I’m not sure about the legality of it so I’ll have to check that. I should have a look at what Maglischo might have to say about the breaststroke transition too. One of the dangers I’ve already discovered, especially in relatively shallow water, is that it’s quite easy to have a downwards component to the pull, thereby bringing the body closer to the surface. I didn’t find it such a problem at the deep end though.

As for backstroke, I think first I need to work on getting better longitudinal rotation of my body and a wider entry position for my arms so I can get into a proper catch more quickly. An interesting apparent side-effect of the rotation I’ve discovered is that it means I’m effectively not having to lift my recovering arm out of the water. Instead it rotates out with the body taking much less effort.

For today at least I feel as though I could repeat the session every day until I do hit that target time. Of course tomorrow I might feel utterly sick of it and want to move on again.

Anyhow, after the main session I made the distance up to 2.6km with some front crawl. Last one out of the pool again 😀

Total distance for the month: 32,900m
Total distance for this year: 139,900m
Distance compared to annual target: 24,100m under

As I don’t swim at the weekend I thought I’d give the latest Swimfit session another crack first thing this week:

12 lengths front crawl
8 lengths breaststroke
4 lengths backstroke
1 minute rest
2 x ( 2 lengths each of front crawl, backstroke, breaststroke ) 15 sec rest after each length
8 x ( 1 length each of front crawl, backstroke, breaststroke, 30 sec rest )
10 lengths fast front crawl, 30 seconds rest every 2 lengths
8 lengths easy front crawl

I still can’t do it in the expected 55 minutes. I think my breaststroke and backstroke just aren’t fast enough. By my reckoning in the above set there are ten and a half minutes rest, leaving forty-four and a half minutes swimming for seventy-eight lengths which is just over 34 seconds per length. I can’t do that in breaststroke and backstroke. In fact, covering 1950m at 34 seconds per length is a pretty reasonable pace (for me, at least) just sticking to front crawl.

For the previous session the timing was sixty minutes for three quarters the distance, mostly in front crawl and the session before that allowed seventy minutes for seventy-four lengths, again mostly front crawl though there were four lengths of kick. On the other hand the next session asks for about sixty lengths in twenty-seven minutes (with rest time on top). I just can’t see that happening in the near future. Perhaps I need some other guide as to when to move on to the next session.

Anyhow, having done the session I made the distance up to 2,700m with front crawl, until I was kicked out of the lane to make room for a swimming lesson 🙂

Total distance for the month: 30,300m
Total distance for this year: 137,300m
Distance compared to annual target: 24,700m under