No swimming on Monday this week because of the bank holiday, but a repeat of last Friday today, and it felt very good. Things seem to be starting to come together.
Total distance for the month: 47,200m
Total distance for this year: 359,300m
Distance compared to annual target: 22,800m ahead
Missed out on swimming yesterday due to having more fun than any one person should be expected to handle at the dentist. Today I went back to my normal bilateral breathing practice, with some kick thrown in as well, for a total of 2.6km.
Total distance for the month: 44,600m
Total distance for this year: 356,700m
Distance compared to annual target: 24,100m ahead
Bit of a change for today. I went to a SwimFit session at one of the local pools. It was quite a tough session, mostly drills and kick, so I didn’t cover much distance — only 1,200m. Not sure I’m quite up to going back. We’ll see how things go.
Total distance for the month: 42,000m
Total distance for this year: 354,100m
Distance compared to annual target: 23,500m ahead
Back to the same practice for bilateral breathing — breathe to the left on “odd” lengths and to the right on “even”, for 2,000m. I also tried to bear in mind the observations of the coach from Monday night that my stroke is a little short and I tip my fingers up slightly as they enter the water.
Towards the end of the session I came up with a new way to visualise how my arms should be working, though it’s a little hard to put into words at the moment. It’s along the lines of the pulling arm thrusting the fingers of the recovering arm forward into the water to create the longest possible useful stroke.
Finished off with some kick and 50s with bilateral breathing trying to work the tumble turn in properly for a total of 2,500m.
Total distance for the month: 40,800m
Total distance for this year: 352,900m
Distance compared to annual target: 24,300m ahead
I went to the tri fitness swimming session in the 33.3m pool again today, but instead of my normal swim session rather than in addition to it. It was quite a different set to last week:
6 lengths swim
6 lengths choice drill
6 lengths pull
4 x 6 lengths as 2 lengths swim, 1 length finger drag, 2 lengths swim, 1 length “doggy paddle”, 30 seconds rest after each six lengths
6 lengths alternating “fists” and “wide fingers”
8 lengths easy swim
6 x 1 length “doggy paddle”, 15 seconds rest
6 lengths swim down
(All front crawl.) I ran out of time to finish the six lengths of doggy paddle and only did two in the end, for a total of 58 lengths, or about 2,100m.
Total distance for the month: 38,300m
Total distance for this year: 350,400m
Distance compared to annual target: 23,800m ahead
And the same thing once again, but perhaps today it was a little easier. And my session today took me up to 15.1km, which is certainly the furthest I’ve ever done just swimming on weekdays.
Total distance for the month: 36,200m
Total distance for this year: 348,300m
Distance compared to annual target: 23,700m ahead
A repeat of yesterday, but with more tired arms 🙂 I’m just going to keep plugging away at this bilateral breathing until it gets easier, though I might try to find ways to make it a bit more interesting doing the practice.
Total distance for the month: 33,600m
Total distance for this year: 345,700m
Distance compared to annual target: 23,100m ahead
Much of this evening was spent in the beer shack, bottling the “Old Speckled Hen” that I started the weekend before last. It wasn’t ready to bottle last weekend, so I left it a couple more days and got it all done this evening. The final total came to 70 pints and it’s now back in the fermentation cabinet for a week or so before I move it to the cellar.
If there’s time this weekend I might try to get another brew under way, but I may need ingredients to arrive first.
Pretty much the same as yesterday’s session, practising bilateral breathing again. 2km from the off breathing to the left on odd lengths and the right on even lengths, then 8x50m kick and 4x50m full bilateral breathing with a tumble turn.
At the moment breathing to the right is tiring my right arm excessively. I think there’s an urge to pull harder on the breathing stroke to generate the body rotation which is actually probably not necessary. I need to work on that one so the stroke before the breath becomes more relaxed.
I think I have a similar problem with turns, actually. There’s a temptation to pull very hard on the last stroke before the tuck, but actually I’m really not convinced it’s necessary and I’m now trying to relax that last stroke and just use the speed into the wall to generate the rotation.
Total distance for the month: 31,000m
Total distance for this year: 343,100m
Distance compared to annual target: 22,500m ahead
Given the coach raising the issue of my lack of bilateral breathing last night I decided I’d spend some time working on that today, so I started with 2km of front crawl changing breathing side after each length. After that I wasn’t much good for anything else serious, so I did some kick and a swim down to take the distance to 2,500m.
Total distance for the month: 28,400m
Total distance for this year: 340,500m
Distance compared to annual target: 21,900m ahead
