www.tanstaafl.co.uk

Last swim in the outdoor pool today. The first 1,000m was very difficult and my arms felt painfully tired, but as the distance increased it all seemed to become easier and at the end I felt as though I could have gone further, but I’d reached the point of not wanting to have to avoid people any more so I stopped at 2.4km.

Total distance for the month: 29,000m
Total distance for this year: 281,100m
Distance compared to annual target: 6,500m ahead

Something definitely seems to have got messed up with my distance against target calculations somewhere. As soon as I have time I’ll go through that.

Still in the outdoor pool, but a bit different today as I was swimming with my daughter, and in the rain! It didn’t help that I was feeling a little tired, so I just did 1,800m in the end.

Total distance for the month: 26,600m
Total distance for this year: 278,700m
Distance compared to annual target: 6,100m ahead

An easier swim, largely because of the number of people to be avoided in the pool. Just 2.1km front crawl today.

Total distance for the month: 24,800m
Total distance for this year: 276,900m
Distance compared to annual target: 6,300m ahead

Back to the super-heated dodgem-fest of the outdoor pool today, and a bit of a return to form, though I did take two bites at the cherry to end up with 3km front crawl.

Total distance for the month: 22,700m
Total distance for this year: 274,800m
Distance compared to annual target: 6,200m ahead

Really feeling the tiredness in my arms today and with the warmth of the pool I just couldn’t find the energy to swim, so wimped out after 1,200m.

Total distance for the month: 19,700m
Total distance for this year: 271,800m
Distance compared to annual target: 3,200m ahead

Another hot day and the water in the outdoor pool was back up to “far too warm to be comfortable” type temperatures. I managed 3,300m, mostly front crawl, but some also did some underwater work off the walls at my daughter’s insistence (and much to her amusement given that I can’t get anywhere near as far as she can) and a little breaststroke, during which I discovered that my kick is utterly useless and provides almost no propulsion whatsoever, which is probably why I find it such hard work. Back to the drawing board with that one.

The major plus is getting ahead of schedule on my target distance for the year. I’m not actually sure I have the amount right at the moment — I need to go back and check my maths, but certainly I’m ahead one way or another.

Total distance for the month: 18,500m
Total distance for this year: 270,600m
Distance compared to annual target: 2,000m ahead

Slightly different day today. Still in the outdoor pool, but the weather was heavily overcast and the water felt cooler. Very few people were in the pool at all and I had the swimming lane to myself for most of my session. Still just stuck with 3km front crawl working on technique though.

Total distance for the month: 15,200m
Total distance for this year: 267,300m
Distance compared to annual target: 700m under

Outdoor pool again. I’m starting to get tan lines from my goggle straps, but only on the left side of my head because I don’t breathe enough to my right yet 😀

3km today, mostly just front crawl, but with some bilateral breathing practice thrown in. Nothing exciting, but in this pool it’s mostly a question of getting through without crashing into people.

Total distance for the month: 12,200m
Total distance for this year: 264,300m
Distance compared to annual target: 1,700m under

The water in the outdoor pool felt cooler today though it was shown as being the same temperature as the previous two days. Perhaps it was just because the air temperature was higher. Still difficult to build up a rhythm because of the number of people to be avoided, but there was time today to do 3km front crawl followed by some breaststroke and bilateral breathing practice for a total of 3.8km. I half had it in my head to do 4km, but miscounted 🙂

Total distance for the month: 9,200m
Total distance for this year: 261,300m
Distance compared to annual target: 2,700m under