www.tanstaafl.co.uk

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

The short session of the week, shortened further by the absence of a life guard at the start of the session 🙁

My plan was to do the next Swimfit session:

5 minutes easy swim alternating lengths of front crawl and backstroke
1 minute rest
10 x ( 1 length backstroke, 15 seconds rest )
10 x ( 1 length breaststroke, 15 seconds rest )
20 lengths front crawl
1 minute rest
12 lengths breaststroke
1 minute rest
3 minutes backstroke
1 minute rest
6 lengths easy any stroke

On top of what I’d already done this week the backstroke and breaststroke just killed me and by the time I got to the front crawl I was, well, crawling, so having completed the 20 lengths front crawl I just carried on with that stroke to the end of the session, completing 72 lengths in total.

I’m clearly going to have to come back to this session, but I might have to look at improving my backstroke and breaststroke first.

Total distance for the month: 27,000m
Total distance for this year: 222,000m
Distance compared to annual target: 18,000m under

Pretty much more of the same as I’ve been doing all week today, though my session was shortened by the fact that we had to wait ten minutes from the start of the session before a life guard was available 🙁 I was hoping to do another 3km today, but only managed 2,800m. The extra ten minutes would have made it easy.

Total distance for the month: 25,200m
Total distance for this year: 220,200m
Distance compared to annual target: 17,800m under

Pretty much the same as the previous two days, though in a near-deserted pool this time. I was just a minute or so short to make it to 3km and had to get out so the next session could start having covered 2,900m. It was a good swim though and I was very pleased with how I got on. The bilateral breathing during the pull is getting better slowly, but I’m going to need to work on the stability of my arm action as my body rolls to the right.

Total distance for the month: 22,400m
Total distance for this year: 217,400m
Distance compared to annual target: 18,600m under

Exactly the same session as yesterday though today in a far busier pool, at least until quite late into the session. I ended up swimming next to an older couple and overheard the husband saying to his wife that it was “like having the Queen Mary coming towards you”. I’m not sure if that’s flattering or not 🙂

Total distance for the month: 19,500m
Total distance for this year: 214,500m
Distance compared to annual target: 19,500m under

Plenty of time today, so I swam 2,500m front crawl and then switched to kick and pull for 500m, working on bilateral breathing.

I’ve come to the conclusion that doing kick with a float and using a pull with my right arm to initiate breathing to my right isn’t really very satisfactory any more because the float obstructs the proper rotation of my body. On the plus side it does allow me the time to actually take a decent breath and I think it’s been helpful to get me other the psychological hurdle of not being able to get my head to rotate to the right at all.

When I switched to using a pull-buoy my stroke became rather messy, crossing the centre-line and all sorts of other problems. I think the first thing to do will be to establish a rhythm for taking the breath. I shall try again tomorrow.

Total distance for the month: 16,500m
Total distance for this year: 211,500m
Distance compared to annual target: 20,500m under

Work prevented me from leaving on time for what is a short session on Fridays anyhow, so it was another front crawl only swim today. I reached 2,000m and decided that another four lengths might be pushing my luck a little given the time left, so stopped there. I can’t deny that I was tiring quite noticeably at the end. I’ve pushed myself fairly hard this week.

Total distance for the month: 13,500m
Total distance for this year: 208,500m
Distance compared to annual target: 21,500m under