Having adjusted the incubators earlier in the week I’ve now weighed the eggs trays for a second time. The results for the Suro incubator give a loss of exactly 50g which is 4.4% of the original 1146g. The eggs in the Brinsea incubator have lost 53g from their original 1163g, which is 4.6%.
I’m fairly comfortable with that I think. At this point I’d be expecting a loss of between 4.1% and 4.8%. So I’ll leave things as they are now and measure again in a few more days.
Easy day today after the exertions of yesterday and given that time was limited. Just swam 2,100m front crawl concentrating on technique, though I have to admit to feeling a little tired and my arms were objecting a little. I don’t think there were more than three people in the pool at any time during the session. It’s been very quiet all week.
Total distance for the month: 22,700m
Total distance for this year: 170,100m
Distance compared to annual target: 19,100m under
I had a “get in and swim front crawl” day today. And a worthwhile thing it was. I swam 2.5km faster than I’ve ever done before which makes me quite happy. I did another 500m swim down afterwards to make a total of 3km for the session.
What I could really do with now is to get my front crawl turns more integrated with my “normal” stroke so I can do them all the time. I might do some work on that tomorrow.
Total distance for the month: 20,600m
Total distance for this year: 168,000m
Distance compared to annual target: 20,000m under
Having measured the incubator temperatures with a thermometer I trust, the Suro 20 reads about 0.1C higher than the thermometer. The difference for the Brinsea was closer to 0.3C (also higher), so I’ve turned up the temperature on that a tiny amount.
To see if it reduces the weight loss a little I’ve closed the vents slightly, my thinking being that if moist air finds it harder to leave the incubator then less water will be lost from the eggs to that air over a period of time. I’ll see how it looks towards the end of the week. I’m not that worried about it at the moment as long as it’s within reasonable bounds by the start of the third week.
I missed a day yesterday for reasons beyond my control, so back to the grindstone today with that same old Swimfit session, made up to 2.5km with front crawl.
Although I’m not apparently getting any faster, I worked more on my breaststroke and backstroke today, specifically thinking about hip position and high elbows in the breaststroke and trying to get my arm movement continuous (no pausing at the end of the pull) in backstroke which is quite tricky, though doing so does seem to build into the desired body rotation. I think I also need to get my arm deeper before starting the pull on the backstroke. At the moment, particularly with my left arm, there’s a loud “gloop” noise after I start the pull as water falls back into the “hole” I’ve just made at the surface. I don’t think that should be happening really. It’s all going to take some time…
Total distance for the month: 17,600m
Total distance for this year: 165,000m
Distance compared to annual target: 21,000m under
Ok, so other things got in the way a little over the last couple of days, but we’re now four days in. I’ve just weighed the trays of eggs. Worryingly the Suro incubator is showing an RH value of 68% at the moment, perhaps because it’s been quite warm today. Anyhow, here are the results.
The total weight of tray and eggs for the Suro incubator is now 1522g, giving the weight of the eggs alone as 1114g. That’s a loss of 32g or 2.8%. That looks very close to the top end of where I want to be, so if the humidity is high perhaps I need to check the temperature.
The total weight for the tray and eggs in the Brinsea incubator is now 1376g, giving the weight of the eggs as 1130g, a loss of 33g, just over 2.8%. Looks as though I’ll have to check the temperature there, too.
Loads of time today, and a deserted pool for a change from last week. I attempted another repeat of “that Swimfit session” and whilst my swimming actually felt better, I was still no faster.
I spent some time trying to slow my backstroke kick down without compromising speed (or rather, without making myself even slower than I already am). It’s tricky, but I definitely expend far less energy and don’t get so out of breath when I get it right. I probably need more arm speed, but one thing at a time 🙂
In my breaststroke I’m trying to concentrate on getting my hips up to improve my streamline, but today that was possibly at the expense of keeping my elbows high in the pull. I’ll need to think about that next time too. I think I also tend to go at the stroke too fast, not because I’m trying to sprint, but because my body seems to naturally fall into quite a fast stroke rate (compared to my front crawl and backstroke, at least). Trying to spend a little more time in the streamline might be helpful.
With my front crawl I experimented with my breathing. Normally I tend to hold my breath until the first pull after my face goes back into the water. I’ve no idea why I do this. It just sort of happened. I do a similar thing in breaststroke actually, holding my breath until the start of the pull and then exhaling through it. Today on front crawl I tried to begin exhaling immediately my face turned back into the water. I’m not sure how this helps, but it seemed to help something, possibly allowing me to maintain a higher stroke rate.
There are other oddities with my strokes too, some of which need work. Swimming front crawl my eyes often become unfocused beyond being aware of the lane line so it’s almost as if I have no visual input other than that at all and I’ve never really thought of it as a problem. In breaststroke however, it seems I close my eyes completely when my head is under the water which does make a slightly more tricky job of swimming in a straight line. I need to get that sorted.
I have to admit that I’m getting a little bored of this session despite the fact that I know all my strokes have improved since I’ve been doing it. Half of me wants to move on and the other half wants to keep doing it because the practice is clearly a benefit to my swimming and probably my coaching too.
After the session I made up the distance to 2,500m with front crawl.
Total distance for the month: 15,100m
Total distance for this year: 162,500m
Distance compared to annual target: 19,500m under
Once again I was late getting to the pool and it was only a short public session anyhow. And not only that. When I got there the pool was absolutely rammed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it so busy before. It was like swimming in open water (or at least, what I imagine swimming in open water to be like as I’ve not done it since childhood holidays), the water was so choppy.
So, just 1,900m of front crawl in the time available.
Total distance for the month: 12,600m
Total distance for this year: 160,000m
Distance compared to annual target: 20,000m under
I’ve been idly wondering if I couldn’t combine my egg incubation project with a camera that I use for testing oacapture to record chicks as they hatch. I have some lenses that might be suitable and some cameras that can be set up for automatic exposure. The main question is whether they can be made to work through the plastic cover of the incubator. I’ll see if I can try that out over the next couple of weeks.
A day in, the relative humidity in my Suro 20 incubator is being reported as about 60% and it really ought to be a bit lower than that — nearer 52%.
If I’ve done my research properly I reckon on average the eggs should lose between 0.58% and 0.68% of their weight each day if the humidity is correct. That being the case, each tray should have lost somewhere in the region of 15g in weight by the time they’ve been in the incubator two days, or about 22g after three days. I’ll weigh them either tomorrow evening or the following evening (they went into the incubators at 5pm, so that should represent two or three days) and see how they’re doing.
I have to admit that I’m a little short of ideas on what to do if they aren’t losing weight fast enough. I might try putting a handful of rice in the bottom of the incubator to see if that helps.
