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Really struggled today. Arms felt very heavy. Eventually got out early having done 2,100m front crawl.

Total distance for the month: 9,200m
Total distance for this year: 424,400m
Distance compared to annual target: 41,400m ahead

Work interfered with my usual daytime swim so I had to go this evening when only half the pool was available and there were more swimmers to dodge. So I kept things simple again with 8 x 250m followed by 10 x 50m by which time I felt like I’d done enough.

Total distance for the month: 7,100m
Total distance for this year: 422,300m
Distance compared to annual target: 41,300m ahead

Simple session because I was still feeling a bit tired from the previous evening. I did 8 x 250m front crawl working on extension of the stroke followed by 200m fly kick and finished off with some 50s with a turn at each end for a total of 2,500m. I’m feeling happier about the turns at the shallow end now.

Total distance for the month: 4,600m
Total distance for this year: 419,800m
Distance compared to annual target: 40,800m ahead

It’s Monday, so it must be the tri fitness session. The plan (all front crawl) was:

2 lengths swim
2 lengths catch up
2 lengths kick using a pull-buoy as a float

Then four repeats of
2 lengths pull, breathing every five strokes
2 lengths as half a length doggy paddle, half swim
on 20 second rest intervals

2 x 12 lengths, 30 second rest
2 x 6 lengths, 30 second rest
2 x 4 lengths, 30 second rest
2 x 2 lengths, 30 second rest

walkbacks

6 lengths swim down

I really struggled with the kick. My minimal buoyancy makes it very hard to lift my head out of the water to breathe when only using a pull-buoy as a float. I also found the doggy paddle quite tricky. As a result I didn’t get through the first part as quickly as necessary and had to drop some of the repeats from the second section (and even had to do some of those breathing to one side only). I didn’t even get close to doing walkbacks.

It was an enjoyable session though, and in the end I reckon I covered 2,100m.

Total distance for the month: 2,100m
Total distance for this year: 417,300m
Distance compared to annual target: 40,300m ahead

Today’s session didn’t start well as Friday is a short session anyhow and the school using the pool immediately before the public session were late getting out. Given that I wanted to be sure of making 50km for this month I just knuckled down into 8 x 250m front crawl.

Off the wall when swimming front crawl I normally take four strokes and breathe as my left arm recovers after the fourth stroke. After that I’ve been dropping into a pattern of breathing every three strokes. I discovered today that for the time being at least, life is much easier if I take a second breath to the left after the first and then switch to bilateral. I might experiment a bit with this over the next few weeks — trying to take my first breath one stroke earlier, for instance.

Anyhow, target achieved. 2km for the day, over 50km for the fourth month on the trot. Happy enough with that.

Total distance for the month: 50,400m
Total distance for this year: 415,200m
Distance compared to annual target: 40,200m ahead

Another session working on extending my stroke. The muscles are starting to complain now 🙂 Then 8 25s fly kick. I can pretty much reach 15m underwater from a push off on demand now, which is progress for me. Just need to speed it up a bit for starts and turns, but I’m also working on it with a view to swimming fly. Finished off with a few 50s with tumble turns at the deep end for a total of 2,500m.

I shall be miffed if I can’t do at least 1,600m tomorrow and push myself over the 50km for the month again.

Total distance for the month: 48,400m
Total distance for this year: 413,200m
Distance compared to annual target: 40,300m ahead

Much harder work today than yesterday, not helped by the fact that I was late into the pool in the first place. I did another 8 x 250m front crawl trying to keep my stroke long, followed by some fly kick (which does seem to be improving in terms of the distance I can get before needing to breathe), a few front crawl 50s practising tumble turns at the deep end and then a few more tumble turns at the shallow end, just swimming in from halfway and back. In the end I covered 2,400m which I was pleased with under the circumstances.

Total distance for the month: 45,900m
Total distance for this year: 410,700m
Distance compared to annual target: 39,800m ahead

Really enjoyed today. Swam 2km as 8 x 250m faster than I’ve managed since I got the hang of bilateral breathing. I really wasn’t working that hard either. At the tri session the coach said I needed to work on lengthening my stroke for the longer distances so I worked on brushing my thigh with my thumb at the end of each pull and relaxing the stroke rate a little. It looks like it went well 🙂 To follow that I did 250m fly kick, 250m as 5 x 50m front crawl working on turns at the deep end and then did some experimentation turning at the shallow end which always makes me nervous as I’m convinced I’ll hit the bottom on the way out. But as it happens I didn’t.

Total distance for the month: 43,500m
Total distance for this year: 408,300m
Distance compared to annual target: 39,400m ahead

And back to the evening tri fitness session, which was along the lines of:

4 x 2 lengths counting strokes

6 x 1 length swimming to halfway before breathing, 10 seconds rest
6 x 1 length sprint, 20 seconds rest
repeat these two

6 lengths pull
8 lengths swim
6 lengths pull

I’ve missed something somewhere, but can’t recall what it was, possibly because I had to shuffle things around. After the first set of sprints I just couldn’t control my breathing properly so I had to do a few lengths just to calm things down and get back on track.

In the end I covered 2,300m in total for the session.

Total distance for the month: 40,900m
Total distance for this year: 405,700m
Distance compared to annual target: 38,800m ahead