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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

Another swim in the bath today 🙂 It really does feel quite hard work when the water is so warm. Lots of people to avoid in the lane too, so just a simple 3,000m front crawl swim to make life easier.

Total distance for the month: 5,400m
Total distance for this year: 257,500m
Distance compared to annual target: 4,500m under

Bit of a change of scene for today, particularly as I don’t normally swim on Sundays at all. Today it rained pretty much all day and I swam in a 30m outdoor pool that felt warmer than being anywhere else. Just a single lane was set aside for “competent swimmers”, though clearly interpretations of “competent” vary as far as “dancing from end to end on the bottom” and “requires armbands”.

Anyhow, I swam 2,400m straight front crawl doing my best to avoid the obstacles until the session ended at the life guards asked us to leave.

Total distance for the month: 2,400m
Total distance for this year: 254,500m
Distance compared to annual target: 5,500m under

Last swim of the month, and of the first half of the year, thanks to spending much of 30th travelling.

I’ve been unable to let this 1,500m thing go this week for some reason. No idea why. Perhaps just because I’ve got it into my head that sixty lengths non-stop is actually quite achievable. Anyhow, despite tiredness in my arms and shoulders I just had to give it another crack. And well worth the effort it was, coming in at under 28 minutes for the distance despite very slow and lazy open turns. Once I get the bilateral breathing sorted and can pick the time for my last breath going into the tumble turn then I reckon I could take anything up to five minutes off that. As for the rest of this week, I finished off with some kick and bilateral breathing practice, for a total of 3,200m.

Very pleased to make 55km for the month, and to reach halfway to my target after six months. I should probably redo my “distance under” measurement based on the six month figure now, rather than on the basis of “10km a week for 50 weeks” as I’ve done so far.

Total distance for the month: 55,100m
Total distance for this year: 250,100m
Distance compared to annual target: 7,900m under

I wasn’t sure I could do another non-stop 1,500m today as I could feel the tiredness in my arms and shoulders even before I got into the pool. I broke it down though, first aiming to get to 500m, then 750m and then 1km. At that point I could see the end of it and though the next 250m was a bit of a struggle, the final ten lengths weren’t too bad at all.

After that I did two more 500m swims, kick, bilateral breathing drills and finished off with 100m front crawl swim with bilateral breathing, much the same as yesterday, for a total distance of 3,200m again.

Again I had the pool to myself for the tail end of the session. It didn’t start that way though. It was quite busy at first and I came very close to taking out a tri swimmer who had drifted over towards me as she came out of a turn 🙁

Good to see that I’m less than 10km behind my target distance at this point of the year now, though I’m not sure I can swim on Friday so the figure might rise again. Another 3.1km tomorrow would see me to 250km for the first six months of the year, but who knows how I’ll feel by then?

Total distance for the month: 51,900m
Total distance for this year: 246,900m
Distance compared to annual target: 9,100m under

Today was pretty much a re-run of yesterday. I got into the water and just felt as though I should go for another 1,500m front crawl to start with. Again, it got tough towards the end, but I made it and then went on to swim another few sets up to 2,500m followed by some kick, drills practising bilateral breathing and finally some lengths actually swimming with bilateral breathing to take the distance to two miles, or 3,200m.

For the last twenty minutes of the session I had the entire pool to myself which was quite odd. Can’t object though. It’s pleasant to swim in still water.

Total distance for the month: 48,700m
Total distance for this year: 243,700m
Distance compared to annual target: 10,300m under