That's what I did this morning. I'm still not really "working" on anything, just swimming, having fun, trying different things, and just being comfortable in the water.
So I've been doing flipturns all the time. This serves a couple of purposes:
1) It's fun. I really like doing them and it makes me smile every time.
2) Doing this gives me more confidence in the water and this is what I really need.
3) Getting water up the nose once in a while helps me realize I probably won't drown from that (at least I haven't yet :)
Today I added fins again. This is fun, who doesn't like zooming down the lane; talk about feeling like a dolphin!!! I used them to make the swim more aerobic. Since I actually don't swim very fast, adding fins makes me go a lot faster and overall work harder. So I did some sprints, 50m on the 1:00. Yeah, we are talking fun!!!
I also got the Total Immersion tape for breaststroke and butterfly, so I worked on those drills for a little while. I breaststroke, poorly, and don't butterfly at all.
I ended up swimming for about 1 hour 10 minutes and really enjoyed it. I was bummed I had to get out and go to work.
I have realized that this time in the pool is helping me more than the drills and stuff were. I have issues with the swim and can freak out badly during the swim. I've discovered that I just need to get more comfortable in the water and that's what I'm doing. On Jan. 1st I'm starting my 30 swims in 30 days and I think that will be the icing on the cake as far as water comfort. Once I am completely comfortable and at home in the water it's then I will begin trying to improve my speed. I'm looking forward to it.
Okay, that's all. Rocco goes tonight to have his stitches removed. I'd like to get a run in too but I don't see that happening. Oh well, there's always tomorrow morning.
3 comments:
Getting comfortable in the water is 90% of it, I think. I started from practically ground zero 5 years ago and am amazed that I can swim over 2 miles of freestyle without stopping, or dog-paddling, or panicking. Not fast, but I feel at home in the water. It's great.
I take a look at your blog from time to time to get some triathalon inspiration! I want to do my first one next August after I get more weight off. I'm working on the 1/2 miles swim, 12 m. bike and 3.1 mile run. It's snowing here now, so I haven't been doing the biking (and don't like the stationary ones much). Took up running about 6 wks ago and pulled muscle in my leg from that or the super fast yoga lady and am doing the swimming and enjoying it.
I used to also live in Hawaii years ago, it was in Maui. Wish I could be there now. I'm jealous. Have a great week and thanks for the inspiration.
Swimming for an hour or more at a time REALLY boosts your fitness level in more ways than one. Maybe instead of doing the 30 days of swimming in a row, do 3 days of one hour swims. It should be even better for your conditioning and improve your time for the shorter distances. When I was doing Masters Swimming, 2 days a week of an hour of swimming improved my short distance swim times by quite a bit, and instead of trying to get to the pool every day for shorter swims, I would think 3 longer workouts would work as well if not better.
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