Swim Win

Diablo is now sitting at the bottom of the pool with an anchor tied to his legs.
I hope he stays there. 

The morning started way too early with teaching Body Pump at 5:10 am in another town. Did my alarm really go off at 4:15 am? Let's just say that the brain does not function well that early and some body parts were not readily identified by my stumbling cues. On the plus side, no one is on the road at 4:45 am and it's a nice straight shot full of green lights from my house to the other gym.


Once the class was over, I felt great. I was definitely awake, re-energized by the music and moves brought to us by Les Mills. I also had to launch the choreography for Body Flow 55 dissolving my stress and tension away at 8:30 am. 


By the time I got home my second class, I was relaxed...and ready to crash. NAP TIME! Again, I am an advocate for listening to your body. With all of the running I knew we had scheduled for the evening, I felt a nap was in order. Still groggy from my very brief cat nap, I picked up The Legend and we went for a swim. I didn't have high expectations for my pool time. I was definitely not going to set the bar high today. 


The Legend wanted to do 2000 yards. So I thought I would follow a similar plan as last week: warm up, swim increasing sets, cool down. Simple, right? 


Last week after my Pump class, I spoke with one of our local swim team coaches about my technique and questions I had regarding drag. She suggested making sure I kept kicking when I rotated on the side. My focus for the day's swim was technique, eliminating drag. 

Head position? 

As I sat by the side of the pool pulling on my cap & goggles, I watched The Legend swim. Because we had been discussing swim technique during our last two outings, I made some suggestions on his technique. On past swims, he's fought pretty hard to keep up with me. Not that I'm fast. I'm just faster than him. I had this fantasy.....


Me. The Ohio River. Me leaving the Ohio River. The Legend coming out after me.  The Legend passing me on the bike and waiting for me at the finish line. (sigh...)


But like I said. It's a fantasy. I opened my big mouth and suddenly he's not struggling to keep up with me anymore. Damn!


Back to the workout...I started out with a 100 yard warm up breathing every 4 strokes. 30 seconds rest. I continued with increasing sets (1 each, 30 sec RI): 200, 300, 400....started the 500 and suddenly I think I'm freaking Janet Evans. Why stop at 500? JUST-KEEP-GOING!!!


And so I did. 1000 yards later I came to a stop, put my arms up in the air like I'd just won Olympic Gold and celebrated Diablo sinking to the bottom of the pool.


Total workout: 2000 yards. WIN! Yes, I will pretend I am freaking Janet Evans even if it's just in my mind. I may not win Olympic Gold, but I'll definitely put that one down in the WIN column. 


Area of focus for my next swim: 


Technique Focus: Where should I be looking? It seems to me that my problem could be my head direction after I breathe. I feel as if I'm looking too far down, straight down at the bottom of the pool. I can't remember where, but it seems I read an article once that said you should be looking slightly forward. Maybe that's my problem?


Equipment Focus: I am so tired of foggy goggles. I bought defogger last year which, of course, I cannot find now. If I remember correctly, it didn't seem to work too well. I read an article (yes, I read a lot about swimming) that said foggy goggles will actually help you with an open water swim. I'll go with that, but it makes it hard to see my lap counter when I'm wondering how many more laps I need to get through.


Aesthetic Focus: I am not a VERY vain person, but why must I go around looking like a freak with goggle eyes for 12 hours after my swim is done? Anyone have any tips for this? The small vain voice in my head says, "All you are doing is creating wrinkles and bags for your quickly approaching old age." Shit. That voice is probably right.