One of the comments by Terry Laughlin of Total Immersion stuck in my head. Don't try to do too much at one time if you are trying to make a change. Break down your sets to smaller distances to facilitate change and imprint the change into your mind. I decided to do a series of 50 yard laps, pause briefly and re-start. My focus was on rotating my hips for propulsion and relaxing my arm. For the first few 50s, my stroke rate was 19 which is actually a little high on my personal efficiency rate (PER). I started to focus on my glide and trying to reduce my stroke rate. I was able to bring my stroke rate down to 18, but couldn't push it either further.
My next goal was to work on bilateral breathing. Breathing to my right just doesn't feel as natural as my left, but I'm really worried that I will be looking directly into the sun on the race day and be mad that I didn't work on my right side breathing. Part of the breathing to my right also has to do with my hip rotation. I know when I am just swimming I don't rotate my hips enough to the right. I worked on rotating to my right, engaging my core as my right elbow comes forward in order to keep my head from diving back into the water. It took some work, but I have a lot more work to do. All in all I completed 1300 yards focusing on technique and stroke rate.
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| Interesting Sculpture along the riverfront |
Because I live in a small town of about 2000 people, my running routes get really boring. The actually town is about 8 blocks by 15 blocks; therefore, I get tired of running past the same houses week after week. As a result, I decided to stay in Peoria on Tuesday after my swim, eat a delicious lunch at Panera Bread and then run along the riverfront.
Returning to the Riverplex, I turned on my watch and started off with a nice easy jog to get the joints loose. A few minutes into my run, I stopped to turn on my Endomonodo app and re-started. Running along the riverfront was definitely a nice change of pace. I was distracted by the people, the scenery and finding my route. The distance on my watch spinned away when all of the sudden I heard Endomondo through my headphones: 1 mile complete....Hmm, wait what? That didn't match my watch. Well, I figured it was because I started the app after my watch. No problem. I continued working on my intervals, 400 strong, 400 relaxed. My goal was 5 miles in my brand new New Balance running shoes. I watched as my distance ticked away, and noticed my pace: 6:30. What? I am not running that fast...nor can I run that fast except maybe a 100 yard dash. My watch ticked over to 5 and I stopped at a near bench to take a look. What was going on? ??? My watch says 5...km. Are you kidding me?
Another lesson with a new toy. Make sure you distance measurement is set up correctly. I switched the distance to Statute. Grrr. Time to get up and finish my 5 MILES then.
Couldn't I just live in the fantasy that I completed my 5 miles in 33 minutes? Please?
Lessons learned. Technology: 2. Carla: 0.
I completed 1300 yards and decided
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