Thursday, February 21, 2008

SWIM! (if you want to call it that)

I am really focused on the swim right now! I have to, I suck. I must admit that the fact that I suck at swimming kinda surprised me. One of the few things that I remember as a kid is being a good swimmer. I don't mean competition swimming, just good 'ol YMCA swimming.

I don't know, maybe I am a decent swimmer IF you don't count freestyle. After all, I swam .4 miles and .5 miles last year and didn't drown. That's a start!

I cannot get away with that this year. There is a big difference between slowly swimming breast stroke, back stroke and sidestroke for .5 miles and then trying it for 1.2 miles.

So, I've been to Lifetime to swim this past week. 4 days a week is the plan, which certainly beats a total of, oh, I don't know, a dozen practices last year. Yep, not only do I suck, but I didn't but the time in to not suck.

To be a little fair, it's a bit discouraging to swim when you CAN'T BREATHE. I bought books and cards, and worked on this technique and that technique. Nuttin going!

Things are changing a little though and thank you finis. What's been great about having the Finis Swimming Toolkit is that I am able to put on my snorkel and just work on my freestyle technique without the worry of breathing. So I learn to position myself for efficiency, keep my head down and have my lead hand in the perfect position to help keep my hips up.

So my starting routine is simple (and possible pathetic to some of you). I swim about 5 laps slowly (40 feet length pool) with the snorkel on and just focus on technique. Then I swim another 5 laps without it and work on my technique with breathing. I then swim another 5 laps with the snorkel and work on speed (with at least decent technique)

Amazingly I can do it. This past week I swam a lap, for the first time, without stopping or changing my stroke to breathe. It's working so well that I now swim the first 10 laps without the snorkel though I do use those hand paddles some. And then a second 10 laps with the snorkel. Thats only a .3 mile swim, with breaks, but it beats anything I've done before.

Remarkably, I really am confident that my swim will at least be decent by the Lifetime Triathlon in July.

I went to see "Spirit of the Marathon" tonight. If you haven't seen it, do!

Swimming, weight lifting, running, yoga DVD's, core exercises, a massage today; things are going great.
I miss my bike though, I can't wait for the snow and ice to be off the ground.

7 comments:

  1. I suck at swimming too. The only benefit I see is that I get to pass a lot of people on the bike :-)

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  2. I went to Spirit of the Marathon last night, too. Loved it!!

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  3. That's great, Jumper! Every session you will find yourself adding a couple more laps. By LTF in July you'll be on auto-pilot. Stick with it!
    Jenny

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  4. I have yet to try swimming so I suck too. :-) I've heard good things about Spirit of the Marathon. It sounds great. I hope that I get to see it. Keep up the good work on your training.

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  5. Yeah, I'm hitting the pool a little harder this winter too. I suck bad too. See you at Nokomis for the LTF Tri!

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  6. One lap at a time. That's where we all started. Good for you for putting in the technique time.

    Just go ahead an leave me in your wake in July! I dare you. No. I double dog dare you.

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  7. Let me know if you want to jump in the pool at the Y- I can show you some great tips- I was a non swimmer- it's all breathing and timing- you can do it! I have guest passes for the Y, so just let me know when you want to meet up!

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