Swimming is like golf

In more ways than one! Both frustrate the crap out of me, take far too much practice time to improve at, and reward finesse (not the shampoo) with results. I'm really beginning to realize how clumsily I was swimming before. My friend and fellow triathlete Pam has been giving me lots of pointers with swimming technique, and even took me under her wing a couple of weeks ago for a lunch time swim drills session. It's become quite clear to me that I try to attack the pool as I would if I were riding or running, and wind up fighting the water using my upper body while my legs drift along.

Anyway, through drills with names like butt-tap, tarzan, catch up, 1 arm, and finger drag, I'm starting to get some style...and improvement. Today I hit the pool for drills, focusing on the glide and kick aspect. Drill days always wear me out, but they are almost immediately apparent in their worth. Friday, after riding to the gym as a warm up to start my mini-tri, I swam 500yds in 8:23 @ 1:41/100yds. Today, after 700yds of drills and reinforcement laps, I swam 500yds in 8:13 @ 1:38/100yds. 10 seconds faster, and I was less fatigued! And after the drills!!

The changes I'm making are just relaxing my upper body and using a smooth stroke while concentrating on a steady, rapid kick. Concentrating on my stroke has had me forgetting to kick and dragging my legs through the water, further slowing me, and making me work harder still with my arms. I'm stretching out fully, gently placing my hands in the water, and while turning my trunk I use the rotation to power the previous stroke arm. After getting this process in motion, I can forget about it and focus on head position and kick, gliding and streamlined.

I guess the difference is that if you wear spandex or a blue speedo to golf in, the old men will look at you funny. Oh, and you can't drink beer while swimming. Seriously, I've tried!




Tonight is our weekly pilgrimage to some delicious south o' the border treats. The week is going by slowly for me (as opposed to screaming by for Tiff and Jess, I'm sure), but this marks the downward slope. I just hope Grace is in a good mood. Mendy's always in a good mood, so I don't sweat that...

:-)

Um, call it tapering?

I really wanted to do a brick at lunch to give me the high intensity/low duration cap to my week before an easy swim tomorrow and pre-race rest on Friday. A peek outside just before lunch showed the wind kickin' like karate, somewhere between 16 and 18 mph. Um, no thanks. I could do it, but I'd rather not put any bad vibes into my noggin from slow times before Saturday. So I finished watching the Tour de France on the web and grabbed some sammich fixins, returning to my desk early. The afternoon floated by, and I got a lot done, but I absolutely HAD to do something today.

I get home, walk up to get Grace, and Mendy is returning from the gym on our way back. We get to the house and I tell Mendy I'm going for a quick run. Or rather, I hoped it would be quick. Into my new C9 tank from Target and some shorts, and I'm warming up. No need for Garmin, I'm doing my standard 2.4 mile out-and-back. It was cross wind almost the whole way, so there wasn't much I could blame on wind. I could, however, clearly tell my nutrition wasn't ideal for this effort level. It would have been at lunch, but I was low on carbs. Not a bad run, but a few ticks off my PR last week:

2.4 miles in 15:13 @ 6:20/mile

I was pretty drenched after the run, though I won't go into an R rated discussion about peeling my soaked clothes off like Jess did! ;-) So, what better way to celebrate Wednesday, no thunderstorms today, a run, and...whatever else?

Yes, sports fans, it was Mexican food night for us! Though they didn't have DosXX (again!!!) the mole sauce on the pollo poblano was absolutely the best! Grace was reasonably well behaved, for a terrible 2, and no stinkies while there! Grace has a tendency to unleash the most foul of movements particularly while we eat Mexican. Since the place is frequented by lots of local construction workers all day, the dudes' bathroom isn't so awesome to change a diaper/pull-up. Poor Mendy gets that "honor" most times, but she's a trooper about it...usually. :-)

As I mentioned, tomorrow is a mild swim to round out the week, and we are going to the tri clinic tomorrow night. Mendy is a participant, and I'm a mentor/assistant/case study. I may even be asked to speak to the group as a relative tri newbie, albeit kicking some serious "A" in my first competitive season! LOL

Speaking of swimming, I think I missed a day. Here's yesterday's workout:

500yds in 6m 58s @ 1m 23s /100 yards
5 X 100yd sprints
1st 1:17
2nd 1:19
3rd 1:21
4th 1:29
5th 1:32

I was getting pretty bushed, as evidenced by my increasing times. Stupid swimming!