Daily Log 4 April 2011 - Swim

If everything else doesn't work, at least I have my swimming. Back to the pool tonight after a day off. I've been looking forward to this workout as I want to start focussing on the new drills I have learnt. So this is how tonight's session went. Slow pace freestyle (warm up) 4 x 50m Superman glide 2 x 50m Sculling 5 minutes Kickboard with Fins 2 x 50m Kickboard no fins 2 x 50m Freestyle with fins 4 x 50m Touch and Go (aka Catch-up Stroke) 2 x 50m Thumb to Thigh 4 x 50m One arm front (none) One armed freestyle with fins (none) Closed Fist 2 x 50m Lazy arm 2 x 50m Pull buoy freestyle 4 x 50m Side kick with arm pull 4 x 50m Moderate Freestyle 8 x 50m Total laps 40 With the increasing number of drills I have to do, my time and distance in the pool has increased. My POLAR data are as follows: Time 94 minutes Average heart rate 61% MHR Calories 872 kcal I know definitely that my strokes are improving although I can feel my muscles being pushed more that normal. These new drills are awesome (though extremely tough). Kicking with fins (using a kickboard) is relatively easy and I can feel my lower body getting more involved. Kicking without the fins is tough. I actually can't feel myself moving and I have to kick really hard and faster in order to move. The good thing is, my legs are kicking more than usual as a result. Using the pull buoy is also tough and I have to work really hard to keep my balance. As far as the new experience is concerned, I find myself being able to move faster if I actually slow down my stroked. I can't look at the other swimmers swimming when they seem to be going faster. If I have to swim 750m or beyond, I have to make sure a smoother and more efficient stroke. The name of the game now is to maximise the gain using the same (or even lower) effort.

When I swim next time I have to see if there is an improvement on time or a reduction in the number of strokes. I can swim the 50m 90s and using about 60 strokes. let's see what happens tomorrow. Even if my time is slower, I'll be extremely happy if the number of stroked reduces. Otherwise I have to change my swimming practice strategy.