Catch a wave...Or the swimming thread

[Urlea]

Well it's been about 6 months since I've been swimming. Lap swimming that is. Between needing an off season & a healing tattoo I just didn't get to it.

Anywho, since it was raining today on top of ice I decided to swim rather then run so I headed to the local YMCA pool to finally get to that area of the tri training process. Swimming is my weakest area.

Good news is I haven't totally forgot what I'm doing, but I'm definitely very very rusty. Oh & the ladies locker-room has been remodeled (much much nicer).

I'm still recovering from a nasty cold so I took it easy and only went for about 750meters. I'd say it went fairly well. However, I am doing my best not to be intimidated to death by the 1.2 mile swim I will have to complete for the HIM.

Might try the same thing over tomorrow since I'll be in the area. We'll see how the muscles feel.

[eclectic]

Well it's been about 6 months since I've been swimming. Lap swimming that is. Between needing an off season & a healing tattoo I just didn't get to it.

Anywho, since it was raining today on top of ice I decided to swim rather then run so I headed to the local YMCA pool to finally get to that area of the tri training process. Swimming is my weakest area.

Good news is I haven't totally forgot what I'm doing, but I'm definitely very very rusty. Oh & the ladies locker-room has been remodeled (much much nicer).

I'm still recovering from a nasty cold so I took it easy and only went for about 750meters. I'd say it went fairly well. However, I am doing my best not to be intimidated to death by the 1.2 mile swim I will have to complete for the HIM.

Might try the same thing over tomorrow since I'll be in the area. We'll see how the muscles feel.

good job for getting in the pool! Aren't you glad we sent all the freezing rain your way? I hear you are supposed to get all the ice. We missed it (we have ice but not the .25 - .5 inch all over everything to break the trees, power lines etc. ) They have downgraded our snow to "only" about 6 inches - I guess it is better than 10, but over top of ice? ? ??

Hasn't this been the most fun winter ever? ? ? I wonder if we will have school tomorrow - a lot of rural canceled today again - they will be in school in July!
unless our dear Govenor pardons some.

[Urlea]

And school getting out in July is a bad thing? (Unless you are a teacher.)

Just means less kiddos to try to navigate around when doing laps in the outdoor pool.

[colby]

Going to try swimming at lunchtime starting this week... a friend of mine is building to a sprint distance starting from no swimming (more or less), so we're going to hit the gym on Wednesdays and Fridays around lunch. I may or may not swim the 3rd day depending on how complete my midweek workouts are - since she's starting from zero, her swim workouts are very short but also have walking the same day, so we'll see what we work out. My workouts are around 45 minutes right now.

I have managed to cut some time off my swimming, probably just by sticking with at least once or twice weekly workouts as consistently as I can. My last 2500 yard swim was super-consistent at 1:50/100 - I mentally marked the time at 1000 and 2000 and then the end. I'm hoping I can carry it forward to longer distances - it's about 45 seconds per 100 off my IM swim time, or 20 minutes total so far. I don't feel very good at sprinting/shorter distances, so it's nice to feel good about something. Last year, my long swims, even at only 45 minutes, were good predictors for my IM swim - my IM swim was actually faster than my pool swims were and I wasted a bunch of effort getting sidetracked and frustrated.

I was REALLY punished by chlorine yesterday, ugh. I slept really poorly because I didn't give my sinuses enough time to drain after rinsing. The comments about outdoor pools being better reminded me that I didn't have these problems nearly as bad when I swam as a kid 5 days a week, but I was swimming outdoors. My worst problem was the chlorine in my hair, which I am really diligent about now.

Cheers to everyone swimming, despite the icky chlorine

[HillSlugger]

I've heard it said that you can't win a triathlon in the swim but you can lose one there. Of the three events it's the shortest both on distance and time. While it may be hard to pick up speed in swimming it may be more important to become more efficient in swimming so that you use less energy and come out of the water feeling fresher for the bike.

[eclectic]

And school getting out in July is a bad thing? (Unless you are a teacher.)

Just means less kiddos to try to navigate around when doing laps in the outdoor pool.

I am a teacher

[eclectic]

I've heard it said that you can't win a triathlon in the swim but you can lose one there. Of the three events it's the shortest both on distance and time. While it may be hard to pick up speed in swimming it may be more important to become more efficient in swimming so that you use less energy and come out of the water feeling fresher for the bike.

Exactly!

And Syndirelah Whoo hoo on the muscle! No batwings for you when you are an old lady!

My stroke is pretty efficient and I can go a long ways holding steady. I am not fast by any means (I did 1:50/100 on our 20 min steady pace swim, could have easily kept going so really didn't push like I should have) I would have to work REALLY REALLY hard to even try to drop 5 secs off 100 anymore so I figure 5x5 = 25 secs on a sprint. W/ work I can drop 3-5 minutes off on the run because right now I am a REALLY bad runner so way more room for improvement

Also cycling is a great place to drop time but that is so dependent on course terrain and around here WIND ! ! !

The first tri I did someone advised me to stay to the side and count to 5 before starting out so I miss the chaos at the beginning of the swim. I took the advice - counted and started - I will never do that again! I ended up passing everyone (love wetsuits) Starting last I was still 14th out of the water w/o even trying to push it.
Now the run . . . . . that was another story

Another thought - If I was doing longer distance races like IM and HIM shaving a couple of secs off a hundred would add up if it didn't tire you out.

[crazycanuck]

I feel slow in the pool these days . I don't want to be the turtle

*sigh*

[NbyNW]

I've been jealously reading everyone's training updates - and struggles - for a few months. Had not been in the pool since I took a TI workshop back in November, because I came down with the flu and had a chest cold that wouldn't clear up.

DH and I are on a long trip now, and landed in Indonesia last week. We found a hotel with a 40-meter pool! With the warmer climate I finally felt my chest loosening up and started working on my TI drills.

It felt great to be in the pool again. We're back on the road, so I don't know when I'll get to swim again, but it sure felt great to start up again.

[rocknrollgirl]

Swim team practice ends on Tuesday!!! I can get back in the pool during the week.!!!!!!

YIPPEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[alpinerabbit]

I think I've got the flip turn down! woohoo!

[eclectic]

I think I've got the flip turn down! woohoo!

Good for you! Now you will be cruising!

[eclectic]

I've been jealously reading everyone's training updates - and struggles - for a few months. Had not been in the pool since I took a TI workshop back in November, because I came down with the flu and had a chest cold that wouldn't clear up.

DH and I are on a long trip now, and landed in Indonesia last week. We found a hotel with a 40-meter pool! With the warmer climate I finally felt my chest loosening up and started working on my TI drills.

It felt great to be in the pool again. We're back on the road, so I don't know when I'll get to swim again, but it sure felt great to start up again.

Are you on a pleasure trip or a work trip? - sounds very exciting and exotic either way. Keep us posted on where you are. I love to live vicariously through others travels (just let us know what strand you put it on)

[Urlea]

Another trip to the pool today. Swam about 1 mile. My first attempt at doing so. Went really well.

CrazyCanuck I can identify with the turtle feeling.

There were a lot more people in the pool today, most of which were faster then me. Two of which were wearing swim-caps from the tris I did last year so I knew why they were swimming.

But keep up the good work! This is why we train to hopefully get faster and more efficient, right?

[NbyNW]

Are you on a pleasure trip or a work trip? - sounds very exciting and exotic either way. Keep us posted on where you are. I love to live vicariously through others travels (just let us know what strand you put it on)

It's a pleasure trip, with the exception that DH is interviewing for a job here in Melbourne yesterday and today.

I've mentioned a bit about the trip in the Touring forum - there's a thread called "tanking economy and trip planning" that shootingstar started.

We're doing a round-the-world itinerary with Star Alliance -- it's actually only slightly more expensive than one or two round-trip international tickets, dpending on the mileage you choose, except you get multiple destinations up to a year. We've been saving up to do this for a while, and recently found ourselves both *ahem* "unencumbered by work commitments." So it seems like this is the ideal time to do a trip like this!

We started in Paris then flew to Singapore to use as a hub for other points in Asia. I already mentioned Indonesia, and next week we'll go to Taiwan to hang out with my extended family for a couple weeks. After that, New Zealand. A friend of mine recently suggested we might want to try going to the Phillipines as well, so we might add that on. We expect to be home late March.

People have been asking me to post pictures, so I think the easiest thing for me to do is edit down a selection when I get home and post them on their own separate thread. I'll let you know when I do that.