January Swims

[Jones]

Nice swim Susan, i love pyramids. It is remarkable that both your 100's had the same time and your second 200 was faster than your first.

We have had lots of rain(record breaking) and the pool for some reason closes when there is too much rain so I have swam since Tuesday. Anyway, today I signed up for an adult swim meet in Palm Desert Ca, on Feb 7. 100 free, 100 IM and 50 free. I am very nervous, I have never swam in a swim meet before so I have no times and in tri's I am always hyperventilating during the swim because of the dark scary water. I'll let you know how it goes.

Today is the last day to sign up in case anyone wants to join me. http://www.cvrpd.ca.gov/isf/
I would say come enjoy the beautiful California Desert but yesterday it was colder here than Seattle.

[Susan Otcenas]

Jones - I have another (longer) one tomorrow. I love 'em too!

Very brave of you to sign up for a swim meet! You'd have to pay me alot of money to do that....

[GLC1968]

I used to love swim meets! They were the only reason I stuck it out with the swim team back when I was a kid...'cause I sure hated/dreaded practice! The meets were so exciting and I felt so 'professional' even though I wasn't any good.

Today was my first lesson. After seeing me swim, the instructor said "I'm not sure what I'm going to be able to teach you". Oy. I guess I'm doing ok and I just need to keep swimming.

After the class (during which I basically just swam slow laps), I did a short swim. It was crowded and my DH didn't want to circle swim, so he waited for me in the lobby. This made me feel guilty, so I cut it short. I did 450m and I kept my rests between laps to less than 45 seconds. I also did a couple of laps with a kick board - I think my kicking is my weakest (funny considering the size of my legs!), so I wanted to spend a little time on it.

I hope I get more out of the class on Wednesday.

[Susan Otcenas]

2500 yard pyramid this morning. Same as last Tuesday, except the pyramid built to 300 instead of 250.

I did NOT have my swim mojo this morning. Without fail, every single interval, whether long or short, was 7-10 seconds slower per hundred yards than last week's pyramid. Not sure why that would be. I did have a double yesterday (run in am, high cadence turbo interval bike workout in pm) and got a little less than 6 hours sleep last night. But on the other hand, that's not that unusual for me... I guess I'll chalk it up to having an "off" day and just move on.

On the bright side, this was my longest swim workout yet! And although I wasn't super speedy, I actually feel great now. No muscle soreness or tiredness.

[HillSlugger]

I used to love swim meets! They were the only reason I stuck it out with the swim team back when I was a kid...'cause I sure hated/dreaded practice! The meets were so exciting and I felt so 'professional' even though I wasn't any good.

Today was my first lesson. After seeing me swim, the instructor said "I'm not sure what I'm going to be able to teach you". Oy. I guess I'm doing ok and I just need to keep swimming.

After the class (during which I basically just swam slow laps), I did a short swim. It was crowded and my DH didn't want to circle swim, so he waited for me in the lobby. This made me feel guilty, so I cut it short. I did 450m and I kept my rests between laps to less than 45 seconds. I also did a couple of laps with a kick board - I think my kicking is my weakest (funny considering the size of my legs!), so I wanted to spend a little time on it.

I hope I get more out of the class on Wednesday.

I basically have no kick at all; an average swimmer only gets about 10% of their propulsion from their kick so I don't worry about it.

[Jones]

GLC1968 If you were on swim team as a youth I bet you will increase your yardage fast.
My DD's are on again off again with swim team and one loves meets and hates practice and one just wants to go work out and never compete. The thought of walking on a pool deck in front of an audience just makes my stomach flutter and not in a good way. For me that might be the worst part.


The pool is open and today we swam 1800 yards and then worked on starts and turns. It is a little scary being on the block but diving in and getting all that distance with out a stroke is great.

[GLC1968]

Had my second swim 'lesson' last night. The instructor came better prepared and had some drills for us. One more person joined us and he is in the exact same boat as me - knows 'how' to swim but needs stroke improvment for doing his first sprint tri in May. Funny! So she had my H, me and this new guy doing the same stuff and then she worked one on one with the other woman who is more beginner.

We did a bunch of drills - one was a side kick one where you do it on one side for 8 kicks, flip over, the other side for 8 kicks and then repeat for a lap. Then do repeat for 6 kicks and then for 4. I had real trouble with the 8 because I could not keep the water out of my sinuses but 6 and 4 went well. She also had me work on keeping my head down and a few other drills. In 30 minutes, we actually got in a good workout which is good since we had to leave immediately after that and couldn't swim on our own today. Unfortunately, she's not real experienced, so isn't very good at answering our questions or helping with specific things. I'm glad we didn't pay very much for these lessons - I guess you get what you pay for, huh?

I also discovered that I am about 2 weeks out from needing to start wearing a swim cap. My hair is *almost* long enough to get caught in my goggles and it's annoying.

Speaking of which - does a swim cap help keep water out of the ears at all?

[HillSlugger]

Had my second swim 'lesson' last night. The instructor came better prepared and had some drills for us. One more person joined us and he is in the exact same boat as me - knows 'how' to swim but needs stroke improvment for doing his first sprint tri in May. Funny! So she had my H, me and this new guy doing the same stuff and then she worked one on one with the other woman who is more beginner.

We did a bunch of drills - one was a side kick one where you do it on one side for 8 kicks, flip over, the other side for 8 kicks and then repeat for a lap. Then do repeat for 6 kicks and then for 4. I had real trouble with the 8 because I could not keep the water out of my sinuses but 6 and 4 went well. She also had me work on keeping my head down and a few other drills. In 30 minutes, we actually got in a good workout which is good since we had to leave immediately after that and couldn't swim on our own today. Unfortunately, she's not real experienced, so isn't very good at answering our questions or helping with specific things. I'm glad we didn't pay very much for these lessons - I guess you get what you pay for, huh?

I also discovered that I am about 2 weeks out from needing to start wearing a swim cap. My hair is *almost* long enough to get caught in my goggles and it's annoying.

Speaking of which - does a swim cap help keep water out of the ears at all?

It helps some, but I find that the cap doesn't always stay in exactly the right place. If you are really wanting to keep water out of your ears you'll be better off getting some earplugs.

[Selkie]

Got to the pool bright & early, before the snow started. It was deserted, so I had a lane to myself for nearly my entire swim. I swam 3,500 yards plus 200 yards kicking.

January total - 34.06 miles!!

[Urlea]

I've been sick with a cold & wisdom teeth issues all week so today was my first day out of the house since Saturday. Of course the first place I went was the gym, then the grocery store.

The Bike/Run/Swim brick went better than I could have hoped! Since I've been congested I was a little worried that breathing during the swim would have been difficult, but it wasn't. After the first 750yds I decided it felt too good and I had to take advantage so I went another 750. Woohoo!! Definitely felt like I was back to my old routine today.

Of course I'm a little more worn out right now that normal after that kind of brick. The cold/teeth are still not 100%. So glad I train for triathlon though, loved it today!

GLC My swim-cap doesn't keep the water out of my ears at all, but you get used to having water in them. Even though I had chronic ear infections growing up I decided to forgo earplugs for tri training. It's just another element you have to worry about on race day that could be avoided so I skip them and thankfully haven't had any infections yet.

[HillSlugger]

I've been sick with a cold & wisdom teeth issues all week so today was my first day out of the house since Saturday. Of course the first place I went was the gym, then the grocery store.

The Bike/Run/Swim brick went better than I could have hoped! Since I've been congested I was a little worried that breathing during the swim would have been difficult, but it wasn't. After the first 750yds I decided it felt too good and I had to take advantage so I went another 750. Woohoo!! Definitely felt like I was back to my old routine today.

Of course I'm a little more worn out right now that normal after that kind of brick. The cold/teeth are still not 100%. So glad I train for triathlon though, loved it today!

GLC My swim-cap doesn't keep the water out of my ears at all, but you get used to having water in them. Even though I had chronic ear infections growing up I decided to forgo earplugs for tri training. It's just another element you have to worry about on race day that could be avoided so I skip them and thankfully haven't had any infections yet.

I have some inner ear issues and water in my ears drives me crazy I have custom ear plugs I use in the pool; I use drug store plugs for OWS and races.

[martinkap]

Susan,

What do you use to measure your times like that?

I definitely like the pyramid swims - but never was able to work out my pace.

Thanks,

Martina

[Susan Otcenas]

Susan,

What do you use to measure your times like that?

I definitely like the pyramid swims - but never was able to work out my pace.

Thanks,

Martina

My HRM watch has a lap timer on it. Once I start it, I hit the button every time I start a swim or rest interval. It keeps all the lap times plus a total elapsed. Really convenient. It also downloads to trainingpeaks.com

Funny enough, we also carry it at TE!

http://www.teamestrogen.com/prodTM_T5K264.html

I've been really happy with it.

Susan