Been almost two weeks since I swam. Hard to find the time and location for swimming as compared to how easy (logistics wise) it is to jump on my bike or go for a brisk walk. Had hoped to hook up with the CMC folks and do another group open water swim, but timing was tough with some other stuff going on in our lives so I figured I'd better just suck it up and hit the ARC instead. It has a 25 meter/yard? lap pool with three lanes. They close in the middle of the day for maintenance that you have to dodge, but today that wasn't a problem.
I did 30-35 minutes of laps. The first time for me to be in that pool with goggles! Pretty handy since I ended up sharing a lane and one of my fears has always been running into the other person and looking like a dork. The swim felt really good. I can never keep track of my laps, but I felt fast and strong. I worked on some drills that Lise from CMC had shown me - fingertip drags and catch ups (though I continue to struggle to remember to breathe while I trying to remember to do the drills). I also briefly attempted to practice breathing on the left (very awkward and choked a couple times). Unlike training I did earlier in the summer, I did push off the wall some (to practice the gliding) and I did put my feet down to rest here and there (something I didn't do when I was training for the tri's as I was trying to create the concept of open water swimming). But I did nearly the whole workout freestyle! Earlier this summer, I couldn't do half the length without stopping to catch my breath by doing the breast stroke or back stroke. Did nearly injure myself trying to hoist my big butt out of the pool without using the ladder - not strong enough for that yet. Ouch!
It was a great workout! I felt redeemed after my sucky Sunday ride. Onward and upward! Oh, as a side note - my sis's bday was last week and I just picked up a couple of small tri-related items to send her. She has a race in a couple of weeks. Go Sis! Better get my happy butt to the post office in the next couple of days!
Keep working on the alternate side breathing. It helps keeps your stroke balanced. Then when you're swimming open water you breath which ever side is better for sighting, or keeping track of others. I can never keep count of laps either, but there's a trick to using a stopwatch to count laps.
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