The IM Lane

elaine, you are awesome for adding challenging events to your race program! you've done a long course 400 im?? :bow: looking forward to hearing how you progress! Yeah... Back in June, I wanted to see if I could swim 100 fly continuously which would mean I could swim a 400 IM. (I hadn't actually tried 100 fly since high school). I made it, so I wanted to see if I could swim a legal 200 fly. To make sure it was legal, I had my husband video the swim, so I could review my stroke. When I (very slowly :cane:) finally made 200 yards without stopping, I decided to keep going to see just how much I could swim. At 900 yards, my husband gave me that if-looks-could-kill glare, because his arms were getting tired from holding the camera. I had lost count of my yards, so I didn't know it was 900 until I reviewed the video. And, yes, it was all legal: www.youtube.com/watch Two weeks later, I decided to swim it again; this time trying to make it to 1,000, because 1,000 sure sounded better to me than 900! :agree: So, I brought a tripod and asked my husband to keep track of the yards and let me know where I was from time to time. When I made it to 1,000, I decided to see if I could make it to 1,100... then 1,200, then, well, why not try for a mile? At some point during the video, the file became so large the camera automatically stopped and wrote the file to the card: www.youtube.com/watch Bruce started it up again, so my swim is in 2 parts: www.youtube.com/watch :bed: At the 2,000 mark, he came around to the end of the pool to tell me the camera stopped again. By the time he finished telling me, it wasn't a continuous swim any longer, so I just stopped. Besides, he was :bitching: at me about hurting my shoulders again. (See page 36 of the current issue of Swimmer Magazine). Yeah, my shoulders were tired at that point, but they never did hurt; not even the next day or few. So, :blah: (this story is getting long...), I decided if I could swim a 2,000 yard butterfly, I could swim any event at a USMS meet- slow, perhaps, but I could swim it legally. After swimming my first open water meet (Georgia Games) and swimming a 3k, followed by a 1k a few minutes later, my coach declared me a distance swimmer; especially since I was able to negative split those races and hold my stroke count and pace on my 2,000 yard fly. So, I decided to swim the maximum 10 events allowed at Dixie Zone LC Championships, in early August, and signed up for 5 new (for me) events: 100 fly, 400 fr (on Saturday, in addition to my other three events and a relay); 200 fly, 400 IM, 800fr (on Sunday, in addition to two other events and a relay). My 400m IM was only 8:10 (converts to around 7:10 SCY), but it improved at my next meet (6:51.06); the one on the video you viewed. So, I really want to keep working on my 400 IM. I am already better at it than some other events I have been training for a lot longer. (Same goes for the 1650.) I'm not so sure I deserve a :bow:, but thanks for your encouragement 'sh! :chug:

elaine, you are awesome for adding challenging events to your race program! you've done a long course 400 im?? :bow: looking forward to hearing how you progress! Yeah... Back in June, I wanted to see if I could swim 100 fly continuously which would mean I could swim a 400 IM. (I hadn't actually tried 100 fly since high school). I made it, so I wanted to see if I could swim a legal 200 fly. To make sure it was legal, I had my husband video the swim, so I could review my stroke. When I (very slowly :cane:) finally made 200 yards without stopping, I decided to keep going to see just how much I could swim. At 900 yards, my husband gave me that if-looks-could-kill glare, because his arms were getting tired from holding the camera. I had lost count of my yards, so I didn't know it was 900 until I reviewed the video. And, yes, it was all legal: www.youtube.com/watch Two weeks later, I decided to swim it again; this time trying to make it to 1,000, because 1,000 sure sounded better to me than 900! :agree: So, I brought a tripod and asked my husband to keep track of the yards and let me know where I was from time to time. When I made it to 1,000, I decided to see if I could make it to 1,100... then 1,200, then, well, why not try for a mile? At some point during the video, the file became so large the camera automatically stopped and wrote the file to the card: www.youtube.com/watch Bruce started it up again, so my swim is in 2 parts: www.youtube.com/watch :bed: At the 2,000 mark, he came around to the end of the pool to tell me the camera stopped again. By the time he finished telling me, it wasn't a continuous swim any longer, so I just stopped. Besides, he was :bitching: at me about hurting my shoulders again. (See page 36 of the current issue of Swimmer Magazine). Yeah, my shoulders were tired at that point, but they never did hurt; not even the next day or few. So, :blah: (this story is getting long...), I decided if I could swim a 2,000 yard butterfly, I could swim any event at a USMS meet- slow, perhaps, but I could swim it legally. After swimming my first open water meet (Georgia Games) and swimming a 3k, followed by a 1k a few minutes later, my coach declared me a distance swimmer; especially since I was able to negative split those races and hold my stroke count and pace on my 2,000 yard fly. So, I decided to swim the maximum 10 events allowed at Dixie Zone LC Championships, in early August, and signed up for 5 new (for me) events: 100 fly, 400 fr (on Saturday, in addition to my other three events and a relay); 200 fly, 400 IM, 800fr (on Sunday, in addition to two other events and a relay). My 400m IM was only 8:10 (converts to around 7:10 SCY), but it improved at my next meet (6:51.06); the one on the video you viewed. So, I really want to keep working on my 400 IM. I am already better at it than some other events I have been training for a lot longer. (Same goes for the 1650.) I'm not so sure I deserve a :bow:, but thanks for your encouragement 'sh! :chug: