The Butterfly Lane

Today I did 10x100 fly (SCY). The first 5 were on 1:40. Minute break and then the next 5 were on 1:50. I am wiped out. I am sitting here at work trying to decide if I'm going to pass out or throw up or both. :afraid:I won't be doing that set again. :drown: The rest of the group did 10x100 IM. Nice pace! I had another open water swim experience in August that I forgot to post here. I entered a local 3km open water swim and swam it fly. Previously, the water was 22C/71F over the days preceding the race. I swam without a wetsuit because it just feels better and I have a better idea of my balance and buoyancy. There were some wicked current (counter clockwise to the course) so I fought current the whole way. Finished 1.5km in just under 40 minutes and then started on the next loop and realized with sudden dismay that I was really, really cold. I tried to swim another 100m, but my shivering had overcome me without warning. I went on my back to see if I could regain my composure. No such luck. I'm a lifeguard and experienced with winter freediving so I knew that to go on wasn't safe. I called over another lifeguard over and got a free ride in the safety boat to shore. In the medical tent, I amused the guard there by shivering so hard that I couldn't drink my hot chocolate! It was a lot of fun and a shame that the incoming tide churned up pockets of water that were 14-15C. A lot of people who swam without suits also ended up in the medical tent. A shame, because we had such great weather up until then. I was pretty comfortable with the fly even after 1.5km. No aches or pains. However, with the current I could see how slow I was going. I had done 1km in 20 minutes in July. Since then I've been experimenting with a faster stroke rate and quicker chest press so that I eliminate "dead spots" in my fly. It's hard to find a stroke rate that you can maintain for long distances, but I guess that's the challenge inherent in this pursuit of open water fly swimming. Thanks for all the training sets you guys are posting here. It's really inspiring. I'd love to do 100m reps of fly on 1:40. That would be awesome!

Today I did 10x100 fly (SCY). The first 5 were on 1:40. Minute break and then the next 5 were on 1:50. I am wiped out. I am sitting here at work trying to decide if I'm going to pass out or throw up or both. :afraid:I won't be doing that set again. :drown: The rest of the group did 10x100 IM. Nice pace! I had another open water swim experience in August that I forgot to post here. I entered a local 3km open water swim and swam it fly. Previously, the water was 22C/71F over the days preceding the race. I swam without a wetsuit because it just feels better and I have a better idea of my balance and buoyancy. There were some wicked current (counter clockwise to the course) so I fought current the whole way. Finished 1.5km in just under 40 minutes and then started on the next loop and realized with sudden dismay that I was really, really cold. I tried to swim another 100m, but my shivering had overcome me without warning. I went on my back to see if I could regain my composure. No such luck. I'm a lifeguard and experienced with winter freediving so I knew that to go on wasn't safe. I called over another lifeguard over and got a free ride in the safety boat to shore. In the medical tent, I amused the guard there by shivering so hard that I couldn't drink my hot chocolate! It was a lot of fun and a shame that the incoming tide churned up pockets of water that were 14-15C. A lot of people who swam without suits also ended up in the medical tent. A shame, because we had such great weather up until then. I was pretty comfortable with the fly even after 1.5km. No aches or pains. However, with the current I could see how slow I was going. I had done 1km in 20 minutes in July. Since then I've been experimenting with a faster stroke rate and quicker chest press so that I eliminate "dead spots" in my fly. It's hard to find a stroke rate that you can maintain for long distances, but I guess that's the challenge inherent in this pursuit of open water fly swimming. Thanks for all the training sets you guys are posting here. It's really inspiring. I'd love to do 100m reps of fly on 1:40. That would be awesome!