So we have a "swim rant" thread, but I wanted to post my "swim happy" moment today, probably brought on by being out of the water for over a week.
Pool reopened after maintenance + clear, fresh perfect temp water + 6 lap lanes between 4 lap swimmers = 4200yd :bliss:
I swam my *** off for 50m today, and when I touched the wall that big red second hand sure looked like it was very close to 35.0sec. It was certainly below 35.5sec. I'll call it 35.25sec - my new PR. :)
Aw, thanks ElaineK.
Yesterday I swam ever so slightly faster than previously at 100m - 1:19.0
(The lifeguard/coach was certain that I was 1:17something....but I think he started his watch late.)
Dammit - my next swim is a week away. They must fix something.
For me to really swim happy, I still need competitions to drive me, to focus my training. Otherwise, I still workout, but aimlessly. This summer I had a couple of great virtual open water events that provided me focus through Labour Day, but I've been trying to find something interesting for this fall/early winter. Here's what I've found:
November - the Davis Aquatic Masters Brute Squad ePostal - www.damfast.org/page.cfm. Now, I'm a sucker for a good endurance race and this allows me to string together 3 of my top 5 favorite events in one go. A swimmer friend on Facebook sent this over to me this week and now I'm enacting a plan to try this over the USA Thanksgiving weekend.
Early December - For years now, I've always entered the MEMO 400 Kick for time, www.clubassistant.com/.../meet_information.cfm, so I'll do it again. It's obviously not a monster distance, but what I like about this is that it forces me, for ~3-5 weeks, to really focus on kick sets in workout. Candidly, I rarely do kick sets because I find them not so exciting, but I know they're good for me, so this gives me motivation.
Maybe some of you will find joy with one or both of these?
Trying a new focus of workout vs last year... did 8x200IMs as part of my main set on Tuesday. I haven't done any of those or really anything that *challenging* since 2004 or so and I was surprised to be able to do it and while slow, felt great and gave me some confidence going forward.
Super happy that I decided to take on something I'd usually avoid because it sounds *too hard*
I'm thrilled with my new 25m PR of 16.5sec (pushing off).
I know I know....25m!! LOL!!? But I think the 25m needs more love.
I wonder if I can go sub 15sec with a dive-in one day in the far off future? That is a goal that drives me.
Um...wow!! :)
I rarely dive, so I'm not sure that I'd gain the 1.5sec right away.The time drop from a dive is both due to the flying time in the air with far less resistance than water, and then the momentum you gain from the velocity you have upon entry.
Since you rarely dive, you may as well start by trying to be like Caleb ... this is a video of beauty - www.youtube.com/watch
