Thursday, June 24, 2010

a new first and roll back thursday

yesterday, i swam the longest distance to date and felt like a million bucks. i knew this a few weeks ago but now i really know that i CAN indeed swim 2.4 miles or more if need be. i ended up swimming 2.36 miles yesterday, to be exact, and could have continued on but i really had to pee. plus, i had a date on the bike at flatwoods with the j-man. this is what i felt like when i got out of the pool:

another thing that made me feel good was there was a young lady in the lane next to me and when i finished we got to talking. She said that i swim so smooth and gracefully. Hey, cool! I may not be the fastest in the water but i'm graceful and i'll claim that. even though i don't do flip turns (not because i don't know how to, but because i had a bad experience once that almost took me out of a marathon i was training for), i do have my own little turn that i do which allows me to stay submerged and not cheat by stopping at the wall. just like fosbury has a flop, kc has a "special" turn at the wall and it is as graceful as my swim.

since today is roll back thursday, in light of the swimming milestone above, i will post one of my older swimming posts from february 24th, to remind me of how far i've come along. here it is:

i believe in miracles

yep, that's me up there in the middle. well, at least that's how i felt after my swim this morning. i know! far cry from my whine-one-one whambulance call last week moaning about how i couldn't swim 200 meters without needing oxygen to recover. so the remainder of last week after tuesday's swim session debacle, i took a break from the pool until yesterday. it was partly because of the weather but mostly because i was feeling defeated. the great weather this weekend got me feeling much better. i biked a lot and didn't give the pool any more thought.

yesterday was triathlon tuesday. so i got my butt out of bed around 4:15am, had a little coffee, went out for my run and then headed to the pool for revenge redemption. as timing would have it, i bumped into chris, the cute lifeguard (i wonder if he will ever read my blog and see this?) and asked him if he knew anything about the swim classes starting up next week. he said he didn't. then i asked him if he'd be interested in giving me private swim lessons and he said he'd be more than happy to train me from the deck for free. so i said, ok, let's do it and don't hold back because i need to hear feedback-the good, the bad, and the ugly.

here are the 2 things he had me do: first was the catch up drill which for some reason, i was having problems grasping on my own but was able to do it once he demonstrated. i felt like i was going to drown or sink but a few laps like that and some reassurance from chris and erin (the other lifeguard) that i was doing just fine and i was on my way. the main thing they kept emphasizing was to slow down. the second thing that chris explained to me was where my hand needed to be entering the water, not a major adjustment, just a tweak. 24 hours later i was back at the pool, this time the long course was set up and i didn't know what to expect. my intention was to do last week's workout again to see where i was and i wasn't expecting much. first set on my list was a 400. i did my 400....
and just kept going and going and going like the energizer bunny until i stopped an hour later with 2100 meters under my belt. seriously, i was pretty much feeling like a rockstar after that. hard to believe that those two simple things could equal such a great result. i now really believe that swimming is 70% skill efficiency and only 30% fitness. since the next 2 mornings are pretty much below 43 degrees and the pool will absolutely not be open, i'll get my 3rd swim in on friday night. we'll see then if today was a fluke or if i finally found my groove in the pool. stay tuned!
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as a side note, i still believe that swimming is 70% skill efficiency and 30% fitness.
much love and peace out!

27 comments:

  1. RIGHT ON!!!!!!! That is a soliiiid swim girl!

    I say that about heather, she looks so calm and comfortable in the water you would think she is not expending any energy its crazy!

    And you decided to bike after that crazy workout, you go girl!

    Keep up the awesome numbers!!!!!

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  2. Thanks for this post! I am a newbie triathlete, and the swim is definitely the hardest part for me. I've received pointers from a few folks that have improved my workouts somewhat, but I am still struggling to pull off 200y without gasping for my life. I need to hook up with your lifeguards!!!

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  3. Great on the swim!
    I just get so bored going the total distance in a pool, but one of those IM musts. Oh, I usually don't flip either (because I want to suck in some air at the wall!).

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  4. Congratulations on a great swim! I am totally impressed! I need to get back in the pool. I have not been there in a long time but first I must recover!

    Have a great day!

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  5. Nice Swim! good distance...you did great! Thanks for including the Feb. post as I wasn't in on the KC journey at that point. You have come a long way already! I need a little "move" now in the pool as I don't flip turn. Thanks for that...
    -D

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  6. awesome swim! way to go! the swim is all about efficiency! I see some unfit people in the water for more than an hour, that proves it is not about fitness!

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  7. I love all of this.
    awesome.

    Amazing distance. Love the 70% skill efficiency and 30% fitness quote.

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  8. Awesome job! That will build you some mental toughness!

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  9. Amazing swim! Keep up with the drills - good technique will take you farther than brute strength every day, as you implied.

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  10. Awesome KC - that is a lot of consecutive laps!

    dude - i so need to learn a flip turn, I look like such a spaz banging off the walls like I do now. Oh and jealous of the gracefulness too!

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  11. You go swimmer girl! Nice mileage on that swim. You will whiz through the IM swim.

    Reading your post on drills made me feel guilty. Since I havent' done any tri's in a few years, I pretty much just swim, not focusing on getting faster. Which means...I haven't done drills in ages. Bad!

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  12. Knowing that you CAN do the swim will give you the confidence to rock the swim! Great work!

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  13. Nice swim chica! Isn't it fun to look back and remind ourselves how far we've come?! Love it!Keep up the great work!

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  14. Great job. Swimming the full 2.4 in practice is such a confidence builder.

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  15. Nice swim! Even I haven't swam that far before...I keep getting bored. Extra congrats for swimming that in a pool! You are well on your way for training!

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  16. Sweet! Yes, it is 70% skill, and free lessons are awesome. Good lesson that sometimes you just need a break

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  17. You make me want to learn how to swim properly! Great job lady!!!

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  18. Wahoooo!! Great swim! That is so awesome, I am so psyched for you! I would take smooth and graceful anyday!

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  19. Thanks ya'll! That is the swim i will use to visualize how i will swim the 2.4 that really counts!

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  20. Woohoo! Way to go on your swim! :)

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  21. awesome swim! That is like 2 weeks swim training for me in 1 session for you :)

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  22. Nice swim, congrats

    I am with you about the flip turns, same reason why I dont do them, i dont want to be injuried by misjudging the wall.

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  23. BBD, I feel so much better now that I know you don't do flip turns either and I know you have a great swimming background. I took some private freestyle technique lessons about 6 years ago at the local university and was just learning how to flip turn and on one of the flips, i totally missed the wall and hyperextended my right knee. This was 2 weeks before Disney marathon and i was in pain. Crazy thing is, I ended up PR'ing at a half marathon that weekend (1:36:??)and qualifying for the Boston marathon at Disney. I vowed to never do another flip turn after that. Amen.

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  24. NICE JOB! Being smooth and graceful helps your effiecency (spl?).

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  25. Nothing tops a great workout!!

    Nice job!!!

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  26. This post brings me hope because my swim is easily the worst part of my triathlon training. I know that I won't be making any MAJOR strides in the pool before my first triathlon, but in the future I plan on improving my swimming, and as I said, reading this post brings me hope that I can do it :)

    Thanks a lot!

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