Alrighty, let’s clear this up right from the get-go: my swim was NOT fast in the traditional sense of, you know, fastness. But it was way fast for me, and that’s all I care about!
I haven’t been in the pool since last Tuesday and I have a race in just three short days. Does that seem like smart training to you? No. Nor I. So I got my booty in the pool today, to make sure that I still remember how to swim and yes, apparently I do. Yay!
I picked up this amazing tip from Barbie over at TRYING A TRI about the website Swim Smooth. I have no idea how watching the animated swimming guy suddenly transformed me into Michaela Phelps, but I’m not complaining.
When I got in the water, I tried to stay focused on pushing my chest down, breathing out forcefully and reaching straight with my arms. For a shockingly uncoordinated girl like me, that was a lot to think about. Swimming 800 meters felt a lot like running 1 mile repeats: I had to think really hard about my form and just not give up, even when my lungs were burning.
WOW, what an improvement this focus showed in my time! My average speed is somewhere in the neighborhood of 2:45/100. Today’s swim was a staggering 2:23/100! Hence the Batman reference.
Not to worry, I have no illusions of finishing the swim portion of this weekend’s race in a time that starts with a 1. It was enough for me to do it once in practice, to show some real quantifiable training gains this summer. There is very little that compares with that feeling of accomplishment.
I hope you all had a Batman-worthy day as well – Happy Wednesday!!
Great job on the swim, that’s a lot of time to drop… well worthy of the Batman reference! Good luck this weekend!
I’m assuming when you reference the “1” you mean a swim time of 1x:00. I know that you know that you need to go for at least 19:xx And Barbie is a freakin’ swimming star.
Double thumbs up! Great swim.
Wow, great going! You will have a fantastic race this weekend.
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Awesome job! Great race!
Awesome!
Good job, I’m so pathetic that I’m too scared to even get in a pool to see where I stand. Considering I eventually want to do a tri, I should probably do that someday.
Keep up the good work and good luck this weekend.
Hey it is just awesome that you are brave enough to get in the pool and try a true stroke! I still havent practiced any swimming at all and assume I will have to breastroke, a lot, for my first baby tri in a month. Super good luck on yours! So glad you found my blog so I could find yours!
Tressa (adorable wife)
VERY cool! I’m a very inefficient swimmer so can appreciate a gain like that. I’m definitely going to check that website out.
Great job on the swim. I think you’ll do great this weekend! I also find it helpful to read about and see videos of running techniques because then I focus on those techniques while running and, generally, it helps. Good luck!