You know, like that Mary Poppins song? No? Fine! Tonight I had a nice swim session. My goal was to try to get to 11 laps and see if I could actually do it. I had met a friend for dinner and had a huge salad and soup so I was pretty stuffed before starting the swim. My dinner hung in my stomach like a brick. Ugh.
I started with a few laps just as a warm up. About a month ago I could barely do a length, it’s kind of funny now to think that I could knock two laps off just to warm up. At any rate, I then tried to do my laps. I just couldn’t pull it together long enough to do more than 2 or 3 in a row. It was disappointing. After a while of thrashing it out, I decided that I should go to the bathroom. Why do I always have to pee within 5 minutes of getting in the pool?
When I got back I felt better and ready to go, and go I did. I started swimming and didn’t stop. I pushed past 6 laps and thought “I can do 9.” Then I got to 9 and thought, sheesh it’s only two more I can do this. By the time I started lap 10 my arms were like lead. They were somehow both numb and super-sensitive. I can’t really explain it other than to say, I felt like they were cutting through the water like it was air, it felt like your mouth feels with novocaine, except that I had a heightened perception of the air bubbles running over my arms. It was such a strange feeling. I slugged it out though, and I got all 11 laps, 550 yards. When I got out my legs were fresh and ready to go. I think I have may figured this whole swim thing out.
I managed to hit the lap timer as I ended the 9th lap so I can compare my swim to the triathlon times from January. Here they are:
9 laps: January Tri – 17:53 || Today: 13:09
11 lap total: 16:18
That’s right, I shaved nearly 5 minutes off of my previous swim time, and finished the 11 laps a minute and a half faster than my 9 lap time. I am certainly improving, but I have a long way to go before I can reach my goal of 9 laps in 9 minutes.
Tomorrow I have another swim session, but I think I will work on drills instead of going for distance. I need to work on breathing every 4 strokes rather than every 2. That will help me stay streamlined for longer. By my next tri in April I want to be able to get to bilateral breathing, but I am not going to mess with my stroke so close to the next tri.