Swimming like an Ostrich

I don't remember exactly how it came up, but at a party last night my ability to swim was compared (favorably?) to that of an ostrich.  I immediately regreted not calling the new version of my blog Ostrich at Sea or something along those lines, because that's how out of place I feel.  The support staff "kind enough" to track down this video, which bears a startling resemblance to my swimming, particularly in how far I  prefer having my head out of the water: www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6SSqQZPcds

The video also does a nice job of capturing the cruelty to animals aspect of an ostrich swimming, which has its analog in my case as well.  The only difference is that rather than being tortured by drunken ex-pats, it is the tyranny of my own stubbornness that pushes me into the pool day after day.

Swimming is a Grind

There's no sugar coating it, swimming is tough.  On Sunday we had another brutal Stroke Class at the JCC, I held back a bit on the kicking only laps and tried to ease up on the freestyle portions speed wise, so I made it through in slightly better shape than the previous class.  Afterwards I felt sore rather than just having blubbery arms, which I took as a good sign that the breathing isn't the only limitation anymore.  Truth is being sore probably has everything to do with breathing, because it determines how much time I spend anaerobic (a lot).

My plan today (Tuesday) was to just do easy 50m's at alternating breathing, and hope to make maybe one or two into 100m.  I did do 5 solid 50's alternating breathing all the way, but then I hit the wall and could only do about 30m before switching to backstroke, total distance 400m...ugh that is lame, but I had to listen to my tired body.  I also want to focus on only swimming good form, and I was able to work in a few Mr. Smooth ideas today like body roll AND I am developing this little feather kick which is low energy but keeps my back end up, so that is pretty huge.

I was so tired, I forgot to practice the new trick we learned in Stroke Class--flip turns.  They are actually pretty intuitive once someone explains it to you.  So have to do that during my next workout.

Thanksgiving tummy + flip turns = hmmm, ok maybe over the weekend?

Well, while not everything is moving in a positive direction, we are only a few weeks away from the magical 6 weeks where muscle and other body changes should start to make this easier...right?

Breathing breakthrough!

I decided to focus primarily on relaxing and breathing, expecially breathing out continually under water, and alternating sides breathing every 3 strokes.  I did 600m (12X50m) alternating sides almost the whole way each time, and felt pretty relaxed about it.  At times my lungs got to where they were screeming for air, but I was also able to calm down and find the pocket of air behind my wake pretty often as well.  The pocket stays open for a while, so you can just hang out there and get a nice slow long breath in if you do it right.  Keeping the top of the head in the water when you breath is critical to coasting along the surface having a pocket.  With that and good body roll you can actually get away with just a little flutter kick to keep the back side up.  I am getting closer to the calmer/slower crawl that is critical to going beyond 100m at a time. 

Mr. Smooth my new Cyber Bromance

What can I say, Triathlon training and the people you meet can change a man.  Ironwoman introduced me to Mr. Smooth, who is now the object of an intense Cyber Bromance for me.  He has everything, tireless endurance, perfect form, three stroke breathing, and he looks great from every angle--I love to hate him already! 

This must be how women feel watching Disney princesses--an intoxicating brew of joy and envy.  Somehow knowing it is make-believe hardly helps keep it in perspective.

Looking at it more positively, I have a ton of inspiration and instruction from Ironwoman, and the tough JCC teachers, and now Mr. Smooth taunts me way out ahead of me in the lane.  Thankfully, the Support Staff is very understanding when I eat mac-n-cheese before swimming, talk about a tenderfoot move!

First JCC Stroke Swim Class

Who knew you could get so tired in a 19m pool?  The JCC has Adult Stroke Swim Classes, so my Support Staff offered to sign up with me, how great is that? 

Lessons of the day: (1) no mac and cheese prior to swim class, (2) no running the day before swim class so long as we are doing mostly kicking drills, which really tire me out to where my legs locked up a bit.

I feel like my head is filled with knowledge about swimming, but I can only work on one thing at a time, so I really need to get to the pool and practice on my own.  We did maybe 600m during whole lesson, or 15x40m. 

Current goal (next month?): To go the race distance 900m during one session.  Next after that is to do it breathing every 3 strokes.

Swim kicking my butt.

Could swimming be any more draining?  Today was my third swim workout, and my first with my uber-energetic friend who ran two Ironman races this year, including Ironman Kona in Hawaii, wow!  This Ironwoman was super helpfull on pool technique and explaining all the swimming jargon, like recovery (the part of the stroke with the arm is out of the water), and pull bouy (funny float you put between your legs for swim drills).

We did a little diagnosis on my stroke today, verdict: (1) I rotate well, I can twist my body without going sideways, (2) I cross over, meaning my (hand) entry is across my midline which is easy to fix when you are thinking about it, and (3) it isn't that I sink like a rock, my tail does, which can be fixed with lower back, abs, and a little more kicking so I skim the surface.  Ironwoman was great to point out that a lot of things don't have a right way to do them like how often you breath, recovery, and number of kicks, so you can do what feels best.  Breathing every three strokes feels more natural for me and keeps me more balanced side to side and seems likely to go straighter (key for open water?), but is harder to sustain than every two strokes, so we will see. 

My verdict, getting technique right from the beginning is great to avoid practicing bad habits.  At this point though, it is also about getting meters in the pool over the next couple months it is going to take to grow some new muscle.  Together with some water sense and I hope to have a breakthrough where I don't need to stop every 100m.  We will see, today I did maybe 600m, but lets call it a 50x12 workout, which sounds better.  I love swimming in the airy big Wilson Aquatic center for free as a DC resident!

It's good I'm hitting the pool, because when I run 3+ miles, the muscle around the achillies still hurts in an overuse rather than just sore kind of way, which also keeps me off my fixie.  Being tired after swimming is really different, nothing is sore, you just feel like everything above the waist is made from rubber and your lungs have a wierd expansive feeling to them like they were trying to grow.

TRIATHLON!

With a great marathon behind me, it is time for a new challenge--Triathlon!

In keeping with tradition, here are 5 reasons:
1. Hard to imagine having a better marathon next year and I want to enjoy the afterglow a little longer.
2. Triathlon training is a great way to stay in shape, let the body heal, and to motivate training for the cold winter months.
4. marathon : stinky shoes :: Triathlon : new gear
5. Truth: Swimming is a longterm nemisis, I can't crawl stroke more than 50m.  So like the marathon, there's a score to settle.
 
So I signed up for the Philladelphia Sprint Triathlon on June 26th!  What better way to make a statement about swimming than a 900m open water gauntlet of other people's arms and legs?  After that, the 24K bike and 5K run just round out the experience.

So its off to the pool, swim classes, calls to friends who have done IronMan races.  Added bonus, the support staff is psyched to tackle swimming with me, so it will be great to have a training partner in crime!