Ironwoman Strikes Again

As always, sessions with the Ironwoman are very upbeat and super-helpful, and best of all filled with images of the ideal to carry me through to the next session like, don't be tentative as your hand reaches for the water, strike like a Cobra! 

As I understand it, this is an idea somewhere between stretching for a long stroke and the "going over a barrel" image to have a bent arm entry.  It turns out that this phrase has a nasty but perhaps apt history as it relates to the torture of me trying to swim.  Rename the blog, Over a Barrel and Still Swimming?

Since she swam next to me, she was able to see the problem that I forgot to mention, straight arm on the left (bad) bent arm on the right (good).  And even better, fix it! 

The problem: If you try to get your mouth out of the water to catch a breath after you start the stroke on the opposite side, it is harder to roll your core over, so you end up pushing down with your hand into the water with the opposite arm to bob your head up to catch a breath--really inefficient and it feels like you are having to push to reach for air.  Worse yet you can damage your shoulder, if your muscles ever get strong enough (no danger yet), and your window for breathing runs out when your opposite arm is extended--really bad. 

Simple solution: roll your body over sooner when your opposite arm is straight in front and the same side arm is at your side (really easy because everything is in a line), then you can pull with bent arm, which is much more efficient, and you start your breath sooner so you have more time to inhale.  It also apparently means you don't have a crook in your neck after swimming--how great is that? 

Added incentive to keep training, when you become an Ironwoman, you get to go to the Canary Islands where the Ironpeople go to get pounded into high carbon steel with gorgeous sorroundings. 

I probably didn't make 600m today, but I learned a whole lot.  Additional piece of advice, focus on drills you find hard (kickboard, one arm stuff) not the ones you find easy (pool bouy).  That's why she's the Ironwoman!