Monday-night swimming

I felt unbelievably tired and uncomfortable and just generally kind of out of it in the early evening, and it took longer than usual to get in the swing of things at the workout: a lot of people weren't there (marathon training conflicts, I expect, mostly, plus regular days-getting-shorter tiredness), so I was swimming in a lane by myself, disconcerting in its own right. But in the end it was a great workout, I am glad I didn't flake out on it. Here are the rough outlines, anyway:

Warmup: 200 easy swim, 200 25 swim and flip turn and 25 kick on back

Annoying drill set that you hate while you're doing it but can bizarrely feel benefiting your stroke for the rest of the evening:

12 x 50

In sets of 4, 25 drill and 25 swim back: (1) long doggie paddle (alternating four strokes each on left then on right); (2) opposite side breathe (I have done this before, but always forget-it literally involves breathing on the opposite side from your stroke, most disconcerting, you have to kind of heave yourself up and over the water); (3) reverse catch-up (with a delay in the stroke, only with one arm front and one arm back--I like this one, I find it enjoyable); (4) finger drill and salute (my least favorite, horrible, drag finger up along side--also known as thumbsies--and then have side of forefinger slide like a salute along the forehead).

Then the main set, which was a killer but finally gave me an immense sense of accomplishment. I am not sure I'm getting it quite right as I describe it now--and to my chagrin it was one of the ones where the grown-up lanes have a harder version that involves 600s instead of 400s! I want to be in the grown-up lanes! BUT it went pretty much like this, with ample rest between bits so as to help goal of holding pace:

4 x 100 (on 2:00 for me and the similar-paced guy in the lane next to me--maybe we were doing 1:45, or a second or two faster--with goal of holding the pace)

(Hmmm, I sort of feel like there was another 400 in here--there was, wasn't there? I think I did three, not two--can't remember, though...)

2 x 200 (on 4:30, aiming to get 3:30 on each, which we did)

1 x 400 (aiming for 7:20--would be too fast to try and get the other--I think I was at 7:17 or 7:18)

8 x 50, two sets of four descending (slightly messed this up, the interval we started on was too short, had to slow it down a bit)

And then one final 400, trying to hit 7:20 again. I did this one on my own, the fellow next to me couldn't quite face it, so I consider it a mild triumph that I did 7:15. That is a hard swim, and it reminded me that when I first started Doug's level I swim clinic in March I could not have swum 400 yards without stopping.

A quick look in my exercise log in fact tells me that when I went to the first clinic on 3/8 (I started swimming in January, doggedly swam 4-5 times a week and had a few lessons but basically--I am not exaggerating, this is how it works--was a WORSE swimmer after the lessons, because it messed up a basic but functional stroke in the super-flat 1970s what-I-learned-when-I-was-six style in aid of moving towards a better one with body rotation and all mod. cons.), Doug gave us the test of swimming continuously for 10 minutes and seeing how many lengths we could do.

(The notes are rather comical, I give an exact transcription: "Swim good - just 10 mins actual swimming (time test - 18 lengths? def. stopped a bunch of times to rest) - breathless but felt great. this is a good thing to do - these guys are for real...")

(It was true!)

So that's 18 lengths of a 20-yard pool: call it 340 yards, in 10 minutes.

Six weeks later, on the last meeting of the level I clinic (4/30), I say "Dramatic improvement on conditioning/distance - can't remember details but it's good - 25 lengths in 10 mins., no stopping this time!" So that's 500 yards in 10 minutes. (Times in the shorter pool are better because you're fastest when kicking off the wall.)

But the times kind of don't even explain it, I am just an infinitely better swimmer now than I was then.

(I am telling myself this to try and fend off self-critical impulses, I am finding it demoralizing being so much the slowest swimmer--well, me and the guy in the other lane--and really there is only five seconds difference on intervals from one lane to the next, it is not different universes of swimming--only I am impatient to keep on working and get a lot better! Arghhh!!! I must get better!)

I will confess that afterwards I took a taxi home--it takes about 7 minutes as opposed to more than half an hour on the train, it is decadent but for once it seemed worth it. And now I must go and do another hour or so of work to get ready for tomorrow. The tricky thing about Monday-night swimming is that I don't really get home till just before 10, but tomorrow morning's swim workout starts at 6, and I must be out the door by 5:50! So--more thoughts on swimming anon...