Welcome to Thunderdome

Yeah, so, ok.

Hit the pool with the intention of swimming a mile at 80% from the beginning, and see what happens.

First couple laps were about 50 seconds each, so I knew I had the pace I wanted. By about lap 7 I was super short of breath and getting dizzy. At lap 10 I took a 20 second break to catch my breath, and it just went downhill from there. I kept swimming hard, ended up having to take 20 second breaks every 1-2 laps. Light headed and fighting the panic reflex most of the time (OMG I AM IN THE WATER AND CANT BREATH) The last 10 laps were just a mess and I couldn't focus on counting and I did somewhere between 33 and 38 laps, total. All in all, probably 3-4 minutes of accumulated rest stops. 40 minute swim, total.

Muscles and joints felt surprisingly good, I was just pushing the heart and lungs way harder than they are accustomed. Looks like I have set my new training baseline. Hopefully it is easier next Tuesday (schedule conflict, can't swim Thursday).

Clearly 50s are too fast... go out at 55s next time. You shouldn't be breathing that hard on a 1 mile swim (I mean, you should be at aerobic limit, but not like you describe). Save that breathing for the sprints you should be doing.

I was rekt.

Felt good but not.

Used my new Garmin Swim watch in the pool this morning, for the first time.

Setting up a Garmin account now so I can track my progress.

On first data upload, it is calling my swim laps in "Number of steps taken," and I can't get lap averages and shit.

What the fuck.

Never mind, I think............. it was showing me sample data, and the miles walked just happened to equal the distance I swam this morning....

I think.

Also, signed up for the "100 Miles in 2017" Challenge at the Y. About 1 and a half miles done today, 98.5 miles to go.

Anyway here are my numbers from the watch... I stopped a couple times to look at the display and see if it was counting accurately, it seemed to be. I was also playing with the different buttons. I usually have a strong kick-and-glide at my flip turns, so it never got confused as to what constituted "a lap." It is interesting to look at the graphs and see how I was steadily getting tired and slower over the hour, with a few bursts of second wind, here and there. These numbers are about what I expect after having two weeks off (the swim teams have been hogging the pool over xmas break). Yes, I know I didn't go a full hour, I was getting a cramp in my right thigh and thought 55 minutes was good for my comeback.

Swimming Dynamics

2,425 yd
Distance

55:48
Time

55:19
Moving Time

57:10
Elapsed Time

2:17 min/100 yd
Avg Pace

2:17 min/100 yd
Avg Moving Pace

1:47 min/100 yd
Best Pace

1,649
Total Strokes

29 strokes/min
Avg Stroke Rate

33 strokes/min
Max Stroke Rate

17/length
Avg Strokes

51
Avg SWOLF

Long time since I've swum, here's my last stats:

1650 yds - 26:43

30:10 Time
26:43 Moving Time
30:10 Elapsed Time
1:37 min/100 yd Avg Pace
1:37 min/100 yd Avg Moving Pace
1:24 min/100 yd Best Pace

Swimming Dynamics
554 Total Strokes
20 strokes/min Avg Stroke Rate
24 strokes/min Max Stroke Rate
8/length Avg Strokes
32 Avg SWOLF

You take nearly twice the # of strokes that I do per lap. That really makes me wonder about your mechanics.

Have you tried catch-up drills? That can help you focus on making each half of your stroke as efficient as possible.

I have done my best to imitate the strokes I see on YouTube of Olympic swimmers. I seem to go faster that the fat old men in the lanes next to me with a slower, smoother strokes. No idea what I am doing wrong.

Watched that video. I realize you are supposed to roll side to side, but I am guessing I don't do it enough. I have never gotten any feedback so I don't know. I am guessing I may just be bulldozing the water with both shoulders all the way down. I'll play with it.

GORDON wrote:Watched that video. I realize you are supposed to roll side to side, but I am guessing I don't do it enough. I have never gotten any feedback so I don't know. I am guessing I may just be bulldozing the water with both shoulders all the way down. I'll play with it.

I used to be a bulldozer (tugboat). The rotation helps a lot, really minimizes the drag.

You may also want to use leg buoys, and really focus on your arm stroke.

TheCatt wrote:

GORDON wrote:Watched that video. I realize you are supposed to roll side to side, but I am guessing I don't do it enough. I have never gotten any feedback so I don't know. I am guessing I may just be bulldozing the water with both shoulders all the way down. I'll play with it.

I used to be a bulldozer (tugboat). The rotation helps a lot, really minimizes the drag.

Was that form she was using exaggerated? Her entire hip was out of the water. I KNOW I don't roll THAT much.

Any recommendations for a freedive watch? One that tracks depth, bottom time and actual time. We were going a little too rustic on the last trip by gauging the sun's height in the sky to figure out when we needed to paddle in.

E: and I though I was a shit swimmer until I starting doing the shoulder rotation thing, that changed everything for me.

GORDON wrote:

TheCatt wrote:

GORDON wrote:Watched that video. I realize you are supposed to roll side to side, but I am guessing I don't do it enough. I have never gotten any feedback so I don't know. I am guessing I may just be bulldozing the water with both shoulders all the way down. I'll play with it.

I used to be a bulldozer (tugboat). The rotation helps a lot, really minimizes the drag.

Was that form she was using exaggerated? Her entire hip was out of the water. I KNOW I don't roll THAT much.

I think it's exaggerated, but only a little, and mostly because she's exaggerating the one side each time. Check out Ian Thorpe or Katie Ledecky. Katie's more of a distance swimmer, so her stroke should be more like the one you shoot for.

I was always told to get your body about 45 degrees. Though USA swimming says only 30 degrees.http://www.usaswimming.org/ViewNewsArti ... 1&mid=8712

Troy wrote:Any recommendations for a freedive watch? One that tracks depth, bottom time and actual time. We were going a little too rustic on the last trip by gauging the sun's height in the sky to figure out when we needed to paddle in.

I have never looked into freedive watches.

I dive with this, which is also what I wear when I'm walking around on the streets, but I dive with it because it is a backup timer for this, which tracks depths, temps, deco times, etc. I am not sure how that Zoop would work for free diving.... as soon as you surface, it begins counting the "interval" between dives, and calls it "Dive 2 (3,4,5...)" in the logs.

It might work, but I can't imagine there aren't computers just for free diving.

Ok so practiced that exaggerated side-to-side for the first 15 minutes, but didn't do the "baton handoff" thing. That was just one change too much for today.... my hands never meet out in front of me. It felt clunky and at times I thought I might be getting seasick, my head was going so far left and right. But, I kept it up as long as I could... I felt like I wasn't getting a good workout overall because none of the other movements felt smooth while trying something new.

So the last 45 minutes I just did my thing, maybe paying slight attention to getting my high shoulder up out of the water a little more. It felt like I was going to have shittier numbers compared to last time I swam with my watch.

Turns out I took 3 seconds off of my average 100 time. I guess I'll have to keep this up..... even though my average strokes per lap was still 16. I must still be doing something really wrong.

But looking at it... it was 17, last time. Improvement, I guess. Slightly less shitty.

Dont you have a waterproof camera? Weight it down, set it at the bottom of the pool? or angled at you?

I've been thinking about it. Don't want to look weird taking a camera in there, but I might anyway and fuck the haters.

Was just watching Jim Thorp. I'm starting to wonder if the problem is my kicking. A woman got into the pool as I was getting out this morning, dressed like she knew what she was doing, and she was warming up with a kickboard, and with just kicking she was going as fast as the old men using their whole bodies. I am basically paralyzed below my knees. I wonder if I am just unable to propel myself much with my legs.

I think I will go in this weekend (not screw up my lap workout days) and mess around with cameras and kick boards and see what up wit dat. It would suck if I'll never be in the Olympics but would still be gratifying to know my upper body is still hauling my ass through the water better than most able-bodied humans my age.