Well, the last couple of weeks have sort of been lost for
me. My family went on vacation and then this past week, I
was only able to get into the pool once. I got into a car
accident earlier in the week and that held up my training
for a bit...nothing serious, but just one of those annoying
accidents resulting in a stiff neck and back.
Finally got into the pool yesterday, even with my stiff
neck. The swimming actually seemed to help me loosen it up a
bit. Even after not being in a pool for a couple of weeks, I
was able to swim for about 45 minutes. I did some interval
training - fast 100's, followed by some slow 100's.
Mainly focusing again on keeping my head down, and trying
to keep the separation to a minimum between my head and
left arm when I breathe. I know I should be trying to
work on breathing every 3 strokes and alternating sides
on my breaths...but for some reason, I just find it
difficult to do.
After about 10 minutes of warmups and intervals, I swam the
400 yard distance of the upcoming sprint triathlon. I went
from 10:50 to 10:30 a few weeks ago. I was able to swim the
16 lengths in about
10:10...and while still slow, it felt good to shave off 20
seconds off my previous time. Again, I haven't really
been focusing on speed, but more technique and form.
I also tried to concentrate on my kicking, because its the
oddest thing really. As I am breathing, I find that my legs
stop kicking causing me to sink. So i have this sort of
bobbing action going on.
My average stroke count is about 20-21 - about a stroke or 2
less than a few weeks ago. I was watching this one swimmer
next to me, he was averaging about 31 strokes per length - I
got tired just watching him!
I found it interesting watching the other swimmers, a
range from very competent to not very good. I think I'll
take my camcorder and tripod out next time... I think it
would be interesting to see how I look as I concentrate on
different aspects.
In my effort to press the T, I found i started just putting
my head WAY down...i think that was a bit extreme. Altho, I
did notice when I made a concerted effort to keep my head
down, my feet would break the surface on my kicks.
My question is how do I improve on my propulsion to increase
my speed. I think right now my time for a 100 is averaging
about 2:30. One of the posters said I should be around 1:30.
Besides interval training, how else can I improve my speed?
Thanks for reading as my saga continues!