I woke up this morning at about 7am. My motivation hit the snooze button so I hauled myself to a masters swim class so someone else could talk me into doing “just a few more laps.”
We started with a warm up of swimming, kicking, then pulling before getting into a few drills and strength training exercises. One exercise I found really interesting was swimming the length of the pool (50 meters) with your eyes closed. The purpose of the exercise is to help you get the feel for the water. You are suppose to concentrate on feeling the pressure of the water over your whole arm, not just in your hands.
I ran into the rope that separates the lanes after about 5 strokes. I made a note to myself to practice sighting so that I don’t get entirely off course in the triathlon. I think it did help though.
I’ve also started to use the pull buoy for most of my swims – especially the long ones. The purpose of the pull buoy is to lift your hips and legs so that you don’t have to kick to keep your body floating. It allows you to focus on the first quadrant of your body where the power should be when you are swimming.
To use it a pull buoy, you place it high between your thighs and keep your legs still when you are swimming. This has pros and cons.
Pro: I get out of the pool after most of my swims with my triceps completely fried.
Con: I’m not used to kicking.
Pro: When I use the pull buoy, I can breath every three strokes or even less.
Con: When you finally steal the pull buoy away from me, and I will fight you for it, I have to breathe every two strokes, I feel less balanced in the water and I panic more easily if someone kicks water in my face when I try to inhale.
Today, I attempted to use the buoy less. I’ll miss my training wheels, but I think, 6 weeks out from the half Ironman, it’s time to phase out my little blue friend. Lindsay Brust
Reaching for Ironman 70.3 Boulder 