One of the things I wanted to do this year was go for a good length swim in the lake that my parents live on. It is about 2/3 of a mile from one end to the other (the long direction) so it is big enough to give a good swim workout, but small enough to keep a large number of power boats off the water. My initial thought was to swim directly from one end to the other, straight through the middle - but in the morning when I was planning things out, I decided that I'd swim closer to the shore. Going in a counter clockwise direction, the distance is about 1.5 miles to make an entire loop. I figured that might be a bit far, so I made a note of where the 1 mile mark was, and decided that would be where I'd swim to.
My big purpose for this swim was to see how my new stroke, using body roll to provide power for the pull, would translate to effort over an extended period of time. Having spent a few sessions in the endless pool over the past week, I decided that the new mechanics were sound enough that I could give a shot to an elongated swim session. That is not to say that all the mechanics are perfect - there is still a good deal more I could do to minimize the disturbance of water as I swim - but I need to start somewhere.
I started out with bilateral breathing - but once again found that I couldn't maintain it very well. I decided that in the grand scheme of things, the purpose of my swim today was less about the breathing and more about other mechanics, so breathing got punted. I really dont like putting it off as much as I have been - but I have to be careful that I dont try to bite off more than I can deal with when it comes to a new swim stroke.
The biggest thing to report is that in the first 10 minutes, I found I was rolling enough onto my right side (during left arm recovery) that my left eye was coming up out of the water. This was the first time I noticed that happening, and I think that is a good sign that I'm finally getting comfortable and balanced with the roll onto the 'unfavored' side. It may have partially been due to turning my head a bit farther than my torso - but either way it bodes well for future integration with bilateral breathing.
Overall, it was a good swim. It turned out to be a tad short of a mile, because I cut across to the other side of the lake a bit earlier than intended - due to some shallow rocky sections. I avoided those because I didn't want the boat that my dad was in (trailing behind me with a life preserver, just in case) to strike the rocks. When I got to the designated finishing spot, I decided to call it a day. It was already significantly farther than I have ever swum in a single uninterrupted session before, and truthfully it was getting a little boring - just seeing pale green for 30 minutes. The good news, though, is that my arms didn't necessarily feel all to tired.
Total Time: 26:44 (missed about 3 minutes in the beginning because I forgot to start the stopwatch)
Total Distance: ~0.8 miles
Avg HR: 166
I don't believe its necessarily any faster than my previous swim stroke (about 16 minutes for half mile in the Webster Tri) - but it has much more potential. Speed can be increased by increasing the roll frequency, which can be done once the mechanics become more sound and second nature.
Being the first time, I just wanted to establish a baseline. I am going to be looking to repeating this swim (perhaps the entire way around, which would be > 1 mile) at some point in the next few weeks in preparation for the Cranberry Country Olympic Tri on August 30.
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