30 Days of Swimming - Day 13, Day 14, Day 15 and Week 2 Summary

Day 13 - Pretty straightforward, a full set of drills (5 drills, 16 x 25yds each) with 200yds on the kickboard with fins in the middle, then 200 yards with fins and no kickboard at the end.
It's amazing how fast you can move swimming with fins... usually a 25yd lap takes me about 30-32 seconds, with the fins it was 20-22... it was really cool. So 2400 yards total.
I also got a 60 minute run in right after the swim.

Day 14 - 3 sets of drills, starting with the ones I usually do last to mix it up a little. 16 x 25yards again... Thumb to Thigh Drill, Three/Six Drill and Fingertip Drag Drill. 1200 yards total
I got an hour in on the bike afterwards as well.

Day 15 - Another 3 drill day. I was kind of tired and sore starting my swim on Saturday so i took it easy today, especially since tomorrow is supposed to be my Long day in the pool. 1200 yards total again.

Week 2 Summary - 150, 2200, 2000, 1200, 1200, 2400, 1200... for a total of 10,350 yards or 5.9 miles. After Two weeks, that makes 10.2 miles total. I can't believe I've been doing this much swimming. And doing it freestyle!

30 Days of Swimming - Day 11, Day 12 and Hills aka Hell

Day 11 - I really wanted to mix it up a little bit on Wednesday. I felt like my workout was getting stale. Before I was focusing on adding more reps gradually, but once I hit 16, that was done, so what now? I decided to do my first three drills, which would give me 1200 yards, but to not take any breaks.
I'd still focus on everything I focus on during the drills normally, but to see how I would feel doing 1200 yards consecutively. The few times I've done a 'long' portion, it's been after my drill sets. Wednesday, it was my drill sets.
So, how did it go? FANtastic! I felt great. I just got in a groove and went for it and didn't even think about what a big step it was for me. 1200 yards, no sweat. This... this was huge for me. This 30 days of swimming, suggested by Coach Mike Ricci (http://www.d3multisport.com) is unquestionably the best thing I could have done for my swim. Bar none.

Day 12, just another 1200 today, I went to the pool once and couldn't get a lane, by the time I went back, i was short on time to join the running club for a speed workout so I had to cut it short. normal 16 x 25yds for my first three drills with 15 seconds rest. It was a good swim. I also managed to give out a swim tip. Me! HA! How funny is THAT!?! This young guy in the next lane was clearly having some trouble, he kept holding his head up above water as he swam, even when he did the breast stroke. The poor kid was really struggling to keep his head above water, literally, and I know what that's like.
Now, I KNOW I don't know much about swimming, but I do know what it's like to be in this kid's situation so I felt like passing on the same basic advice I had gotten would be pretty safe.
When he stopped for a break, I asked if he minded a little advice, he seemed eager. I told him what Mike told me, by holding his head up, he's straining his neck and tiring himself out. He needs to keep his face in the water, roll with his stroke onto his side, keeping his chin tucked and one goggle in the water, and breathe in then. As soon as he rolls again, face back in the water and breathe out steadily through the nose until he take another breath, so you're always breathing and not holding your breath.
This kid had been doing exactly what I was doing when I first met with Mike, trying to breathe in AND out when his head was above water.
He said he had some trouble with the breathing out underwater, so I showed him the drill Mike showed me, hold onto the edge of the pool as if you're swimming into it and kick like you're swimming and practice the breathing as you're sitting there kicking and holding the wall. I told him it feels silly, but it helps. I also suggested that if he really wanted to improve, to get a lesson or course through the school (they do a 1 credit swimming fitness course each academic quarter).

After the swim, I met with the running club and found out we were ding hills. yay (note complete lack of enthusiasm). I hate hills, which is why I knew I had to do them. It was a good workout, 7 x ~600m on a pretty steep slope which I did varying from 3:00 to 2:40... my fastest was my last repeat.
God I hate hills.

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30 Days of Swimming - Day 10, Plus, a Run!

Day 10 - We've run out of food here on the island. Our attempts at fishing or catching a wild boar have been fruitless. I fear that soon, we shall have to resort to inhumane measures...
Sorry, the whole day counting thing lends itself so easily to weird side tracks.
Day 10 was a lot like day 9, but without the swim fins. another 2000 yards in the bank.
I think Monday is going to become my 'long' day. by that I mean it's the day I'm going to see how long I can go while still feeling fresh. I'd like to make it to 1000 yards next Monday. If I keep with my training, that should be a piece of cake.

I also had a 30 minutes Endurance pace run on the docket. Unfortunately, I forgot my socks. So I figured now would be a good time to try tunning with just my shoes, no socks. So i did and it was no problem. No blisters, no bleeding, no rawness, not even any redness. Pretty cool.

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30 Days of Swimming - Wk 1 Summary Addendum, Day 8 and Day 9

First of all, I realized I never took the time to add up just how far I swam in total for my first week. My total? 7700yards! That's 4.375 miles! Hell Yeah!

So, Day 8*... There was a problem. I had a limited window to swim in, I get to the pool and realize I don't have my goggles. Fine, I say, I can swim without them. So I jump in and I do 25 yds and immediately, I know this is going to be a struggle. After 150 yards, I have to stop, my eyes hurt and I'm really struggling in the water. There's no way I can get home and back in time to finish my workout so i have to can it.
150 yards... do I even count that? Should I reset my 30 days? I did swim, but I didn't do my workout. What do you think, dear reader? More on this later...

Day 9 - An absolutely awesome workout. I bumped all the way up to 16 x 25yds with 15 seconds between reps, did two drills, then a half set of kick drills, then 2 more of my usual drills. For the last set, I decided to just swim straight through, no rest between repetitions. A little more than a week ago, swimming 100yards straight was a challenge. Tonight, after 1800 yards of drills, I did 400 yards straight and felt Awesome! 2200 total yards tonight! I did 7700 all last week and tonight I did just under a third of that in just a bit over an hour. I rocked.

So thinking about the 30 days straight... I'm counting Day 8. I swam, I gave it my best, it just didn't work out. Then tonight I have a rocking workout... Count it! I still want opinions from others. In my situation, would you keep the count going?

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30 Days of Swimming - Day 7, Weekly Summary and a 'Bike' Ride

Another day, another 1250 yards in the pool... Freestyle is really starting to feel more comfortable, the time in the pool flew by today. 10 x 25yds again, no kick drills, after experimenting with that yesterday I'm going to start working them in regularly starting Monday.
That's also when I'll also bump up to 12 x 25yds, which should bring my daily workout to close to 1800 yards.

After one week, I can definitely say that the hardest day was the second day. It was just tough getting into the routine of swimming every day. I feel so much more comfortable in the water now swimming freestyle) than I did on Sunday... It's really amazing, and it's only been a week.

After my swim I hit the 'bike' for 1:45, keeping my heartrate in the high OD range (117-125), with a final avg HR of 124. I say 'bike' because it's a stationary bike at the rec center. Definitely rather tedious, fortunately there was a Big East football game on TV and that kept me reasonably distracted.

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30 Days of Swimming - Day 6

Six days already? Jeez...
Today i decided to stretch things out a bit. My left triceps is still hurting, but it only bothers me if I bend my arms to less then about 85 degrees, which I can work around for swimming, biking and running.
I bumped up to 10 x 25yds (with 15 seconds rest) today for the drills plus I added in a set of kicking drills with the kickboard and swim fins (Thanks Dinger!). I've never actually used either before, but it was pretty straightforward, although I had a little trouble with the steering. I also made a conscious effort to work more on my right side breathing, it's still weak, but improving.
1500 yards total for the day.... building it up slowly...

I also got a long run in, 80 minutes, not sure on the distance since I need to change the battery on my footpod but I kept my HR in the high OD range, averaging 133/134 and I felt really good through the whole run.

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Speedwork

No swi yet today, it's going to have to come this evening.
Last night I did speedwork with the UC Running club, 8x400m. I love speedwork, I love just letting my legs crank out power for a quarter mile. I did most of the laps in ~1:40. On the last lap I decided to trail the 1:30 group for 3/4 of the loop and then open up the throttle as much as I could on the final 100m. It left me suckign wind when i finished in 1:28, but it felt really good.

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30 Days of Swimming - Day 5

back to drills this morning... I was a little rushed (I overslept) so i didn't get to do all the drills (missed my last set) or incorporate kick drills, but the equipment is available. On the plus side, i knocked my rest between repetitions down to 15 seconds. I hadn't planned on doing that, but with the short time I figured I'd give it a shot and if I had to bump back up to 20, so be it. I ended up doing the whole workout that way though.
My left triceps is rather sore, I think i hurt it doing triceps extensions during a weight workout on Tuesday night. It doesn't bother me when I swim, fortunately.

Tomorrow I don't have any classes until 1pm, so I'm going to go for a longer swim session. Bump up to 12 x 25yds and work in some kick drills. I can't wait to see how it goes.

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30 Days of Swimming - Day 4, Plus a Bike Ride!

As I get further into this, I've found myself looking forward to swimming each day more and more. Granted, it's only been 4 days, but as I left the pool today and even now, I'm eager for the next swim... couldn't ask for a better sign than that!

I took a break from the drills today and decided I'd see how I would do just swimming for 1200yds. I told myself that if I had to rest, I'd take 20 seconds, then get right back into it. I did that for a while, but eventually found myself stopping every 50yds or so and changed gears so that instead of stopping, I'd swim breaststroke for 25yds. I hate using the breaststroke as a crutch, but it kept me moving forward and kept me working. It's a habit I'll certainly work hard to break myself of.
Tomorrow I'm going to go back to the drills, but increase the number of reps.
Dinger from Triscoop has suggested I try a kickboard and some fins, a good idea, those might even be available for use at the pool, I'll give that a look tomorrow.

I also did a short Endurance bike ride with my HR averaging at 132. Unfortunately, it was on the stationary bikes in the Rec Center. Lame, but my bike hasn't arrived yet so I don't have much of a choice. It was a good workout though.

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30 Days of Swimming - Day 3

My third day was much easier than the second. The drills are becoming much more comfortable and I felt much less tight. Same workout as yesterday, 8 x 25yds with 20 seconds between reps. Catch Up, Fist, Figngertip Drag, Three/Six and Thumb to Thigh Drills. The Catch Up drill in particular felt much more comfortable today.
The whole workout was again about 1100 yards and took 35-40 minutes, I wasn't timing it.

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30 Days of Swimming - Day Two

War is Hell...
What that has to do with my second day of 30 straight days of swimming, I don't know. I just wanted a dramatic introduction.
Day two was harder than day 1, but also more productive.
Getting myself to go to the pool took a lot more effort, although that's probably at least partly due to the nap I was taking in the shade of a tree, dappled sunlight splashed all around me...
The Swim went well. I uppsed my repeats to 8 x 25yds and cut my rest down to 20 seconds from 30. I'll hold the 20 second rest there until the end of the week when I'll do the final cutdown to 15 seconds.
For drills I did... Catch Up Drill, Fist Drill, Fingertip Drag Drill, Three/Six Drill and Thumb to Thigh Drill so all told I got in about 1100 yards in. Believe me, it felt like more and I was ready to get out of the pool!
I felt like I had swam a full mile, I'm just not used to swimming freestyle, but I can already feel some things improving, especially my breathing. I'm still not turning my head to the right properly, but to the left I'm feeling really comfortable and the water pouring into my mouth or occasionally up my nose doesn't bother me hardly ever anymore.
I also feel like I'm rotating onto my side better than I had been, especially on the strokes I'm not breathing on.
Tomorrow, I'm going to hold at 8x25 with the same drills, as I'm sore today, and then Wednesday I'll up it a little more. How much will depend on how I feel tomorrow.

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30 Days of Swimming - Day 1

Coach Mike Ricci suggested not too long ago that I try doing 30 days straight of swimming and see how it goes. Now that I'm in Cincinnati and have access to a pool, I've started doing just that.
Today was Day One and as such, I made it an easy day, I didn't want to dive in too deep to start with (sorry for the pun). I intend to put a lot of emphasis on drills for these swims as I know I need to work on my form. Some of the drills I did today were new to me and will take some getting used to. Others I've done before and feel comfortable with while one or two are ones that I have done before and don't like (they're also ones I probably need to work on most).
I started easy, with 4 x 25 yards of each of the following drills.
Catch-up Drill
Closed Fist Drill
Sculling
Fingertip Drag Drill
Single Arm Drill
Three/Six Drill
Thumb to Thigh Drill
A brief warm up brought my total yardage to an unimpressive 800 yards, but I'm working on it.

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Back and Bad!

Sorry for the long absence, it's been a crazy two weeks. I moved back to Boston, ran around Boston catching up with friends for a week, then moved to Cincinnati... where I'm now relaxing (sort of) before school starts again.

Unfortunately, I can't get into the rec center until Sunday and my bike hasn't arrived yet, so no swimming or biking until those two things occur. For now, I'm just running. Yesterday I went for a run up to campus and ran the steps of the football stadium. That was the first time I ran tall the steps. Well, up all the steps, I walked down most of them. A work in progress but still a nice step for me. No pun intended.

Today I went for an easy barefoot run on the track. I did two miles, roughly half on the artificial grass of the soccer field and the rest on the track surface. It was a very weird feeling, but one I'm goign to try to do more often.

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