Midst dropping my menagerie off at their various holiday boarding locations, packing, and rushing to the airport to throw myself at the mercy of the airport gods, I snuck in one last master's swim. I dove into the calm, silky waters. I had an entire lane to myself, the class mostly empty from earlier Thanksgiving departures. I could focus completely on myself, my swim stroke, and the rhythmic motion of my arms slipping in and out of the water, my torso twisting slightly from side-to-side.
Terry Martin, the most awesome coach ever, gave me extra special attention, given that the student-to-coach ratio was so low. Enter later, enter wider, don't twist so much, bring your arms back under you after you enter, don't do full catch-up on each stroke. So much to remember! Of course, being the overachiever, when first told about front-quadrant swimming, I practiced catch-up drill so much that each stroke is entirely catch-up, making my stroke turnover very low and creating a big dead zone in between each recovery. Egads! Then, apparently, I rotate from my hips so aggressively that I almost flip over onto my back with each stroke. (When I first started swimming, I was told to reach long with each stroke; I had to be told I was going to dislocate my shoulder if I continued to reach that far). I can never half-ass anything. If I'm going to do something, I gotta give it my all! Twist from the hips, I'll show you twist! Reach, I'll reach until my arm pops out! So now, I'm working on backing off a little.
The first 1000 meters was agonizing. I felt slow and sluggish. My time per 100 showed it. Ugh. I just had no strength. My shoulders ached. Around 1200 meters, something shifted. All of a sudden, I was zipping through the water. I shaved off 3 seconds/100. Then, another 2. Then another second....and held it. 100 meters after 100 meters. Suddenly, it snowballed and I was flying through the water with irrational exuberance. I finished off with 2800 meters (and I'm totally out of shape), exhilarated, red-faced, and rejuvenated. Off to the airport! The crowds, honking taxis, lines, nothing could touch me after that. Yay for fantastic workouts!
Workout (long course):
Warm Up--3x300, as follows:
1--50 drill/100 swim (x2)
2--3x100 on base+5 descending
3--6x50 on target test set time
Main Set:
13x100s (test set; 20 seconds rest)
100 ez
Cool Down:
6x100s--50 stroke/50 kick
1 comment:
Great post. I had to laugh about being an overachiever. I'm like that too in the pool. Funny.
You've always had a way of making me want to run out and get a workout in. This post is no exception! Thanks!
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