Tuesday PM: It wasn’t really swimming, but it wasn’t really drowning…
So the short story for last nights training is that I grabbed the gear (goggles, wetsuit, bodyglide) and went down to the pool and swam for a clocked 45 Min’s (meaning every darn rest i had to take was off the clock). And the longer details…
I gotta say, the body glide took total care of the rubbing of the collar on my neck and the entire suit seemed to feel better fit and really comfortable. Not exactly like it wasn’t there, but close and man you definitely feel that buoyancy boost. The heater seemed to work fine taking that arctic chill out of the pool, but left it cold enough to still be comfortable in the suit.
So I started out way faster and sloppier than I had ever imagined i could and i ran my HR up to a point were i could hear it in my ears and this was without the HRM. I had to re-learn how to breath (even to one side) on a timed stoke interval so i started out with every 4th, breathing to the right seemed to be more comfortable. Ooooh yeah, and the splashing, lots of splashing. Uhhhm and yeah, kicking… yeah, need to kick too. Sooo lets just say that the year+ since I’ve been in the water… it is not like remembering to ride a bike (Matt and Eric would have just gone home in shame). So rests… yes rests… they were more frequent than i wanted them to be but, it helped me figure things out, slow down, refocus, clear fogged goggles and get back in a groove.
With the resting and as time kept passing (really slowly for this round anyway!) I figured out how to properly set the goggles on my melon and force them to suction on a bit to prevent a slight creep of water into the left lens cap (note to self: next time remember the anti-fog spray!). Time kept passing slow and my strokes started becoming more timed, relaxed, and automatic. They still weren’t where I wanted them and I’ll definitely have to keep it slow and focused technique-wise for the next few rounds, but at least the ultra–spastic nature of moving though fluid seemed to have passed into a more controlled spasm last night. We’ll see if it holds. I think I’ll need a few minutes to acclimate in the next week or so and it should fade.
In a nutshell it was long and tiring as it was so foreign being the first time in a long time. I went home and Kate had an awesome meal of curried rice, chicken & peas all ready to go. I was famished and couldn’t stop myself from eating everything in sight. Then the sleep set in, so off we went.
Philip LaVoie's Blog 