Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Training is going swimmingly...
...as Jank (Bill) put it yesterday in a comment. Last night I stopped at the larger swimming pool in Karlsruhe to do my laps and was pleasantly surprised to see that the pool was almost empty! My first thought was “Tonight is the night to practice my freestyle stroke!” I still haven’t had a freestyle class yet so I usually end up beating myself (and anyone else foolish enough to get in my way;-) to death in a short time.
I warmed up with two breaststroke laps (1 lap = 50 meters), then halfway through the next lap I switched to my rendition of freestyle. This ended up leaving me gasping for breath by the end of the lap, a normal occurrence for me. So, on the return lap I switched to breaststroke. Then I turned around again, swam halfway, then tried again. I repeated this for a couple more laps and gradually noticed that I was relaxing and my breathing was improving!
So then I started increasing the distance, 30 meters, 40, then an entire 50 meter lap! Then I started alternating 1 lap breaststroke, 1 lap freestyle. Finally, as the grand finale, I swam a lap out and a lap back, freestyle! My wife, who met me at the pool after work, commented that my form was quite crude, but it seemed like I was much more at ease then other times when I tried the stroke.
In any case this was a major breakthrough for me, I probably swam around 500-600 meters of the 1400 meters total using the freestyle stroke. I can’t wait for the next trip to the pool!
After a small dinner, I took advantage of the sunny weather we had outside and went to the garden to pull weeds for two hours. I wish I had brought my camera, all the spring flowers are in full bloom.
I warmed up with two breaststroke laps (1 lap = 50 meters), then halfway through the next lap I switched to my rendition of freestyle. This ended up leaving me gasping for breath by the end of the lap, a normal occurrence for me. So, on the return lap I switched to breaststroke. Then I turned around again, swam halfway, then tried again. I repeated this for a couple more laps and gradually noticed that I was relaxing and my breathing was improving!
So then I started increasing the distance, 30 meters, 40, then an entire 50 meter lap! Then I started alternating 1 lap breaststroke, 1 lap freestyle. Finally, as the grand finale, I swam a lap out and a lap back, freestyle! My wife, who met me at the pool after work, commented that my form was quite crude, but it seemed like I was much more at ease then other times when I tried the stroke.
In any case this was a major breakthrough for me, I probably swam around 500-600 meters of the 1400 meters total using the freestyle stroke. I can’t wait for the next trip to the pool!
After a small dinner, I took advantage of the sunny weather we had outside and went to the garden to pull weeds for two hours. I wish I had brought my camera, all the spring flowers are in full bloom.
# posted by Jack : 7:22 AM
