The longest swim ever!!!
by Charles Seegel @ The long road to IronmanI have gotten a little behind on my blog and will try to catch up this week over the holiday.
Last Wednesday, we had a coached swim workout with the team at Burgess pool in Palo Alto. It is no secret that I am a poor swimmer and due to poor technique, use so much energy to get through the water that I tend to reach exhaustion long before I can cover any significant distance. Tonight was different! I have been swimming so much lately that I have been feeling more like a fish then a biped and it has been paying off with increased comfort in the water and a cleaner stroke. I actually was able to complete a 225 yard set and would have been able to complete the 300 had I not gotten caught up in swim traffic (4 people in the lane)! That is huge for me! I can't seem to do that well on my own but this is still a huge improvement from a year ago when I struggled to complete a 25 on a regular basis. What is even more impressive is that through the course of the night, with all of the drills and sets put together, I swam roughly 2000 yards! 2000 yards without a wetsuit is such a huge change from where I was even a few weeks ago that I have a hard time really getting my head around the accomplishment. I need to keep in mind that 2000 is really not all that far and less then 1/2 of the distance that I will need to cover on race day, but screw it this is a huge breakthrough for me.
But wait!!! There's more!!
The next morning, I was scheduled for a swim with my swim coach Robin. I was hoping that he would take it easy on me because of my big workout the night before and would give my achy arms a bit of a rest. This was perhaps a slightly naive thought on my part but worth a try. I did some drills and warmups on my own for about 20 minutes before he came out to start my session that helped to loosen up my arms but needless to say that 60 minutes later and after my 2nd 2000 yard swim in 24 hours, my arms were done! Other then that I still felt great!
It is very odd for me to say this, but I think I can imagine a day in the not so distant future when I will actually consider myself a swimmer. Who would have thought it?
Last Wednesday, we had a coached swim workout with the team at Burgess pool in Palo Alto. It is no secret that I am a poor swimmer and due to poor technique, use so much energy to get through the water that I tend to reach exhaustion long before I can cover any significant distance. Tonight was different! I have been swimming so much lately that I have been feeling more like a fish then a biped and it has been paying off with increased comfort in the water and a cleaner stroke. I actually was able to complete a 225 yard set and would have been able to complete the 300 had I not gotten caught up in swim traffic (4 people in the lane)! That is huge for me! I can't seem to do that well on my own but this is still a huge improvement from a year ago when I struggled to complete a 25 on a regular basis. What is even more impressive is that through the course of the night, with all of the drills and sets put together, I swam roughly 2000 yards! 2000 yards without a wetsuit is such a huge change from where I was even a few weeks ago that I have a hard time really getting my head around the accomplishment. I need to keep in mind that 2000 is really not all that far and less then 1/2 of the distance that I will need to cover on race day, but screw it this is a huge breakthrough for me.
But wait!!! There's more!!
The next morning, I was scheduled for a swim with my swim coach Robin. I was hoping that he would take it easy on me because of my big workout the night before and would give my achy arms a bit of a rest. This was perhaps a slightly naive thought on my part but worth a try. I did some drills and warmups on my own for about 20 minutes before he came out to start my session that helped to loosen up my arms but needless to say that 60 minutes later and after my 2nd 2000 yard swim in 24 hours, my arms were done! Other then that I still felt great!
It is very odd for me to say this, but I think I can imagine a day in the not so distant future when I will actually consider myself a swimmer. Who would have thought it?
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The longest swim ever!!!
by Charles @ The long road to Ironman
I have gotten a little behind on my blog and will try to catch up this week over the holiday.
Last Wednesday, we had a coached swim workout with the team at Burgess pool in Palo Alto. It is no secret that I am a poor swimmer and due to poor technique, use so much energy to get through the water that I tend to reach exhaustion long before I can cover any significant distance. Tonight was different! I have been swimming so much lately that I have been feeling more like a fish then a biped and it has been paying off with increased comfort in the water and a cleaner stroke. I actually was able to complete a 225 yard set and would have been able to complete the 300 had I not gotten caught up in swim traffic (4 people in the lane)! That is huge for me! I can't seem to do that well on my own but this is still a huge improvement from a year ago when I struggled to complete a 25 on a regular basis. What is even more impressive is that through the course of the night, with all of the drills and sets put together, I swam roughly 2000 yards! 2000 yards without a wetsuit is such a huge change from where I was even a few weeks ago that I have a hard time really getting my head around the accomplishment. I need to keep in mind that 2000 is really not all that far and less then 1/2 of the distance that I will need to cover on race day, but screw it this is a huge breakthrough for me.
But wait!!! There's more!!
The next morning, I was scheduled for a swim with my swim coach Robin. I was hoping that he would take it easy on me because of my big workout the night before and would give my achy arms a bit of a rest. This was perhaps a slightly naive thought on my part but worth a try. I did some drills and warmups on my own for about 20 minutes before he came out to start my session that helped to loosen up my arms but needless to say that 60 minutes later and after my 2nd 2000 yard swim in 24 hours, my arms were done! Other then that I still felt great!
It is very odd for me to say this, but I think I can imagine a day in the not so distant future when I will actually consider myself a swimmer. Who would have thought it?
Last Wednesday, we had a coached swim workout with the team at Burgess pool in Palo Alto. It is no secret that I am a poor swimmer and due to poor technique, use so much energy to get through the water that I tend to reach exhaustion long before I can cover any significant distance. Tonight was different! I have been swimming so much lately that I have been feeling more like a fish then a biped and it has been paying off with increased comfort in the water and a cleaner stroke. I actually was able to complete a 225 yard set and would have been able to complete the 300 had I not gotten caught up in swim traffic (4 people in the lane)! That is huge for me! I can't seem to do that well on my own but this is still a huge improvement from a year ago when I struggled to complete a 25 on a regular basis. What is even more impressive is that through the course of the night, with all of the drills and sets put together, I swam roughly 2000 yards! 2000 yards without a wetsuit is such a huge change from where I was even a few weeks ago that I have a hard time really getting my head around the accomplishment. I need to keep in mind that 2000 is really not all that far and less then 1/2 of the distance that I will need to cover on race day, but screw it this is a huge breakthrough for me.
But wait!!! There's more!!
The next morning, I was scheduled for a swim with my swim coach Robin. I was hoping that he would take it easy on me because of my big workout the night before and would give my achy arms a bit of a rest. This was perhaps a slightly naive thought on my part but worth a try. I did some drills and warmups on my own for about 20 minutes before he came out to start my session that helped to loosen up my arms but needless to say that 60 minutes later and after my 2nd 2000 yard swim in 24 hours, my arms were done! Other then that I still felt great!
It is very odd for me to say this, but I think I can imagine a day in the not so distant future when I will actually consider myself a swimmer. Who would have thought it?