Swim technique and mental toughness

In my previous post I said I was waiting for my next swim pace test before signing up for Honu. Well, I jumped the gun. My good friend Sandy French shared on Facebook that she had taken the plunge, and I was so inspired I cast my doubts to the wind and signed up too. May the wind be kind to all of us.

Shameless plug for housing

I was hoping Sandy could stay with Pattie and I but she has made other arrangements. So, if anyone wants to share a condo in the Fairways area please let me know. Our needs are simple, a bedroom to ourselves, more than one bathroom in the house, and reasonable peace and quiet. Sharing a rental car/van would be nice as long as we arrive and depart around the same time.

More on the swim

This morning I was going over the results of some recent swims and thought I would share some numbers. But, before getting deep into the data I want to go over some squishy, perceptual kind of stuff.

Last week Pattie and I were swimming at Ala Moana. At this point rather than swim together we split up so I can go longer. I noticed that my right arm kept doing this weird wave during recovery. As if my hand had picked up a bit of seaweed as it came out of the water and was trying to shake it off before dropping my hand back in. Only I was not doing the shaking. My arm was, all by itself. As I approached the finish Pattie was there waiting for me. First thing she said was, "Your arm is doing this weird wavy thing." Wow, that obvious. I decided to work on it at the pool.

During that open water swim I had been focusing on my two beat kick. At my Kona swim week back in 2017 coach Celeste St. Pierre taught a variant of the two beat kick that emphasizes keeping the legs apart at the end of each kick. For me, the challenges are 1) getting my clunky left leg to do anything useful and 2) getting either leg, especially my left leg, to lift to the surface while that hip is down, like cocking the hammer before firing a shot.

My thinking about my wayward arm during recovery was that it was triggered by instability in my lower half, introduced by me struggling to keep my legs straight, kick from the hips not the knees, and not thrash around like a stuffed animal in a puppy's mouth. Misbehaving left leg causing wayward right arm.

The following Tuesday I did most of Fresh Freestyle Practice 34, which focuses on balance and especially arm motion. To this I added an awareness of what my legs were doing, without trying to actually correct them. To heighten my awareness of my legs I did the first tune-up with stubby fins. Naturally it took the next couple of laps to get comfortable without them, but for the remainder of the workout I was able to focus on my arms and still notice my legs. And, yes, I got rid of most of the excess arm movement. Here is that swim, originally by Dinah Mistilis but in my abbreviated form -- the original in the book goes into a lot more detail.

TU #1 Balance
4 x 25 start each with superman glide
2 x 50 head neutral, relaxed
2 x 100 head
TU #2 Recovery shape, balance
2 x 50 soft shoulder
2 x 50 elbow swings wide, high, forward
2 x 50 relaxed forearm
2 x 50 smooth drop entry
MAIN FP/metrics, what improves SPL
count and record strokes
4 x 25 drop entry
4 x 25 head neutral
4 x 25 elbow wide, high, forward
4 x 25 smooth drop entry, reach for wall
METRICS Baseline assessment
5 x 100 moderate pace, count strokes
CC 200 review what worked well

Now back to that squishy stuff. During my last three swims -- Friday afternoon at Ala Moana, Sunday morning at Ala Moana, and this morning at the pool -- I felt I had much better control of my kick, and was much more balanced. As a result of that better balance my position in the water felt better. Hard to put numbers up to show it, but I felt it.

What I can show are some numbers from Sunday's open water swim and today's pool swim. To follow on what I have been saying, what stands out here is consistency. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that consistency speaks to smoothness, and that signifies better efficiency.

Sunday 3/17 Ocean
Plan		Actual
Yds	Pace	Yds	Pace	RPM
250	3:26 - 3:51	249	3:30	19
500	2:53 - 3:00	444	3:07	21
500	3:10 - 3:26	552	3:19	20
250	3:26 - 3:51	271	3:36	19

Monday 3/18 Pool
Plan		Actual
Yds	Pace	Pace	SC
6 x 200	2:53 - 3:00
1		2:45	105
2		2:52	112
3		2:53	112
4		2:53	114
5		2:56	114
6		2:51	116

For me, judging pace is still a mystery. But I am getting better at it. Sunday's data shows the proper progression even if the two 500 yard segments were a little off -- I count strokes because for me one stroke is pretty close to one yard, a typical 25 yards in the pool taking 21 strokes. It appears the stroke rate (RPM) followed the design, which was 1Z - 3Z - 2Z - 1Z. Just by feel. For today's swim I went a little harder. A little too hard on the first 200, then better. Felt good, in that "I can hardly catch my breath" kind of way. By the way, I am following a Matt Fitzgerald training plan, so 3Z is a bit faster than in the Joe Friel system. Notice that my stroke count for the first 200 is way better than the remaining segments, yet I was faster. I know I was working harder. Appears I was getting a nice firm pull, something I lost when I backed off. Hmm.

During the 6 x 200 I kept reminding myself that this is what Honu will feel like. Only without the fifteen second rests. I wish I could enjoy swimming so much that I love doing these laps the way I enjoyed playing drums in my rock band back in high school. Hating to have to stop when time is up. But no, my brain start whining like kids in the back seat, "How much longer is this going to take? Haven't we done enough? Who would know if we cut it short? Let's go eat breakfast. If you don't stop now you will die."

I have no idea where I find the fortitude to ignore these thoughts. Last Saturday I did give up, but only because my legs refused to put out the necessary power. Today it was shear determination. Lap, lap, lap. Check watch, only 125 yards until my next break. Yeah! Lap, lap, lap. But I did it, and that is what will get me to the finish line.