Swimming

Shockingly enough, Tall Friend beat me, and by only 19 seconds! The splits (which include T1 & T2 somewhere) were: Karl: 209th out of 542: Swim 10:01 / Bike 46:59 / Run 22:24 / Total 1:19:24 Tall Friend: 203rd out of 542: swim 8:07 / Bike 48:13 / Run 22:45 / Total 1:19:05 So on the face of...
Read more »

Well here we are - my race is run, and having been so giddy with excitement, both I and Tall Friend managed to forget to start our stopwatches at the ‘off’. So neither of us have any idea of out total times, splits, or which of us clocked the fastest time. I guess we’ll...
Read more »

Oh, the power of the internet. Here’s the translation that Jen did for the captions of the Japanese swimming video posted yesterday. Thanks Jen, you’re a star! Here are some of the captions translated and the times with which they correspond. 3:36 rolling 2:50 entry 2:45 catch 2:40 some sort of pull (Maybe circling, but not sure) 2:35 finish 2:30 recovery 2:20...
Read more »

2.4 miles is a long way. I had my first swimming lesson  with a professionally qualified coach today. I’ve got a little work to do, it seems. The main problem with my stroke is that I’m ‘playing catch-up’ - keeping my leading arm forward almost until the recovering hand passes it’s wrist before I start the...
Read more »

Last night I went to the pool, and had one of those Road to Damascus moments. I was swimming groups of lengths, interspersed with Total Immersion drills, which concentrated on my left-side breathing. Since the drills are pretty slow lengths of the pool, I kept out of the roped off lane and in the main...
Read more »

I’ve been struck the last few days about how much of a role technique plays in changing your race day from an ordeal into a tough, but very enjoyable experience. In swimming, my freestyle is really starting to come together (I know you’ve heard that before, but it’s true), so much so that it’s now...
Read more »

I wanted to have a look at my swim stroke, and figured that the best way to do this was to get it filmed. So I asked the management of the gym I use if they’d allow me to do this - normally there are very strict rules about cameras and filming at poolside. They...
Read more »

At the end of January, I splashed out (sorry - that’s a really bad pun) on a new pair of goggles. I bought a pair of Arena Cyclone goggles, which are more like a traditional diving mask, but without enclosing your nose. The idea of this kind of swimming goggle is that you get...
Read more »

Swimming this evening while my daughter was having her lesson (she got the badge!), I did a couple of hundred metres, and then thought I’d better get some practice in with my Total Immersion drills. My free style’s really coming together now, but only with breathing to the right. Breathing to the left...
Read more »

Well, yesterday was only a short trip - about three miles each way. The route out is mostly a gentle climb (into the wind - wouldn’t you just believe it) that left me thinking I’d made a dreadful mistake. Perhaps fixing isn’t for me after all. Or maybe I just need to track down a...
Read more »