Ugh – The Swim

Quite a good swim session today in the pool: Balance drills and then some kick drills followed by a few lengths focussing on breathing. I am trying to “swim smooth” at the moment as I am conscious that my swimming probably looks like a teenager on speed; throw some washing up liquid in the pool with me and before long the whole room would fill with bubbles. One of the guys at the pool commented that I was “not very smooth” and he is right, I can feel it when I swim. I am hence making an effort to slow down my action and break the water steadily; I think I can feel a difference in that I do not tire as easily when I focus on this, I do wonder if I am getting slower though. My kicking feels much better, slower and more powerful; I still need to slow it down as I can sense that my stroke is much stronger with this slow strong kick coming from the core.

I have noticed how much I use the term “feel” when I think about swimming, it really is a complex action that requires feel for the water. The old saying goes: “If you want to run faster then run more, if you want to bike faster then bike more and if you want to swim faster then get lessons". It is all about technique; six months left to hit my target of a sub 15 minute 750m swim.

I had to get up for a 5am conference call yesterday, I bounded out of bed in fine fettle and speculated as to why I can’t bound out of bed in the morning to go swimming. I can do it to go for a run or a cycle but the thought of jumping into a pool makes me turn over and pull the duvet back over my head. I wonder if that will change as I improve.