The Value of a Symmetrical Stroke

It's not unusual to see people doing freestyle and breathing on only one side. A story I heard about Natalie Caughlin was that she was such a swimmer. Natalie, as you probably know was one of the USA's top female swimmers in 2006 Summer Olympics. While it didn't keep her from setting records, swimming on one side built up the muscles on one side to the detriment of the other. When the coaches suggested breathing on both sides, her stroke improved and so did her muscle symmetry. I'm no competitive swimmer, but I note a distinct speed difference to the better when I breathe on both sides. I had to force myself to learn - with a lot of water swallowing before I got the skill down. In addition, I feel stronger overall after having learned this skill. Finally, I find my stroke is smoother, and I slide through the water faster. I'm swimming symmetrically! Try it yourself. Be sure to give yourself time to gain the muscle memory. You'll be amazed.

How to Get into Pool After a Big Meal

A woman who occasionally swims laps at the same time as I once said that the reason she swims is so she can eat. I concur. Usually its after a good swim, but sometimes I eat too much before. When I do, this is what I use to get me into the pool.

Gadgets for Swimming I'd Like to See

This past December, the YMCA where I do most of my lap swimming got a slew of new equipment for the workout room. The pool area got some "Hydroriders" which as I understand them are basically stationary bicycles one operates off the floor of the pool much as you might any other stationary bicycle (except with these you get wet before your workout). They have a resistance paddle that spins through the water. Needless to say for us lap swimmers, this isn't much to be excited about. They just take up valuable lane space when they're not spread out on the pool deck. It occurs to me that there are few innovations non-competitive lap swimmers can appreciate. Outside of the non-drag suit, there are only a few others. Some I've seen are the wrist worn underwater stop watch (they are almost ubiquitous among serious lap swimmers), the heart monitor (I've only seen one guy using one of these), the mp3 player (here, I've only heard of one - though I've seen them in ads). I'd like to have a pair of those goggles with the heads-up lap count/pace/distance display I referenced in 2006. I'd like to see every pool add lap counters as standard equipment (why they don't is a mystery to me). For grins, it might be nice to have a couple large screen, flat panel television monitors installed in the floor of my favorite lane (ESPN highlights would work fine without sound). Maybe the people who like attention grabbing, large capital outlays can appreciate that crazy idea. Here's looking to the future!

Breathing - Pushing Past the Wall

From time to time in this blog I've discussed breathing. One time I focused on the need to be comfortable in the water so you can take the time to breathe appropriate to proper stroke technique. Today I was witness to its importance. For point of discussion - and to pat myself on the back - today I set a personal speed record for me for the 25 meter indoor pool mile (sorry but I'm not posting my time, the figure is "personal"). I mention this only because it proves a point I want to make. Today, in the course of all this, I was really moving along and from time to time swimming parallel to other guys who were in lanes next to me. What struck me was how these guys could keep up for a length, and then would have to stop to catch their breath. I just kept on going (fast). Why could I, and they not? Besides the fact that I've trained my muscles to deal with it, I've trained my lungs. I am finding that on distances, when I am really pulling hard, I generally do not feel winded (only when I'm finished do I notice some deep catch-up breathing). So what have I done to permit this? Can't say for sure, but I know for a fact, when I was getting started with distance swimming, I literally forced myself to not stop, even when I felt the urge to do so. I found that I still recovered my breath maybe halfway through the next length - all this, despite still moving. So if you want to swim distances and not be a wall hanger, my suggestion is to try pushing through the urge to stop. See if you really can keep going. It might burn for a second or two, but it evened out for me. Maybe you too? As those TV yoga film stars say, "feel the burn!" PS Only try this if you are in decent physical shape and generally have a quick recovery period (on the wall); otherwise, it could be dangerous. I don't recommend this if you are not a "quick recovery" person.

Day 8 and Going

I've now completed eight days of my "Swim to Hawaii" goal (see profile) and I must say, this is fun. I've set up a spreadsheet to make the calculations and tracking simple. Not shown on the blog are things like my total meters-to-date, number of circular laps, number of lengths, etc. It's fun to see the numbers building. At present, I'm averaging 2,200 meters per day (I usually don't swim on weekends - reserving it for some other physical activity). Looks like, at this pace, the swim will take about 7.5 years. Stay with me now!

My Plan to Swim from LA to Hawaii

If you've been watching this blog, you may have noted that I've recently added to my profile my swimming goals for the next seven years. Seven years you ask? Yes, I plan to swim to Hawaii! That's right campers. I found that I was occasionally getting seriously bored with the lap after lap thing. Not that I was going anywhere, but I needed a goal and I didn't want to abandon all I had accomplished. So I've set a seven year goal, with intermittent goals along the way. First I'll swim the distance of Lake Michigan's width (88 miles out of Milwaukee). At my pace, I can do that in about 66 days or less. Next is the length of the same. Then there are the more formidable goals - the length of the Mississippi (we can pretend it's upstream), and the width of the Gulf of Mexico. Then to really make this work - swim across America from NYC to LA, and on out across the Pacific to Hawaii. By the way, this is all concurrent (and unofficially, I may already be most of the way there, but for fun, I'm starting at zero). So keep watching this blog. I'll keep you posted on my progress. If you want to join me - this isn't a race - I'll link to your blog. Wish me luck!

No Excuse Other than a Poor Fan Base

My support team was less than enthusiastic to go out to the lake Monday (Jan 1st) morning for Nashville's rendition of a polar bear plunge and I didn't press the issue. Apparently it went off with out me. Everything was perfect as far as I can tell. The water temperature was about 43° and the air temperature was also about 43°. This means that there would've been little difference between standing in the chilly air and getting in the chilly water, although the chilly water would of gotten into my system at some point lowering my body temperature and making me feel colder. I hope I can get the enthusiasm up to do it again sometime in the future. Send me links to your Polar Bear plunges and I'll put them in my blogroll.

Pending Polar Bear Swim or Hypotheria Hijinks?

January 1st is right around the corner and I've been thinking about making last year's "Polar Bear Swim" an annual thing. I don't get too much support from the home team so I'm a bit ambivalent this year. Also, I use the quotes around the title because here in Nashville, TN the chance of swimming with ice on the water is near nil. It's more like a hypothermia test. Last year's water temperature was 42 degrees. The air temp was much higher which made the water seem a lot colder. I had hoped that the air would be colder than the water but alas, no. Meanwhile I'm wondering the best approach for body core comfort - last year I was cold in my core for hours after the swim. Perhaps this year I'll drink a lot of hot beverage before going in? Or after? Or both? I read somewhere that ship wreck survivors pulled from cold water and given hot coffee can die (from the shock?). Can't say such a result will happen with me (see above temps). I just want to be comfy after my foolish endeavor. Got a few holiday invites to attend to. More later ...

Lava Loving Fish? Surely You Jest

OK, if you've read even some of my posts of late, you know I don't like hot (even warm) swimming pools. Well today I found reason to never complain again. Here's a fish that swims (ok, skips) across molten lava. Don't believe me? Check this story out.

Climate, climate, climate

I've reflected on pool water temperature before. I'm a bit obsessed about it. These cold days, I'm spending lots of time indoors. The pool I swim in is installed above an open air parking garage. As you might imagine, this creates all kinds of havoc on pool temperature control. If it gets cold out, as it did today (14 degrees F.), the pool guys set the water temp high. I'm guessing this keeps the water from getting too cold, too fast? (Usually it just breaks the heater). Anyway, the water gets hot - uhg! Then I get lethargic and can't push at all. I shouldn't complain. It's still cooler than any other pool in town. I've heard some of the other pools like to keep their air temp within two degrees of the water temp. Some new climate control thing. Imagine 84 degree water - that equates to 82 to 86 degree room temp - double uhg! On the plus side, a small relative difference makes it easy to jump in I guess. No shivering.

Dolphins Sing Batman - Really!

When you are swimming laps and you are bored out of your goard, do you ever hum a tune? It never sounds quite right, but it's a great way to drive other people in the pool nuts. Apparently someone has figured out that dolphins can sing in the water. Check out this link.

The Ultimate Diving Pool

I found this site on Digg. It's an awesome diving pool (you'll never imagine how deep it is until you check this out. Makes me want to go to Belgium - now! Strange - I've never had that urge before. Good for them.

Is it safe to go back in the water now?

So many memories. This is just sad.

Distance Swimming - Like Marathon Training

I've been thinking a long time about how I got into swimming distances. It didn't just happen. I sort of eased into it - doing a little bit more every couple of months. I stumbled across an article about running, which in some ways covers the approach I took to swimming. It's an interesting read (especially for runners). If anyone has a good one on swimming, send me the link.

Hot Pools - Where'd my Sweat Go?

Cold? That was the description I got today from the guard as I dipped my toe into the water in the indoor pool I’ve been using since late September when they finally closed my little bit of heaven. Can’t blame them - oh, yes I can and I do - it got down to about 65 degrees and they were worried we’d develop hypothermia - yeah, right. Anyhoo, I’ve been inside since then - uhg! Today was 82 - a bit warmer than 65 you might say. I really enjoyed the cold. My body seemed to thrive in that temperature. No overheating to worry about and the top layer was just perfect with the morning sun heating it up. Now that I’m indoors I have to do the serious scrub thing in the shower to get the sweat scum off - it builds up in the water and then solidifies on the skin. You don’t even see it until you start scrubbing with an abrasive sponge, then it starts coming off in little nodules. Gross! At least it’s been purified by all the chlorine!

Is Swimming Practice Necessary?

This story seems to confirm anyone can learn anything if they try hard enough. So I say, let's apply this to swimming. The crux of the story is deliberate practice. Understand what you are doing, watch others and learn from yourself and others, then apply, apply, apply.

Navy Seals Rule

Come up. Come up. OK, really now! Come up! That's what I'm thinking as I saw a video of a group of guys trying to qualify for Navy Seals. They were doing what I've never really considered possible - swimming 50 meters underwater. Ever since I saw that show, I've wondered what their qualifications were. Well Splash Dog stumbled across this a few weeks ago and now that I'm back I thought I'd share what I've found. They do some amazing stuff. Some of it quite doable, the rest well - this 50 meter thing is one of them.

Found Heaven - Now its Hell

Recent posts mentioned the change in season and the cold snap. I stuck it out though and have gotten comfortable with the chilly water to the point of really enjoying it. A bunch of us have. Water temp as of yesterday was 66 F. I wouldn't have thought I would have liked it since I've had ear drum pain below about 75, but somehow I've avoided it. Wearing the swim cap is keeping my head warm. The cool water had a clean, almost electric snap to it. The warm sun on my back makes it like heaven. Problems though. Too much of a good thing. Today the lifeguard admin (Darth Vader would be a good name) decided without asking those of us who swam that it was too cold - they don't even get wet - and they closed the pool! They said hypothermia sets in at 65 after one-half hour. I don't buy it. It's certainly better than the 90+ degree water at the end of July. We were ready to stroke out (no pun intended) in those conditions. Anyhow, we had to swim indoors where the water was at least 84 F. That was a shock to my system. I about fell out 1000 meteres into my routine. Ugh!

Human Gills - the Holy Grail of Swimming

Gills? Is this the holy grail of swimming? I think we may have something here. I put this in my wanted category along with the heads up display swim goggles.

Vote for Reasonable Global Warming

Got back from a Labor Day trip out of town and the pool temp was 72! Where did the perfect days I longed for all summer (dropped from the hot higher 80’s to this in three days)? Am I missing something? Did someone drop ice in the pool over the weekend? I had to stoop to wearing a cap this AM just to keep my eardrums from going numb. Well, here’s one vote for some immediate global warming. Rev up those SUV’s people!