Small Pool Distance Swim Solution?

I've got an uncle in-law who used to swim laps in his back-yard pool. It was bigger than most back yard pools, but still much smaller than I'd ever want to try to swim laps in. Still, he got by and swore by it. I think I'd swear too. Anyhoo, today I stumbled across this post (pics too!) which describes a rather cool tether which you can attach to the edge of a pool (of any size), and attach to your waist. Off you go ... well about two feet. I haven't quite figured out how this works with gliding - I guess you hit the wall behind you? I want to try one! Will give a fair critique if anyone wants to send me one to test. Send me a comment to arrange.

Swimming Pools on the Radio!

National Public Radio's program "On Point" had a show this morning which caught my ear. It was about swimming pools - a refreshing change from politics and war. The guest was Jeff Wiltse, a professor from the University of Montana who has written a book titled, "Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America". At this link you can see a pretty good description of the the program. It also includes links to a podcast of the program (I recommend it), and some pretty cool photos from the book.

The Perfect Swim Day

I love light! Summer solstice is today and everything was perfect and then some. With the sun up as early as it will be all year, and high in the sky by the time my dawn routine was underway, the pool shimmered under the most direct light we'll see all year. Water was perfect, air was cool, and I had my own lane in a fifty meter pool for nearly an hour. What could be better?! :)

He said, "Get Out of My Lane!"

This morning I went in a little later because there was a lightening storm during my typical hour, so when I finally got to the pool, there was a whole different group of people than I typically see. Things were a little busier than at sunrise - and I ended up sharing the lane with some guy I'd never seen before. We got along fine and neither really impeded the other's routine, both of us swimming parallel. After he was done, a middle-aged lady got in, followed shortly thereafter by some young guy wearing a heart monitor. I never trust these gadget guys (always busy with the gadget, etc. and not with the swimming), and he showed his colors, complaining about the woman who was doing what he called an adapted version of the dog-paddle. Sure she was going slow, but she was staying out of my way, so I had no complaints. I figured complainer guy for some uber-athlete since he had the bling (heart monitor thingy) and looked in good shape. Anyhow, when he got going, he was hardly Michael Phelps. The guy was really no better at free-style than your average guy who swims twice a year. Would I have felt different if he had been a better swimmer? I doubt it. The slow-lady had as much right to be there as either of us did. So where does he get off complaining about her using the lane? His bling? I think not!

Arm Positioning for Strongest Stroke

I've been experimenting with arm positioning, trying to find what gives me the strongest stroke with the least fatigue. I've tried everything from the straight arm stroke to an L-shaped stroke, where my fore-arm is perpendicular to the pool bottom and my upper arm is pulling back horizontally, like the arm on an old train wheel. This latter position intrigues me the most and was shown to me by a high-school swim coach. I'm thinking the long arm may be the strongest if the shoulder muscles are built up sufficiently, but I've got to work with what I have. Will keep posting as I find what's working best.

10,000 Pool Lengths and Counting

WARNING - Self indulgent post: Should I be dizzy by now? I hit a personal milestone a couple days ago with 5,000 laps since Jan 2, 2007 or 10,000 lengths of 25 meters. I love it! What first started this goal kick I've been doing (see profile) was when I was doing some of my mental math - I often try to do mental math during my cool down on the kickboard to see how much I've done, how fast, etc., but it comes all too hard since the blood is in my legs and arms and not in my brain - and realized that my daily routine had the potential to hit some big numbers if I just stuck with it. So here is one of those numbers. I like all those 0's!

More Goals Added

You might have noted some rather crazy goals I've set for myself to give me some idea of how far I swim (laps in a pool). I noted that I've got some good short term goals (swim English Channel, swim width Lake Michigan, etc.), but there are places where there are big gaps and hitting the goals takes much longer - thus the mental rewards aren't there. So today I've added a couple. One is a swim from Havana, Cuba to Miami, FL (224 miles), which I should be able to complete by Thanksgiving, God willing. A second I've added is a New York City to Hamilton, Bermuda (775 miles) swim - which looks like two years out at my pace. I suppose a neat lifetime goal might be to circumnavigate the globe, but that is a little too far out there, even for me, but you never know. I imagine some Olympic athletes over the span of their lives may have done this already. If you know, let me know and I'll post it. In the meantime, I'll keep looking for more goals. Any suggestions?

Secret to Better Flip Turns

I've always thought I had a pretty good flip turn and yesterday I got confirmation, almost. A former NCAA swim team coach was doing a favor for the guy in the lane next to me, evaluating the guy's stroke, when I stopped at the wall. Standing high above me on the pool deck, the coach said, "You've got a good flip turn there". I thanked him. Then he said, "You could do better with it if you just tightened up more on your kick-off". Not knowing exactly what he meant, I asked, "Tighten what up?" And he put his arms out front of him, grabbed his two hands together in a fist and forced his arms out dead straight. Relaxing, he said, "Your elbows are relaxed. You have a kink in your elbows". I tried what he suggested and instantly added almost two meters to my push off distance. I guess my elbows were impeding the slipstream.

Amazon Dolphins

You may recall from Martin Strel's Amazon Swim (see Amazonswim.com) some posts and comments about dolphins that accompanied him from time to time. Unless you went to the part of the site which showed the pictures, you might have had your typical Flipper (dolphin hero from the 1960's TV show) in mind. Here are some pictures of the endangered Amazon dolphins. You'll note they don't quite match the TV version.

Keep Your Head Down - What that Really Means

"Keep your head down!" I've heard that mantra for years. Foolish me, I never really understood the premise until earlier this week when I spoke with a swim coach with a remarkable personal best time in 100 meter freestyle. Needless to say, I listened. I had asked him what his secret was. He didn't really think he had one but was more than happy to demonstrate his stroke technique (on dry land). He talked about keeping one's head down. Great, I thought. How many times have I heard that before? What was different was that he went on further to explain - a good thing since I always thought that the expression meant to just put your face in the water and not be looking up (with a dry face). NO! I was wrong. He showed me (another guy had come up and was listening too) that simply putting one's face in the water is not enough, even if the water (like me) comes nearly up to your earlobe. If you are looking forward, unless your face is streamlined, you have in essence put up a flat block in front of you and are blocking the slipstream of water past you. You must defeat that effect by dropping your head further and point your nose at the bottom of the pool to get the streamline effect. I've been working on this since. It will take some effort to get comfortable but I look forward to improved results. In the mean time, I could use someone to ride in a boat beside me to slap me on the back of the head when I don't "keep my head down."

25 Meter vs. 50 Meter Pools

I've made the jump to 50 meters for the summer season! Only heaven must be this good - now if they could just clear up the cloudy thing (pool and heaven).

I've noticed this in other years, but don't believe I've ever commented on the difference I perceive for conditioning pertaining to pool length. I find that the 25 meter pools encourage me to sprint more. This helps with the aerobic aspect of conditioning (i.e. you get winded more doing sprints). The longer, 50 meter pools promote less aerobic workout and more of an extended muscle workout. As I'm not really into bulking up (not that that will ever happen), and I don't want to lose my aerobic conditioning - just to have to pull that back together next fall, I'm going to have to remember to include some serious sprints into my routine - tough, since I typically go start to finish without stopping (I've never been too keen on the ladder thing). Stopping just encourages me or other people to talk, then the whole routine gets out of whack! Rude? Maybe, but I've only got a limited amount of time each AM.

Swimming Pussycat

They say cats hate water. So what do tigers do? Here's a story about a tiger in San Francisco that will jump into the water for its food. I would too if I was getting free steak! Be sure to click on the embedded link to the video (mine defaulted to Windows Media Player) to see the pussycat in action. Nice smile!

Zen Swimming - Making it Happen for You

Getting into the routine of swimming is probably one of the hardest things you'll do when you choose swimming as a primary form of exercise. I personally enjoy the peace and solitude of the sport. I like the long, smooth strokes and the rhythmic beat of swimming. But not everyone is going to get off on a swim stroke like I do. So here is a post I found on-line that shows the Zen way. If you're not into swimming, this post really will work for most any kind of exercise.

Hasta La Vista 25 Meters

Memorial Day is this coming Monday and the long holiday weekend marks the beginning of the official outdoor swim season all over the USA. I've begun bidding my indoor pool friends goodbye knowing I won't see most of them before the close of the summer season. Come Monday (maybe sooner), I'll be outside doing my laps in my favorite place in my city, the 50 meter pool. Since global warming hasn't brought promised pre-summer heat waves, I'm looking forward to cool, fresh water with the scent of grass clippings and the chatter of the rising star kids from the nationally ranked swim team (yes, they generally whip me pretty good on a sprint) who share the pool at the same time as I do my workouts. Since the latter is about the only downside to this change of seasons, I think it will be a pretty good summer (now, if I could only beat one of them).

Swimmers Get No Respect - Great Video

Sometimes when I tell people about my swimming hobby, I get glazed over eyes from my audience. Here's a guy who videotaped himself talking about his polar bear swim (swimming in ice cold water). His daughter is his audience. Watch her interest. Thanks YouTube.com.

Excuses and How I'll Defeat Them

I don't generally get too far out of my routine when I do my lap swimming. Earlier this week was the exception when I was kicked out due to lightening (the guard had to catch my legs with a noodle during one of my flip turns to get my attention). As my routine was cut short by a good 40 percent, I made up for it the next day. Knowing that putting in an extra 40 percent at the end of my routine was probably not a good idea, I decided I'd do it on the front end (before starting my regular distance). This worked well since I knew I always hate to cut off my regular routine. Finished with all 140 percent and feeling fine, I decided to do the same the next day, only I foolishly reversed strategies. Results? I failed miserably. I've learned. My suggestion and one I'll follow going forward: whenever I want to do something new (add to my routine), I'll do it on the front end. That way, I have no excuses about being too tired, etc.

Quasi Modo Turtle

Sometimes I wonder if I'll just laugh and swallow a lot of water if I swam in the ocean a lot. This is what I came across today in my dry-land surfing. Enjoy.

Exercise Hacks - A Great Link

I found this link on-line and have put it in my blogroll, but before it gets buried among the many, I think I'd like to draw some attention to it. Some of these ideas on how to get more out of your exercise, have particular resonance to me. They may not sound appropriate to a newbie, but as a regular swimmer (exerciser), I find many of them quite valid. I imagine if I were just starting out, they would make the trip a little easier.

Who Schedules Pool Usage? They Sure Don't Swim!

I've got a bug in my suit, so please bear with me for this post. Who is it who schedules the use of swimming pools? Whoever it is, doesn't swim - that's for sure. I usually am hot about them starting the outside season too late (Memorial Day in Southern USA - they do that in Maine!) and closing too early (oh, we might get cold. So what! I'm the one in the water, not you!). Today, I'm on another rant. If you were running a gym, would you schedule an aerobics class to use it when the most basketball players of the day used the facility? That's just what's happened in my pool. They've decided that early morning, between 6am and 7am, is the perfect time to schedule not only hydrocycle class (which takes up a full lane), but now a Masters swim class - which takes up another three. They don't seem to care that this is the same time that the majority of the AM lap swimmers want to use the pool and can easily use every lane and then some. Sure we could join the Masters group ourselves for the privilege of forking over another $30+ a month to crowd six or more of us into a lane when we can do the same thing we can do on our own (oh, I forgot - we can get the camaraderie and the occasional go, go go and a plan from the coach). Sorry to vent, I'm just a little upset again. I need to jump in the water and cool off.

Reasons Pools No Longer Fun - A Followup

Top 10 Reasons Why the "Swimming is Not Fun Anymore" Listed Items were chosen:

1. Insurance
2. Insurance
3. Insurance
4. Insurance
5. Insurance
6. Insurance
7. Insurance
8. Insurance
9. Insurance
10. Can you guess?