12/21/09: swimming

I miss swimming class. Some of the people who swim during open hours are douchebags. The pool is NOT for socializing, people! It seems like everyone left in Ithaca decided to go swimming at exactly the same time. At one point, we were up to 6 people in my lane.

I did the same workout that I did on the last day of class: 50 meters with the kickboard, 50 meters pull, 50 meters freestyle. In all, I did 37 laps (1.15 miles) with an average split time of 1:10 -- down 4 seconds from last time.

Remaining workouts for the week of 12/21/09
1 hour of biking
15 miles of running
1 mile of swimming

12/3/09: swimming

Last swim class of the semester! I'll probably keep swimming over winter break, just not at 9 am twice a week. My swimming endurance and form has definitely improved over the last few months. I've switched from breathing every 3 strokes to breathing every 4, which means that I always breathe on the right instead of alternating. I also focus on keeping my hips high in the water, which should mean I have less drag. And whereas I used to be exhausted after every class, now I feel energized afterward.

Today we could do any workout we wanted and I decided to swim a mile. I did 100 yards as a warmup, and then alternated pulling, freestyle, and kicking (recovery). This way I could really isolate my arms and my legs separately. This would be a good workout to do again.

Swim stats (no more split times-- I started a google doc for that): 37 laps, 1850 yards (1.05 miles), average split time 1:14

11/19/09: swimming

Maybe someday soon I'll be able to stop saying this: my (lack of) upper body strength is embarrassing but I have cyclist legs. I got promoted to the top of my lane today for the kick exercises and seriously lapped on the pull ones. Also, my $30 watch is the best investment I've made in a long time. By next semester, I think I'll be able to see changes in my split times.

Split times: :53, 1:25, :55, 1:19, 1:02, 1:14, 1:02, 1:12, 1:28, 1:41, 1:45, 1:48, 1:01, 1:01, 1:16, 1:12, 1:11, 1:05, 1:08, 1:25, 1:07, 2:40, 1:13, 1:44, 1:13, 1:50, 1:24, 1:27, 1:13, :38, 1:15 (31 laps, average time 1:22)