Geeked OUT for the swim...

Swimming is just the coolest sport EVAH. I love it, love it, love it. I wish when I was young I aspired to the heights that I now aspire to in the pool. Why is hindsight always 20/20??

We worked on flips Tuesday and by going nice and slow and steady I can do one after the next after the next at the end of each length...and i have enough air. My plan for this weekend is to do 2000-2500 SLOW steady easy yards with lots and lots of flips (because I am, after all, tri training and LSD workouts are part of the plan too). Coach showed us this picture, again of famed masters swimmer Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen, before we did flip drills and practice and it helped me so much. The focus is to watch your feet and knees as your feet hit the wall after the flip - it gets you to really see where you're placing your feet and how horizontal you are before the pushoff. I found I was much more consistent with streamlined pushoffs and I wasn't launching myself to the bottom of the pool or skidding across the top of the water. And it feels SO much faster.

Chris commented on my 100 yd Freestyle video that I don't seem to be losing much time with open turns compared to the swimmer next to me who does flips throughout the race. (Thanks Chris!) HOWEVER, if you watch carefully, you'll see that I have more streamlined pushoffs after the turns than the woman next to me and I'm gliding further (translation=using less energy) but I'm still with her once we both emerge...thus, I AM losing time on my turns. If I could flip, then push off with the same streamline, I'd be golden. The time loss is especially evident at the last turn when I'm tired and come almost to a complete stop, losing all the momentum I had going into the wall. I remember knowing that I'd been even with that woman the whole time and wanting badly to beat her...just because. I pushed hard on that last leg to beat her to the wall and I spoke with her after the race and she thanked me for pushing because it made her swim faster. (gggrrrrr... not fun to hear that!!) But, had I been flipping, I think I would have come out ahead... Easy to say now I guess but if you do the math...

I know flip turns have nothing to do with triathlon...why bother, you might wonder...but for me they will give me confidence that I am an accomplished swimmer and that goes a long way in the tri outlook. Nothing like a little extra ego when churning about in the washing machine of wet suits that is the open water swim...

Today we did a test set to predict our 100 yd. Freestyle race time. It worked pretty well and I look to be on track for a 1:20 race - 3 seconds faster than my PR at Exeter. AND, I've entered the 200 IM (for those not in the know, IM is Individual Medley - 50 yds Fly, 50 Back, 50 Breast, 50 Free, in that order. If you mail it in on the fly and have nothing left, you're sunk.) Not sure what possessed me...I think I want to be afraid - to know it's out there, looming, and I know I have some work to do to be able to pull it off. Kinda like my Ironman for the next month...

Good run yesterday (prompted the poem - sorry but it just came out - I can't explain why...) Returning to spin class tomorrow and very much looking forward to it.

MY GEEK is TOTALLY ON!