I had Gin Club at work today, but because I was swimming I just had a very little one before getting a car to the pool. My regular coach was off, so the lesson was a bit different to normal.
First, my warmup was four lengths of the pool. I did the first two without really stopping, but after that I was already exhausted. The rest of the lesson was even harder.
- We worked on my arms (I tend to bring them up too high out of the water – a good cue to follow is keeping your thumbs pointed to the bottom of the pool, both through the stroke and recovery
- I have my hands too far from my body when I pull – better to keep things in tighter
- Likewise my kick is too loose. It could be bigger, but because my feet are flapping all over the place I’d do just as well at this point to keep them closer together with a smaller kick.
- I need to exhale more consistently and for longer underwater. I’m now at a point where it’s usually pretty easy for me to do four strokes without having to inhale, although when I start kicking that gets increasingly difficult to maintain
With these things in mind, a new and unusual torture was devised – four lengths of the pool. But every five strokes, you rolled over and “rested” with backstroke for a count of five, then rolled over again to resume freestyle, and again and again, up and down the pool, worlds without end.
And thus, I’m a little bit tired now, after only half an hour’s exercise.