Sunday, February 1, 2009

my history of swimming

I started swimming laps within the last 6 or 8 months. In that time, I have not been very good at, and while I wanted to do a tri (it was a New Year's goal), I wanted to be sure I'd be able to swim far enough first.

My typical swim before a month or so ago was two laps with a kickboard (one way = one lap; 25 meters), two laps freestyle, back and forth, repeat for a total of 10 or 12 laps, exhausted.

Dec 30: "for the first time ever, the first lap was easy" and a few days prior, I had been able to do 75 meters for the first time

Jan 11: after working with B. on going more slowly and kicking less, I was able to do 6 continuous laps ("continuous" isn't actually non-stop, as I can't flip-turn — it really means "touch the wall, turn around erect, and start swimming again right away")

Jan 21: ecstatic that I could do 8 continuous laps

Today, I got in the pool with only about 20 minutes to swim, so I set this goal: keep swimming the whole time, even if that meant going to a doggie paddle or something. Well, I am pleased to announce that I was able to swim freestyle the entire time! 20 laps, about 19 minutes. That's 500 meters! That's 2/3 of the race swim (though I'll need to adjust for pushing off the wall, of course). I'm very VERY happy about my progress in this aspect. I have lots of good news for B. when I see him this week!

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