Swimming on - Form...

I was in the pool today. I've already talked about technique last week, but wanted to talk about it again today. I always have an agenda when I go to the pool. A list of things I want to work on in order to get better, more efficient. Efficiency is very important in swimming - without it, exhaustion would set in rapidly for a flailing swimmer like me. Today's main focus was to work on breathing.

Don't ask me to go three strokes without breathing. I can't do that (yet). I breathe every time my right hand comes out of the water. Today, I tried to keep that movement smaller. Avoid rolling too far out of the water to take that much needed breath of air. A slight roll of the body, try to keep one of my goggled eyes in the water, and breathe in close to my armpit. Less roll, more streamlined, less energy expended, longer stroke.

Tied into that agenda item is my attempt to lengthen my stroke, decrease the number of strokes it takes me to go 25 meters. 'They' say you should be under 20 strokes for one lap...right now, my stroke rate for that distance is 25 or 26.

OMG - I just read an article on hip-driven versus shoulder-driven free-style. They talk about rolling and strokes per lap. More stuff to think/obsess over!

The main thing is I want to work to become a more efficient swimmer. No, I should say 'I want to work to become a more meditative swimmer'. My goal is to swim quietly, calmly - a meditative exercise that counts as active rest in my quest to C2FM.

J