I usually swim the same set every time I go to the pool, just adding 100 yards every time.  Usually, I’m so thrilled to be swimming that I swim the first 25 effortlessly.  Then I get tired somewhere in the next 25 and I usually have to rest and catch my breath before I swim the next 50.  Yesterday, I didn’t get that tired breathless feeling until my third length.  I may soon be able to swim that first 100 free without a break.  This is a huge breakthrough!

I let it get to my head and I tried to swim another 100 free late in my set.  I wasn’t ready.  I had to break it up with a 25 back length.

When I came home and tallied up my yardage, I found I’d swum 450 free altogether.  One of my goals is to swim a continuous 500 free.  I’m on my way!

In the meantime, I still like to train myself to swim IMs.  My times for yesterday were slower than on Tuesday, but they were respectable:  2:46.26 and 2:48.11.

I saw the black woman from Tuesday again on Friday, and she got in my lane briefly, greeting me with a “good morning!”  That was so warm, I should remember to greet others at the pool the same way.

I worked on my flip turns again, inhaling chlorine along the way.  At one point, I splashed and thrashed and thought the lifeguard would come and extend me her lifesaving buoy thing.  At another point, I stirred up so much water and chaos in the shallow end trying to flip turn that I stood up and said, “that was bad!” I kind of  worried that there was a little old man in the lane next to me at the time.

My daughter, who chose not to swim yesterday, the pool too full, says we should come and work on flip turns exclusively sometime soon, not concerning ourselves with getting a workout.  She was not impressed by the other black woman’s flip turns.  If I stick with my daughter’s training, I’ll look pretty impressive in the pool when I’m done.

That’s what I’m counting on, at least.

My total yardage was 1400.  I can see the mile on the horizon.

Even as I wrote last time about every workout being swim practice, there was a part of my training I’d neglected.  I am really bad at flip turns, and it is a source of embarrassment for me.

My swim team trained kids haven’t been much help in the past.  My son just thinks I’m pitiful, while my daughter would admonish me not to flail my arms so much.

But now she’s swimming with me, and she is much more helpful.  She even went down the lane with me, she on kickboard, I swimming freestyle.  First she corrected my error of taking a last ditch effort front facing breath before going into the turn.  She had told me not to do that before, that it slows you way down.  But this time, she also told me what to do instead:  take a big breath on the last breath and then go into the turn.  I’ve been working on my breathing enough that this is doable now.

Turning from the back is tricky.  I’d watched Coach Vince tell the kids to count their backstroke to the wall and turn around on the last stroke.  I know that after the flags, I have five strokes before I should turn over to go into my flip turn.  But my turns, especially in shallow water are very clumsy.  In the shallow water, I go way too deep after the turn and brush the bottom of the pool.  In the deep water, I try to come up too soon, and inhale water through my nose.  Talk about a chlorine headache!  And a mistake like that usually means I’m done practicing flip turns for the day!

I was driven to perfect them this time.  My competitive drive got the better of me.  I saw another black woman in the pool.  She was a good swimmer, who did effortless flip turns.  Here I am with my stroke getting more and more refined, yet I can’t do a basic flip turn.  Flip turn, thy time has come!

On another note, I decreased my back stroke by another stroke, sometimes 2, and it did translate to better IM times.  My first IM came in at 2:45.88, and my second time was even better, if only slightly:  2:45.05.  I also increased my freestyle and backstroke yardage to 400 each. My total yardage for the day was 1300.