When I woke up this morning (if you can call stumbling out of bed at 4:50 "waking up") I was tired, sore, and didn't really feel like going to swimming. But I did, because you do what you have to do when you have to do it. And then things turned around pretty quick. Another morning started with flip turns. I'm still not very good, but I'm better. (We'll get into how not very good in a minute.) Then we began the main set. After 100m, the coach stopped me, and said, "Get on the end of this lane" (pointing to the next lane over). I had mentioned a few weeks ago about a temporary move, just for one part of one day, but I had gone back to Lane 2. But today was the official call-up. Not quite getting called to the "bigs", more of rookie ball to single A move. But it's a step on the journey. And then, even more surprising, I didn't completely throw off the entire lane with my slow swimming. I belonged. Actually, I was a bit too fast through part of it, because I was trying to prove myself, but once I relaxed, all was right in the world.
So, about these flip turns, like I said, I'm not too good. The last block of the workout was 4x200m, doing flip turns. So three turns per rep, two of which were at the shallow end. I'm not really tall, but I'm tall enough that the water level is at my waist when I stand in shallow end. That doesn't seem like a lot of room for flipping, so what I ended up doing was a pseudo-flip/sideways barrel roll/ handplant breakdance maneuver, which did, in fact, turn me around without touching the bottom (with my feet ... my hand kept my head from hitting). I'll need to correct this before the coach watches from that end. At the deep end, I would do OK, except a few times I had almost caught the swimmer in front of me, so I had to wait for him to clear the area, which threw off my rhythm, and the flailing monkey took over. More practice required, but that's what I've been doing so far, and it's already moved me up a lane. So I think I can live with that.
Swim: Flip turn practice
4x(25m scull, 25 pull, 25 scull, 25 pull)
1x200m free, ez, breathe to west wall
4x50m finger/wrist/elbow, 10"
4x50m forearm flop, 10"
4x50m straight pull, 10"
4x200m free, ez, w/flip turns
Total: 2000m
Great jiob on the move up a lane. I am sure that you are impressing the coaching staff with your dedication to improvement. A lot of people go to these things just to have someone give them a training routine rather than to actually focus on improving their swimming.
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