Oxygen

There are days when some of the flaws in the game come shining through. Similar to my sculling issue, today I learned that I need more of a kick. I don't need to start going all motorboat in the pool, but I could easily increase my propulsion by having a better kick. (I also learned that I'm not a big fan of the snorkel for kicking drills. I need to get better at keeping water out, and not choking on it.)

All of today's work was on pace times, so it was get the work done, and rest as much as you can before the clock hits the magic mark. In general, I was more than comfortable with this, and well within the paces for each set, but a few times I did find myself more focused on swimming fast rather than swimming well. My form would suffer a bit in effort to go quick enough to get some rest. When I caught myself doing this, I tried to force myself into better form, which not surprisingly kept my speed up, or even increased it.

I was surprised I got through the breathing sets at the end as well as I did. Sure, it's only a 25 yard pool, but I suck at hypoxic sets. Somehow, I was able to get across the pool with no intermediate breaths. It seems OK for the first few strokes, then you're working a balance of going slow enough that you don't demand more oxygen, but going fast enough that your stores will be enough. Once you see the T, there's an oxygen-deprived sprint to get to the wall. Not a pleasant experience, but I made it.

Swim: w/u - 300yds free, 200 pull, 100 kick
4x25 drill (6 beat kick, doggy paddle), on 30"
4x50 free, on 1'
4x75 as 25 overkick/50 free, on 1:40
4x100 free, on 1:50
4x75 as 25 back/25 breast/25 free, on 2:00
4x50 as 25 kick/25 free, on 1:30
4x25 free, on 1' (3 breaths, 2 breaths, 1 breaths, 0 breaths)
Total: 2200yds