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Travails of a Non-Swimmer

Not An Option

Pygmy slothThe last day of the month. You’d think that with what I considered good results for February I’d be raring to go to the gym tonight.

It was the absolute opposite. I was in such a bad mood I spent the entire hour before gym started debating with myself whether I should go or not. I blame this terrible mood on PMS.

In the end, I managed to make myself go.

I told myself, “It doesn’t matter whether you want to go or not. There is no option. You simply go.”

It wasn’t without struggle, though. But in the end, I was glad I went.

Another Go at Pose

Because I was lazy and still nursing some shoulder joint pain, I skipped the machines and went straight to the treadmill.

My monthly goal is to do 3.5km five days a week. I tried out the Pose Method and deep breathing. As an experiment I removed the usual 2.0% slope. I was able to do a 3.7km.

I felt less tired and less out of breathe. Maybe it’s because I skipped the other machines. I don’t know for sure. Will have to do it again tomorrow, after a round with the other machines, to see if I can replicate the result. But I’m feeling hopeful that I found a better way to run.

The 18m Pool

As spring arrives and the weather gets warmer, I see more people going to the pools. Looking back, it’s a good thing I started my fitness regime early this year, otherwise I would have had less time and space to do drills at the pools.

Tonight the 25m pool was crowded. I wanted to swim as slow as possible, so I stayed with the 18m pool. One of the reasons I snubbed the machines except the treadmill was that I wanted to “save my joints” for swimming.

The result? 12 x 18m for crawl. 10 x 18m for backstroke. So I kinda was able to get rid of the guilt of skipping the machines 🙂

For some reason, I find it much easier to swim across the 18m pool. That goes to show that there are still many issues with my swim.

I did a bit of the switch drills in Lessons 4 & 5 of the Total Immersion Swimming: Perpetual Motion Freestyle in Ten Lessons DVD.

I also did the first drill in the Breaststroke for Every Body by Total Immersion Swimming DVD. It still feels really weird! Will have to drill until it stops feeling strange.

Time with the Machines and Pool

  • Running 30min = 3.7km at 5.5-7.5km/h, slope 0.0%
  • Mechanical Horse medium strength @ 15min
  • Pool 12 x 18m crawl, 10 x 18m backstroke, 2 x 18m crawl switch drills, 2 x 18m breaststroke drills
  • Chest Press Skipped
  • Sit-up Skipped
  • Leg Press Skipped
  • Torso Rotation Skipped
  • Lat Pulldown Skipped
  • Hip Flexer Skipped
  • Abdominal Skipped
  • Back Extension Skipped

Lessons learned today:

Notes to Self: Do

  • Go to the gym five days a week. Whether you want to or not.

Notes to Self: Don’t

  • Be lazy. You have zero excuse.


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