Monday, November 15, 2010

Yards and Meters

I swear I had written about this before but in looking through previous entries that seems to not be the case.  The pool at the new gym is not any sort of regulation length.  I don't know why.  Maybe they ran out of space in the floorplan?  Maybe a lifeguard is required at regulation length?  Who knows.  But it is 20 meters instead of 25 yards.  There is 1.09 yards in each meter and hence 21.8 yards in each length of the pool.  I have revamped the way I track my swims because of this.  And I view them in reps of 4 instead of counting 100s.  One rep of 4 in the pool equates to 87.2 yards.  Again, definitely off the track of swimming in 100s but doable none the less.
So tonight I did 12 reps of 4.
1 breast stroke for warm up, 1 kick board drills, 1 breathing drills, then 3 sets of 4 of just swimming.
The total distance is 1046.4 yards. 
This is the longest I have swam in quite some time.  It felt good.
The other thing I like about this new pool is that it is hardly ever crowded.  That I can swim drills and not feel guilty about taking space.  Or that I have to share a lane - that sucks if you are trying to swim drills.
So I am very happy with this new gym.
My goal is still to swim a mile before the end of the year.  The yardage in a mile is 1760 although swimmers mile is shorter.  Anyways I need to work up to 20 sets of 4.  Just think I am more than half way there this evening.  So I think it is acheivable.
Tomorrow there will be no workout - work meeting instead.
And for those of you who claim that swimming "eludes" them.... consider this... I have been training now for these triathlons for a few years now.  The first time I got in the water with the intent to swim for the race was a little over 3.5 years ago.  And those first few lengths.  Those first few swims were miserable.  It has taken some time, energy and focus.  AND if you put your mind to it, you could do it too.  Something to think about.

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