Saturday, February 21, 2009

Swim Training...02/21/09

I started my swim training under Coach Efren Jocson on Saturday, Feb. 14, at the Ultra. What a way to spend the morning of Valentine's day!

Though it has just been a week, and even if I just had my second session today, I could feel the improvement. Having a swim coach really helps in speeding up a person's training.

Two weeks ago, I couldn't even reach 25 meters without struggling...today, I did around 50 laps of 50 meters in different drill styles.

Last Thursday, I asked my boss if I could swim in their condominium's pool and he readily agreed. He lives in Serendra at the Fort and they have this 30-meter long pool which was good enough for training purposes. I wanted to swim to check if my first session with my swim coach already had an effect on my swim endurance.

I started with a slow swim, and I struggled to reach the other end of the pool. Looking back at how I swam the distance, I realized I did something wrong. I was raising my head too high in getting air.

After correcting my air-intake style, I was able to swim back the 30-meter pool easily! I was so glad that my initial plan of doing 20 laps turned into a 50-lap workout, with a 15-second rest in-between laps. I was so happy that I didn't mind the  almost 1 liter of pool water I drank throughout the whole work-out.

Fast-forward to this morning: Coach Efren asked me to do 20 laps of 50-meters with fins and kickboards...and I did it without sweat, a big cry from last Saturday when I did kickboards and fins only at 25 meters and almost died due to shortness of breath before I could finish it. I was getting stronger!

After the first 20 laps, Coach Efren gave me a much smaller kickboard, almost just the size of an index card. I did 6 laps of 50-meters with that and was a bit awkward at first and couldn't maintain my balance.

Then it was the kickboard again, this time with alternate stroking and right-side breathing. Did 10 laps of 50 meters of this before Coach called me and  changed my kickboard to the much smaller one....another 10 laps.

After giving me a pee-break, it was Pull Buoy time. Did 20 25-meter laps with this.

At exactly 10:30 a.m. I was done. But before I left the pool, I thought that I will try to cross the 50-meter pool without any buoys, fins or kickboard....I was able to!

Can't wait for my next swim training!

Deo P.

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