Finally broke the dry spell - after being grounded for 2 weeks, went to the pool & had a great session. Sometimes you can't practice your thing but keep on THINKING about it all the time, then you resume whatever it is you do and find out that you've actually improved in the meantime, & even made a considerable leap - I call it the "summer ski" effect.
Well, I went to the pool with the idea of working out easy (still don't feel quite on top), and I had a good, calm session, with steady rythm, & lots of laps on R/L side. I felt very clearly the difference between right & left - almost like 2 different persons. For some reason, Pelizzari suggests to start on the left side. My right side is dominant, so I usually tend to start there, but this time I took P's tip & started on my left. the rythm was much calmer & settled, more flexibility in the body - by the time I had to switch sides, after 200 m, I just felt like staying on my left forever. Then, on the right side (usually my favorite), it felt more forceful, tended to go faster with less flexibility & less feeling of harmony - a demonstration of yang vs. yin?
I used the dry spell to start out o2/co2 tables*, at a very easy, non-challenging pace, and was surprised at the significant effect it had in the pool: the 25 m u/w laps I limit myself to were never much of a challenge, but now they feel like absolutely nothing - so I shortened the interval between them to 4-5 breaths. Also, when swimming on the surface, I just forgot to breath a couple of times, and mostly did each lap on 2 breaths, easy.
Goals: extend my sessions, or at least some of them, beyond 1 hr/1200-1300m. A friend suggested we participate in the 4.5 k popular Sea of Galilee swim (that's in october), and it seems like a reasonable challenge for my current level. I'll try to extend the warmup/cooldown phases of each swim, & focus on keeping a steady, continuous rythm throughout.
Can't wait until my next session!
*couldn't believe how interesting it is to do these tables, and what a huge feeling of wellbeing they give me - so good to know there's something I can do almost under any condition, and still generates as good a feeling as a proper training session! I always thought you needed physical activity to generate endorphins and earn this kind of feeling, but I must reconsider and do mere research on this.
Well, I went to the pool with the idea of working out easy (still don't feel quite on top), and I had a good, calm session, with steady rythm, & lots of laps on R/L side. I felt very clearly the difference between right & left - almost like 2 different persons. For some reason, Pelizzari suggests to start on the left side. My right side is dominant, so I usually tend to start there, but this time I took P's tip & started on my left. the rythm was much calmer & settled, more flexibility in the body - by the time I had to switch sides, after 200 m, I just felt like staying on my left forever. Then, on the right side (usually my favorite), it felt more forceful, tended to go faster with less flexibility & less feeling of harmony - a demonstration of yang vs. yin?
I used the dry spell to start out o2/co2 tables*, at a very easy, non-challenging pace, and was surprised at the significant effect it had in the pool: the 25 m u/w laps I limit myself to were never much of a challenge, but now they feel like absolutely nothing - so I shortened the interval between them to 4-5 breaths. Also, when swimming on the surface, I just forgot to breath a couple of times, and mostly did each lap on 2 breaths, easy.
Goals: extend my sessions, or at least some of them, beyond 1 hr/1200-1300m. A friend suggested we participate in the 4.5 k popular Sea of Galilee swim (that's in october), and it seems like a reasonable challenge for my current level. I'll try to extend the warmup/cooldown phases of each swim, & focus on keeping a steady, continuous rythm throughout.
Can't wait until my next session!
*couldn't believe how interesting it is to do these tables, and what a huge feeling of wellbeing they give me - so good to know there's something I can do almost under any condition, and still generates as good a feeling as a proper training session! I always thought you needed physical activity to generate endorphins and earn this kind of feeling, but I must reconsider and do mere research on this.
