Breakthroughs!

Another 2-a-day day!

First was lunchtime spin class - Richard immediately got us going on hills right after the warm up. Then we did lots of jumps, followed by one leg at a time and then some speed intervals. Whew, I was sufficiently sweaty after all that!

Next was my swim! I headed over to the Y after work only to find out that the pool was closed "due to a chemical imbalance." Yeah, and I thought only people had those. So, I trekked it back to my car and headed home. Not before stopping at Walgreen's to pick up teething tablets and orajel for the munchkin though. Damn molars! Apparently, he was crying at school all day because of his teeth...teething sucks!

Once it was the kiddo's bedtime, I headed over to the neighborhood pool. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the pool was pretty empty compared to previous weeks. Score! I actually got in a good, quality swim without having to dodge kids! I started with a 100 yd warm up, then did 400 yds with my usual mix of freestyle and sidestroke. I recovered for a minute and did some of the TI drills for the next 50 yds. Finally, I started to think about how one of the ladies I've seen at the pool always looks so relaxed when she swims. I decided to focus on relaxing for the next 50. I finished it with no problems. ALL FREESTYLE - NO SIDESTROKE! I thought, "Okay, let's keep going with this and see if you can get in another 400". So I kept going.

And going.

And going.

Before I knew it, I had finished 400 yds. ALL FREESTYLE. So I paused for a minute and decided to keep going.

And going.

I finished 600 yds. ALL FREESTYLE - NO SIDESTROKE! There was no struggling, no gasping for breath every time I turned my head. And when I did start to feel breathless, I told myself to relax and concentrated on my rhythm - stroke, stroke, breathe....stroke, stroke, breathe.

Actually, it was more like sssstttrrrroooookkkeeee, sssstttrrrroooookkkeeee, bbbbrrreeeaaaattthhheeee. Slow? Yes, but still - it was ALL FREESTYLE! Until yesterday, the most I've managed to do without slippin' in a little sidestroke here and there was about 100m. For the first time, I felt like I was really getting "it" - whatever "it" is. :-)

Holy crap, I wanted to keep going! But then a parent mentioned something about seeing lightening off in the distance, and if you know me - I don't play with lightening. So I swam (FREESTYLE) to the side of the pool and got out.

So I had a breakthrough in my swimming...now if only the munchkin's teeth would breakthrough too! :-)

I hope this is the beginning of goodbye to sidestroke! Good riddance!

Workout Stats
Spin class - 50 minutes
Swim - 40 minutes - 100yd warm-up, 400 yds (freestyle & sidestroke), 1 minute recovery, 600 freestyle!!!