Swimming progress

In the past 2 weeks Ive swam a mile 2 different times.  This is truly and epic accomplishment for me.  Im slow and I just dont feel "awesome" in the water.  Aside from that Ive been terrified of the water since my Peregrine Charities Tri.  I dont understand why.  Im not afraid of the water.  Im afraid of the distance more than anything else.  I suppose its a lack of open water swims.  On my list of goals to do more open water swimming.   Aside from that.  2 mile long swims in less than 2 weeks is a big deal for me.  Im not really losing any weight at this moment but I do seem to be progressing at least in one discipline.  Now to focus on some running too.  If I can get the Swim and Run down I can "Fake" the Bike right Rachelle?  ;)  An Olympic may not be to far fetched for me even yet this year.  I was truly hoping for a 70.3 this year but I think my season is going to lapse before I can get there.  I guess ill focus on the run and get the Half marathon and potentially a marathon.

Workouts to improve your swim

http://www.swimsmooth.com/breathing.html

Great Article : Chrissie Wellington's guide to the open water swim

Update:
I absolutely love my Prescription goggles I got from swimoutlet.com.  They are a good fit and feel and for the first time ever I feel more secure in the water because I can actually see.  Cheap enough for anyone and easy too.

Swimming refrence

Someone posted this a while back and I thought it would be good to share

http://www.chrissiewellington.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/220_Open_Water.pdf

Swim, eat, swim, sleep, swim...

     Oh my gosh!  I have been swimming a lot.  I think my hair has gotten lighter.  I've really been hitting the pool hard More swimming then I have done in the past even when I was training before.  I guess part of it is that I know the swim is my weak spot and I know I can do the bike and run.  This week though I have come to a really cool revelation.  This week while training I realized that I can do this.  Not just complete.  I've known that I could complete, with the proper amount of training, but more importantly that I can progress and be successful at this.
     My swimming has really come a long way since February when I hurt my knee.  Funny thing is I haven't had more then 12 days of swimming practice.  I have progressed so much since February.  I was swimming 500m in about 17-19 min and barely making any progress.  I was struggling to breathe and just felt like I was flailing around while trying with everything I had to move my body from one end of the pool to the other.  Something has changed.  I dont know if its the push/drive because the race is 16 days away or if I just finally have got it tuned up to when I'm seeing results and I feel confident in my ability.  
     This week I did 2 things I had never done.  I swam my fastest 500m ever; 11 min 48 sec.   Woot!!  AND... I swam my furthest distance ever while training.  1600m   The best part about this is I really feel like I can make  more progress in the next 16 days I think I might be able to get close to a 10 min time on my swim.  I know where my flaws in my stroke are and I work on them everyday.  

The week in review

I feel great. This week has been awesome.

The introduction of swimming at a training level has been a boon to my metabolism. I have lost 3 lbs since Sunday. The best losses Ive had in a while! I know its because of the swimming. My muscles hurt all over. The kicking drills have really been putting it to me. My legs hurt in places Ive never had them hurt before. I know I'm burning fat and strangely I think the week before I was building muscle. I feel firmer just about everywhere.

This morning during my swim I could tell that my swimming has already improved. I'm faster and more fluid in just a weeks time. I didn't time myself but I can tell I'm getting to the end of the pool much quicker than before.

I lost 3 lbs this week so far. On top of that. The scale flickered back and forth between 199.8 and 200.0 ...It stopped on 200.0

Im almost under 200.

Swim Lesson #1

I am having a Great morning!

Thanks to my awesome swim coach Keegan!

I had a great session with my swim coach. HE really showed me a lot of things and did an incredible job of boosting my self confidence.
Apparently my stroke is a lot better than my kick. So I need to do a lot of kick drills. He was also thrilled that I wasnt a horrible swimmer and when I told him my goals he said "this is going to be easy".

Made me feel good at least someone has confidence in me.

swim lesson

Yes! I finally found a swim coach. I can start after February 7th. I cant wait for him to tell me how much Im doing wrong! LOL I know this is really going to help.

Workout recap 1/10/11

I are swiming better!

Because I still feel my swimming is a bit dysfunctional...I are getting better.

Well based on my last 2 swims I fell like I am making progress I do feel like I'm swimming more efficiently. I cant however see that my times are improving just yet.

I feel like I finally have my breathing (on one side only) figured out so I'm not feeling like I cant get a breath will I swim. It at least makes it more enjoyable when you can breath even a little while swimming.

Ive been using these great swim training plans that are simple and easy to remember.
Zero to 1650 in 6 weeks

Check it out and if you don't incorporate swimming into your workout you should its great cardio and is very beneficial to your overall fitness.

Swimming ...FAIL

Well I timed myself today and did some drills to start my swim training. Ouch! Boy do I suck.

I had my wife time 250 meters (thats half of the sprint distance) and came out strong did my first 50 meters right at a minute but after that it all went downhill. I finished the 250 in 8 min. which is about what I thought. 17 min to swim 500 meters is way to long. This is just the beginning I have a long way to go and no where to go but up!