Swim lingo decoder: diary of a newbie Part 2

You can't teach an old dog new tricks they say.  Learning how to read a swim workout is a new trick I wasn't prepared for.  I thought swimming involved nothing more than a large body of water, arms and legs moving simultaneously and breathing. In some sort of coordinated effort. Oh what a simpleton I was to think that!

Once I figured out how to work on that coordination, which by the way I am happily improving on with every Masters class I attend, I realized that there is a shorthand of terms that are thrown about haphazardly around the pool.  I never noticed before because I was busy with the basics or perhaps I was thinking that was a "pro" language that surely I would never have to learn.  I was wrong.

Whenever a coach can't make practice, the weather is bad (it's cold) or if there is a long holiday break when no classes are being held, it is customary to get an emailed workout from the coach.  My first email back when I was pregnant with #3 in 2011, looked like this:

I did not follow this workout. Obvs!  My eyes crossed a little and I gave up on trying to translate this into English.  I just went up to the pool and swam mundanely back and forth, trying ever so hard to not lose count of how many laps I'd put in (was that 19 or 21? Ugh!).  This particular coach is not very consistent with how she writes her workouts up because the next one looked like this:

Oh my goodness.  Whaaat??? I could decipher about a 3rd of that message (and reading it now, there are still things that I don't know!)  So, I passed but going to the pool again and just counting 1, 2, 18, 32, 47 can get REALLY boring.  I started looking into buying a waterproof mp3 player to help pass the time and after a few web searches I instead decided to put that effort into LEARNING what the heck all that mumbo jumbo meant.

So here is a swimmer's lingo translator for beginners.  FOR BEGINNERS.  Which I am still.  I am sure there are bunch of other terms and shorthand that I am completely unaware of and I'll be sure to include that in the Intermediate or Advanced installment of this post (if I ever get there).

First and foremost...laps or lengths?  I thought a lap was point A to B. WRONG.  THAT is a length. Point A to B and BACK to A is a lap.  So...if you swim 20 laps, you have gone the LENGTH of the pool 40 times.

Pool distance.  That's another doozy beginner's are unaware of.  How long is the length of pool you are swimming in?  Most people have no clue but in my case, the club owner and the swim director are always willing to stop by and chat and they for sure knew the answer when I asked.  The majority of lap pools are 25 yards or 25 meters.  Bigger fitness facilities or aquatic centers will have a 50M or Olympic sized pools.

So, in a 25M pool, if you swim a "100" you've gone 2 laps or 4 lengths of the pool.  Easy peazy, right?

100M = 2laps = 4lengths

To expand on that for the sake of relativity:

1 mile = 1609.34 meters = 32.19 laps = 64.37 lengths
.5 mile = 804.67 meter = 16.09 laps = 32.19 lengths

Sprint Triathlon - usually .5 mile or 750M (but can be shorter (200-500) & sometimes referred to as a "Super Sprint")
Olympic Triathlon - .93 miles
Half Ironman (IM) - 1.2 miles
Full IM - 2.4 miles (!!!!!)

Easy to see how counting back and forth can be a chore, not to mention incredibly easy to lose track.  In my case, I end up swimming "extra" just in case so I don't short change my work out.  And that's just crazy talk.

Usually a swim workout is structured like any other workout, start with a warm up, have a main work out and then a cool down to wrap it up.  My warm up has consistently looked like this:

200 easy free
200 pull
200 kick
200 1 arm free

That's a half mile warm up right there.  In my past life, I would just call it a day right then! But in layman's terms, this is what that means:

Free - Freestyle swimming or the "Front Crawl"
Pull - Using a pull buoy between your legs so only your arms are activated during your swim.
Kick - Using a kick board so your arms rest and your legs do all the work.
1 arm - I am sure there is a more technical name for this but it basically means swimming freestyle using the right arm only going up one length and only the left coming back.
Easy - or "EZ" not necessarily slow, but a good time to be aware of form.

The main workout can be configured in many different ways to either focus on speed, form, breathing, etc.  I really like that there is a format because the monotony goes away and before you know it, you've swam at least a good mile and probably more in an hour's long class.

What I didn't know until last week that I know now is the "3,5,7 breathing" talk going on in that second email up there.  Since I started drafting this post, I had a workout that consisted of something just like it.  It's a breathing interval workout where (as in the above example) you'd swim 200 (4 laps) using a Pull Buoy (arms only) and every 50 within that (1 lap) you alter breathing patterns by taking a breath every 3 arm strokes, then every 5 strokes for the next 50 and so on. 

As someone (a 29 week pregnant lady) that needs every bit of air they can in a workout, my intervals were more like 3,4,5,4,3 and when things got tough at 5, I'd ratchet down.  The rest of my class this week was going up to 8 I think.  (Also while my workouts tap out at about 1800M theirs usually go to anywhere between 2000-2400M).

Sometimes the workout will say "drill" which means you can choose what drill to use during that particular part of the work out.  I have not been exposed to a whole lot of drills but since you're out here on the internet, you know there is a plethora of information out here with ideas.  I did a quick search a found a few places that have more useful information including drill and full blown workouts...check them out!

http://100swimmingworkouts.com/
http://beta.active.com/swimming/Articles/Swimming-Workouts
http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/premium/swimming_technique/2009b.asp
http://www.ironman.com/triathlon-news/articles/2013/06/ironman-101-swim-workouts.aspx#axzz2ZQm8KaAc

This is all just scratches the surface of what all you can do during a swim workout.  It's always nice to have a class to join for the comraderie, motivation and extra push but if you can't and do have access to a pool, there's no reason to make it a fruitful and fun workout.  In addition to the pull buoy, kickboard, swim cap and goggles in your bag (and the snorkel I mentioned here), you can also add some extra gear to make things a little more interesting.   Paddles, flippers, ankle weights and gloves can all work on conditioning and technique...you'll just need a bigger bag! And don't get me started on the gadgets...mp3 players, lap counters, stop watches and watches that track everything from heartrate to distance, pace, splits, stroke rate, etc.  

Photo credit: http://brendanrake.me/2013/02/

For me, I'm keeping it simple and just trying to keep up with the Master Swimmers by doing as much of the workout as possible while still feeling comfortable and not over doing it.  I'd love to swim all the way through the end of the pregnancy and get started back up post baby as soon as I am able. My coach, who has been very encouraging and who called me a "hero" this week, has already been alerted that my goal post baby is to come back ready to ditch the snorkel and kick it in to high gear.  We will do just that and then watch out! Ha!

Week 28 update and a shift in gears

This week marks the start of the third trimester and as important as exercise and fitness has been thus far in keeping in tip-top shape ready for baby (and after), drinking plenty of water, nutrition and sleep are equally important.  I've successfully added plenty of water to my daily intake (thankful for the crushed ice machine at work that makes it so much easier) and this week I experimented for the first time with making smoothies and trying KALE! I've been trying to be more cognizant of what exactly I eat and don't eat and am working on getting a routine on that too.  More on that later...

My first Kale smoothie!

The summer months have always been bittersweet for me.  Having the kids out of school and working full time during these short and sometimes long 2.5 months is a difficult thing to balance.  I want them to have all the fun in the world but I am limited to certain hours of the day that I can do those things with them.  Mainly, in the evening after work.  Our bedtimes have been nothing less than midnight as a result and I found that only sleeping 6 hours a night for several weeks straight (when you are use to 7-8) has a way of creeping up on you.  That endless amount of energy seems to suddenly tap out and it kind of feels like hitting a brick wall. The Saturday morning Masters class is hard to make when you wake up after it's over! Whoops!

My exercise regimen slowed a little this week not just because I needed to catch up on my Zzzzz's some but also because some of my options have been pulled from play.  For starters, my evening Aerial Tone class has been temporarily moved to a night that conflicts with Masters Swim.  Secondly, I've cut out running for the time being because it has been so dreadfully hot at the times when I can run.  Not to mention that the lack of sleep has made me too tired to have the desire to lace up when it's that miserable outside as well.  Thirdly, since I had that flat on my bike, I noticed a few days later that the tire is flat again which means that there must be something still stuck in the tire that I must have missed. To add to that, I had some accident filled visions when I started riding last time...you know, the what if scenarios that run through your head in quick second pictures in you brain (or is that just me?) that cause you to be EXTRA cautious? After warming up though, these thoughts go away and the ride is fine but still, you can't ignore that a bike sitting with a flat in the garage combined with these images is not some sort of sign that long distance solo cycling should come off of the list as things to do at 28 weeks pregnant.  I feel perfectly okay while riding in fact I LOVE IT but I am erring on the side of safety for fear of having a freak wreck because my tire gets stuck in a crack or a crazy squirrel runs out in front of me and I lose control.  Better safe than sorry.

Having prefaced this update with all that I'll say that I do intend to maybe add treadmill runs (although I hate those), spin classes or even ride on the trainer (hate that too) as well breaking away and getting the Aerial class in during lunch.  We'll see how I manage that.

Here is the update for week 28:

M- 1500M Masters Swim:
200 Easy Free
200 Pull
200 Kick
200 1 arm drill
200 Breast (a first for me...awkward but different is good)
400 timed free
2 x 50 25breast 25 free
Yoga challenge Day 8 - Kneeling Crescent (an easy one and a great shoulder, back & quad stretch post swim)
T- Yoga Challenges for Day 9 & 10
Revolved Downward Dog & Head to Knee Forward Bend
These both took a lot of warming up and stretching and I'd say we were doing Yoga for a good hour.

 

W- 1500M Masters Swim:
200 free
200 pull
200 kick
200 1 arm drill
100 alternating 25s 3, 5
10 x 25 kick 45RI (full class race) Ahh!!!
6 x 25 alternating 4,5 20RI (the rest of the class was at 8x @ 4,5,6,7,8,7,6,5)
200 easy free
Yoga Challenge - Rooster (I thought this was going to be easy...doing it post swim at a late hour I realized just how hard it was.  I felt like a pretzel most of the time practicing and am absolutely amazed I was able to get off the ground)

TH- Easy stretching and Day 12 Yoga Challenge - Half Bound Extended Side Angle Pose
F- Did some serious Salsa & Merengue dancing at a birthday party with 4" heels. If you don't think dancing is a workout, I'll tell you my quads were still sore from it the next morning.  So yes, it counts!! (plus, waaaaay fun!)
S- Missed Masters Swim but got plenty of sleep.  Hooray! Spent a good amount of time working on Day 13 of our Yoga Challenge - Extended Leg Wheel Pose.  Wow.  What a doozy.  I think I will be coming back to this one quite a bit post baby just so that I can compare improvements.  I got the leg up but only in a headstand position.  I felt like I was pulling a calf muscle so I didn't stay there very long.  (This is likely due to that kick race in swim class).  I was not happy with my regular wheel so I left it for later.

We also got a bike ride in on the new downtown trails later... no one took the mountain bike off the table, right? :)  Side note: I thought this was going to be a leisurely ride but I found that pushing that heavy bike was a heck of a workout especially on my calves (oh, yea...NOW I see a pattern. I didn't realize it at the time, just now as I type it out. Ha!).
Worked on wheel again.  Killing my calves here and hammies too.  Almost felt them pulling while trying to do this again but finally happy with the result (all things considered). I practiced day 14 momentarily - tucked leg Headstand and realized that I was just not into it.  I have zero core control so pushing up and having the wall "save" me was fine by me.  I thought I'd try it again on Sunday.

A little "acroyoga" with the babe while working on the extended leg wheel early in the day and finally happy with a regular handstand Wheel post bike ride. 

S- Slept in and ran errands - complete much needed OFF day. Didn't even bother with the Yoga Challenge. But I did come close to cracking my kid's Fruit Ninja score! Haha! This a challenge that they put upon me the day before that I am DETERMINED not only to beat but also to set a new high score for THEM. :p

Stay tuned for week 29 updates as well as the results of my smoothie experimentation.  I found some yummy and healthy ingredients and recipes I can't wait to share!  Also, stay tuned to find out how this whole Fruit Ninja thing works out.  ;)

Happy Monday!

~V

Sink or swim ...Diary of a Newbie.

It seems that the only time (in my life) that I've ever taken up swimming is while pregnant.  Although I was born and raised in sunny South Florida, my definition of swimming in that lifetime meant swimming from the beach to the boat that was anchored offshore or around the boat while we were either deep sea fishing or while my stepfather and his friends were out scuba diving.  Yes, I DID swim with barracudas in waters of 100+ ft of ocean depth.  It didn't seem adventurous at the time...just a way to keep from getting seasick in a rocking boat while I waited for the adults to come back from their fun.  How times have changed.  I can't even fathom leaving my kid ALONE. On a small vessel.  In the middle of open rough waters. At 12?  Insanity.  Anyway, total tangent, sorry...my point is that having had that experience and growing up that way did not a lap swimmer make.

I had never swam a full length of a pool until I got pregnant with baby #3 a couple of years ago.  I was trying diligently to stay in shape and I knew I had to find a way to continue working out that was not going to be such a hard strain on my body like running or as potentially dangerous as riding a bike.  It is well documented that swimming is a fantastc form of exercise. The benefits are overwhelming and I knew that that was the best choice for me. However,  I also knew I had to start early in the pregnancy  because if I didn't get over the fear of it then, I'd likely give up on working out all together after running and cycling stopped being an option. I wish I could have started doing it when I was a kid. But c'est la vie, a swimming pool was a luxury that not many people I even knew had when I was kid. A boat, yes...a swimming pool, no way.  Go figure.

When I first started, my biggest issue with swimming was...well, everything.  I went across the pool (which I had even a stage fright type of fear to even do) while a friend, who is an amazing swimmer, watched.  I was so nervous, I felt like I was flopping around all over the place, gasping for breath...a total hot mess in the lap pool.  She was nice though.  She gave me a few pointers and said it wasn't so bad. She was encouraging and said that it would get better and easier.  The hardest part from that point forward was getting to the pool, jumping in and GOING across.  Each time, I went by myself hoping no one was there.  I didn't want anyone to watch the disaster that I was.  Each time, I hoped it would magically just click and it would be easier already.  Each time, I left defeated and frustrated.

Until that is...the fateful day that I showed up to the pool when there was a Masters Swim class going on.  Talk about intimidation!  Everyone had swim caps and they were just racing across the pool back and forth, back and forth...and that's when I decided that maybe I could just join the spin class or...run on the treadmill...or go home and put in a P90X video! ANYTHING sounded better than getting in that pool.  But alas, Coach Stephanie was there.  Sweet Coach Steph...she warmingly, invited me to jump in.  There just happened to be a lane open too.  I explained my situation: "I don't know how to swim very well...and I'm pregnant." You'd think these two pieces of information would just make her back off and let me leave.  But no, with much enthusiasm she told me to jump in and show her what I got.  UGH!! I got nothing, I thought.  But not one to argue with authority (she's a teacher after all), I did just that.  She, too, was so sweet.  "It wasn't so bad!" she said in her perky fun voice. "But I feel like I am going to drown!", I said. She helped me and showed me when I was supposed to come up for breaths and how.  However, because of the pregnancy, I was already short of breath so holding it for even two arm strokes was nearly impossible.  I tried and tried but I was getting so frustrated.  I told her I just didn't feel like I was getting a good workout because I was so consumed with breathing and taking in water.  ...and my situation was only going to get worse the further along I got into the pregnancy.  We ended that session with her advice: get a swim snorkel and nose clip and a maternity swimsuit.

I didn't even know snorkels existed that werent attached to a mask. For this purpose! I followed one of those two pieces of advice she gave me and I rushed to Sports Authority the next day and bought the snorkel and nose clip and eagerly went back to join the Masters class.  Already, can you tell the improvement in my attitude about this?  EAGER to join Master's?!  The idea that I could get across AND be able to breathe was incredibly exciting.  I could focus on getting the workout I wanted and not need to have a lifeguard sit by in case I swallow up half the pool?  Sweet!  Once I got to the pool, a different type of anxiety kicked in..."OMG, this thing is big, bulky and SO embarrassing!" "Everyone is going to be looking at me like I'm an alien". I assumed there was a stigma for using this and I tried to hunker down in my lane to put on my gear...swim cap (which I needed instructions on doing this too, by the way), goggles, snorkel, nose clip. I focused on what I was there to do.  Everyone has there own situation and ultimately, no one really cares about the girl in the far lane anyway, they want to get their workout done.  And...I could be sitting on the couch, right?  I am HERE! I don't care what people think.  Okay, now that the pep talk was out of the way, go! My mind was blown.  I have LOTS of experience with a snorkel and mask (see first paragraph above) and it felt right at home.  I got not only across the pool but back too!  I felt amazing!

Coach Steph was excited to see my excitement as well.  She said "ok, NOW let me see what you got".  So I went. She observed my technique (or lack thereof) and when I returned from my lap she told me what to do with my arms. I did several laps and my mind just kept working on moving my arms this way, that way, getting the timing right, stretching long, swiveling my hips and I lost track of how many laps I'd swam.  She gave me a kick board and showed me how to use it.  She told me what to do with my legs.  There are SO many things that can improve that short 25M distance travel across the pool and I wanted to learn it all RIGHT THEN. But the class was over and I'd have to wait two whole days to come back and try again.

I continued to come to class two and sometimes three times a week.  I got better and better and before I knew it, I felt like a swimmer! And then, I had a baby.  That pretty much kept me out of the pool for a good couple of months.  And just like running, when you stay away for even that short a time period, when you do  come back, you feel like you are starting at zero. The fear and anxiety came back.  I wanted to ditch the snorkel and give it a go.  I think I made it to the pool only for a handful of workouts postpartum after I got my doctor's clearance and never went back.  Going back to work, a new baby and the crazy spring schedule (the same reason I stopped all other workouts, really) just made it too hard to get out to the pool again.

Sad story, huh?  Well, leave it to getting pregnant again to bring me back.  Baby #4 on the way and here I am!

This time, I can cut to the chase and swim.  No stage fright, no anxiety of looking foolish or embarrassment about my snorkel.  It is a training tool, after all!  People wear fins to the pool too! (I use to wear those when I went snorkeling. In the ATLANTIC OCEAN.)  So, see, I was right to not give a hoot about what others think.  These things have purpose and my new goal is to work on my stroke and my endurance throughout the pregnancy and actually keep at it after baby arrives too.

I will say that there is some work involved in using the snorkel.  It is not a slam dunk by any means, after all you are breathing hard and your heart is pounding when you exerting that much energy going to and fro in the pool.  Water gets in there and you have to manage your breaths without sucking it in AND blowing out the excess water while you're at it too.  These are skills I didn't realize I would need that I learned as a kid  many years ago.  Who knew that while I was frolicking in the deep blue ocean, checking out coral and the eels hidden in their crevices and all the pretty fishes and a occasional sand shark, I was blowing out excess water from my snorkel and picking up on something I'd use again as an ol' lady trying to swim laps? Who knew.

Where I picked up my snorkeling skills. Eliot Key - photo credit: National Park Service 
http://www.smartertravel.com/photo-galleries/editorial/10-great-uninhabited-island-getaways.html?id=198&photo=25974

All this ocean talk makes me want to take a vacation.  But again, I digress. The snorkel, ah yes.  My goal is to ditch it and use it ONLY when I am looking at wild ocean life.  I've been trying to get to triathlon for a few years but duathlon is a close as I ever got.  This swimming thing has been my Achilles heel for much too long. My buddy Mario, who just finished a Half Ironman in Galveston recently and who chatted with me daily about his training, insists that I could do a tri with a snorkel; that he's seen people do it.  Um.  HELLLL NO.  I'll be damned.  He's also the same guy who thinks that I can easily do (and WILL do) an IM or Half IM with him next year given the shape that I am in.  I appreciate his enthusiasm and confidence in me but I don't have the kind of time that IM's require for training.  I'll shoot for a sprint because I KNOW I can handle all the components separately.  That is first, after I get that darn swim part down.

I'm fairly certain I'm almost there but in the mean time, I'll continue to join Masters Swim at least twice a week, try to keep up with the workouts and watch my baby bump grow over my bikini. :)

"Just keep swimming" ~ Dori

Happy weekend all and keep movin'!

~V