Finding Balance

So, back to training. Have been continuing to up my swimming, and yesterday did 5 400 yd segments in the pool at the Downtown Berkeley YMCA. I am not a huge fan of the pool there since it is a little grimy on deck and near the showers, but it does seem to be one of the few indoor pools in the area, and it is open for lap swim basically all day.

One of my major training efforts right now is to learn to breathe on both sides since this is very helpful in open water. In trying to breathe on my left side when swimming recently, I found that turning my head to the left that far started some wierd pressure pain in my left ear (I wonder if this happens to other people). It made me realize how lopsided my stroke must look in the water, since I am so clearly favoring the side I am breathing on. What I tried yesterday was using a kickboard with my head in the water, and only breathing on my left side. Interestingly, what I learned with the kickboard is that to breathe on my left side, I actually need to let my legs and hips rotate over onto their side as well. By not doing so, I can't get enough rotation to take a breath which is what was messing me up when swimming normally.

The second skill I worked on was the Balanced Body Position drill I learned a few weeks ago at TNT. This time I put a kickboard under my pelvis to give me a little more buoyancy to take breaths. It worked pretty wonderfully, as it was still incredibly challenging to stay moving with my hands at my sides and thrusting with only kick, but I was able to actually make it many lengths of the pool, thereby conditioning a lot of the core muscles I will need to do it without the kickboard eventually. Making up workouts and techniques to teach oneself new skills when training, particularly swimming, is a pretty fun little hobby. It makes the whole act of training feel creative and intellectual, something which I don't think most people realize that training really is.

Here is a shot of the Downtown Y in Berkeley:



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