Wanted to create a specific entry for the swimming because I cannot believe the difference three weeks make.
In total I have been around 10 times to the pool, and every time it is a scary experience, but once in the water it is amazing the improvement one can make. First time I could barely do two lengths – I was huffing and puffing way too much. It also helped a lot when I got a nose clip, the feeling of water up the nose was not pleasant.
After the first week things didn’t seem to improve too much, it was very difficult to keep a breath whilst swimming, I think it must be all about gaining a rhythm. I seem to be lucky in that I started to swim from scratch and have made myself do “bilateral” breathing, which for me means I breath on every third stoke – either side, which seems to be doing me fine.
The real improvement was noticeable when I went to Ipswich, in the big pool the stoke started coming together and although I was only really do one length at a time due to traffic, it did seem easier. The the last two times have really taking it up a gear. Sets of six, with 40 second breathing breaks are very do-able now, and last time 16 lengths with no stop and this time 20. So I was up to nearly 1000 meters in the pool today, in around 30 mins.
Really pleased with how this is going, I feel a lot more confident in the swim now, although I do realise just how difficult putting them together will be.