kjp

A few things about the water.

Last Monday (RDO) I went down to the coast (Burleigh) and caught a few waves (just swimming). They were decent sized, not too big, not too small. A fair few dumpers - it was barrelling a bit. It was good to get a good swim in - the past couple of times I've gone it's been really flat - "booss". Tomorrow is forecast (by swellnet) to be 3 ft. Fingers crossed it will be a foot or two bigger. I'll probably wear my fins - get a bit more speed up.

On Thursday I was at the pool changing the way I swim (freestyle at least). After reading a few tips earlier in the week, I was rolling my body onto my side (from my hips, but probably not 90 degrees rotation) and consciously breathing out when my face was underwater. This seemed to be very beneficial - I was doing the 25 m laps a lot more easily, and with one or two less breaths...

Rolling enables more air to get in my lungs, I think, as there is more time that my mouth is open above water. Exhaling under water helps as well (it lowers the pressure in my lungs and gives room for the fresh air). The other good thing about rolling (for me at least) is that I can easily breathe on either side. I think that some of my neck muscles on the left are a lot tighter than the right: previously when I was just rotating my head out of the water to get a breath I was always breathing on my left side - couldn't rotate my head enough to the right to get enough. By rolling I'm now getting into a nicer 5 stroke cadence - more balanced then just one side.

Things I need to work on / try:
* not forcing my hands through the water. I can pull my hands through quickly, but it tires me out more. If I want to go for endurance (and increase fitness) as opposed to strength I probably should try this.
* pause slightly (with one hand in front) between strokes ("glide")
* underwater I need to kick slowly (especially with fins on) - with the aim of trying to keep my heart rate down.

OK, the stuff above was written on Friday just gone, now for this weekend:
I again was at Burleigh on Saturday morning (no board, just swimming). Were some decent waves to catch. I had my fins on for the entire time (the first decent swim (not surf) with fins on). It was "cheating", yes I know; but it meant a) that I had a bigger window of opportunity to catch the waves, b) I could catch waves that I'd have trouble getting onto without fins, c) I could get a bit further in front of the white-water. The downside to wearing fins while swimming - pain in bum getting out with in the shallow water (walking backwards).

The day also saw me getting a cut on a toe - weird, considering I had socks / fins on all the time, and there were no cuts in either of them....????... I would have noticed it if I cut it before getting in the water, I think...

Anyhow, I got sucked back and down and then dumped on a particularly big wave that I had just gone under (or so I thought). However, in the washing machine, my left calf got twisted / strained or something - couldn't move it without hurting. Drifted with the waves back to the beach and sat out for 5 mins or so. This has happened once before - getting dumped (on a bodyboard - down Broulee in the holidays). I think that it comes from having (when fins are on) stretched out ("pointy") feet (so calf muscles are retracted / compressed (whatever the correct word is)) most of the time. I generally try not to move my feet much when I have fins on - try and get power from my hips (the exception is when I need quick acceleration). If your foot then suddenly gets (as I think was the case for Saturday) twisted up and out suddenly, then the calf muscle suddenly has to change to an odd position. And strains it, and in this case hurts a bit when I tried to move my leg. And, worse, makes you loose 5 / 10 minutes of good wave catching time... :)

The moral of the story is for me to remember to stretch my calves - particularly if I'm wearing flippers. Either that or "don't get dumped"... Actually, seriously - I probably should have taken a bigger breath and stayed on the bottom for longer. The other thing I need to remember is to stay calm when I'm being pushed under / dumped - all worrying does is stress me out and reduce the amount of air I can use for swimming.

I also got a bit burnt on my face - again. Fantastic. Despite several layers of sunburn cream - applied when I left home; about 1/2 hour before I got in the water (on the road) and 5 mins before I got in the water. I'll be trying a different brand next time, then zinc if that doesn't do the job.

Ohh, useless trivia - the tide prediction tool that I used to use (previously run by Flinders Uni), has been taken over by the BOM (QLD tides).

Tomorrow is the last day of summer, sigh: I like the beach...