The fitness center opens at 8am on Sundays. So, when I got up this morning I had a good deal of time before I could get to the center. I watched a replay of a Google Hangout that TI did this past week. In the hangout Terry mentioned a workout he had utilized with one of the hangout participants. The idea of the workout is that you are not allowed to exceed a certain stroke count for a certain distance. I decided that this was going to be the focus of my swim workout today.

This morning before leaving, I sent an email to a TI coach in Boulder to start the process of setting up some one-on-one coaching.

I did a 200m warmup swimming with my hands in fists. Then I did a comfortable 100m counting how many strokes I took. I needed 96 strokes. So, for the rest of the workout I did repeats of 100m not allowing myself to use more than 96 strokes. I was able to come pretty close on all the sets, with just a couple in which I had to glide on my side for a tiny bit at the end. I also did one set in which I did a stroke-stroke-stroke-glide while I took a breath. I think I ended up swimming that 100m in 70-something strokes.

I think that 100m might be a bit long for the repeat at this point. Next week I will do a count for 50m and use that for the repeat. Part of what I was finding was that I was running out of breath from the slower turnover rate (and thus longer period between breathing) and the timing of the flip turns. Also, I think that I started to fatigue too much anyway from working on stretching the distance I could propel myself with each stroke.

I do a better job keeping my right arm outstretched as I breathe to my left than I do keeping my left arm outstretched as I breathe to my right. I would venture to say that the stroke with my left arm as I'm breathing to my right is totally wasted.

On the bike I averaged 14.0 mph, 93 RPM and 128 BPM. I think that using gear five is a good choice and will stick with that for a while.