I just have to start out by saying "Wow!" I improved at least as much (if not more) between yesterday's practice and today's as I did between Sunday's lesson and yesterday's practice.

I was almost doing a two beat kick even on the first drill with my upper arm submersed in the water. I think that tomorrow I should focus on swimming a bit slower and more relaxed on the first (and second) drill. I was generating a lot of turbulence in the water pushing my elbow forward and the turbulence made it hard to get a breath. I think that I was getting into the hip drive a bit too much. But, I was absolutely keeping my upper arm limp.

The fingertip and ear-hop drills were almost full stroke swimming. I did well at keeping a wide track and propelling my recovering arm into the water with my hip. But, I'll need to be more aware of whether I'm over rotating. I also want to remember to check my entry into the water and ensure that I'm keeping my hand relaxed.

I didn't count how many strokes it took me to swim a length on the fingertip and ear-hop drills. I can't concentrate on all the focus points and count strokes as well. I wasn't consistently taking a breath every three strokes, so I can't estimate the stroke count by the breath count. But, I think that I was somewhere in the range of 12 - 14 strokes for the 17.5 yards. If I am right about that, it would put me in the 17 - 20 stroke per 25 yard range. That would be an absolutely huge improvement!

I put more attention today on breathing out of the corner of my mouth instead of my full mouth. This helps tremendously in not needing to rotate my head as far. I did better today at keeping my recovery wide when I was breathing.

I couldn't believe how fast the practice was over and I really did not want to get out of the pool. But, I think doing four sets of 6 X 17.5 yard repeats is working really well. I think it works much better than 4 X 25 yard repeats.

I can't wait to get back to the pool tomorrow morning!

Note: Before I started practicing the drills and after each repeat I did a bit of practice standing in a skate and leading my recovery arm with my elbow. I think this was very helpful and want to remember to do it again tomorrow.