I think that I may have been completing the elbow drill in 12 - 14 strokes.

The first two drills were easier (emotionally) knowing what to expect. I knew that I was going to have to approach them as an opportunity to focus on different things, as opposed to seeing some large improvement from the previous time I had done them. At this point, though, I think that I will have to figure out how to best utilize those drills beyond just a warmup for the ear-hop drill. I'm sure there's a way that I can use them to imprint even better swimming form for the recovery, balance, rotation and breathing.

Now even the fingertip drill feels like there is so much resistance in the water.

I was diligent about targeting 10 strokes for all six repeats on the ear-hop drill. The first repeat took me about 10.25 strokes. Repeats two through five took me between 9.5 and 10 strokes. On the sixth repeat I was able to use just 8.75 strokes!

I'm really curious whether I'm "cheating" on the ear-hop drill to reduce the strokes or if I'm genuinely that much better at this point. If I can truly swim 17.5 yards in eight strokes, that would equate to 11.5 strokes for 25 yards. I am guessing that the push off the wall makes a bigger difference on 17.5 yards, though. But, even making some type of adjustment for the push off, I should still be able to swim 25 yards in 13 or 14 strokes at most. So, my new target for tomorrow is to see if I can swim the ear-hop drills in eight strokes. I am betting that seven strokes would be my absolute limit. I can't see how I could complete the length in just six strokes without artificially skating or gliding for an extended time.

I guess once I start using a tempo trainer I will have more concrete evidence about whether I'm "cheating."

To the best of my ability to sense what I'm doing, I believe that my breathing and kicking are looking pretty good. I'm looking forward to what my coach tells me about them on Sunday. If he comes up with practice that I can do to improve them, that would actually be a good thing.

I'm looking forward to see what I'll be practicing next week and where my coach thinks I'm headed from here.