I had to swim in the 25 yard lanes today. Additionally, somebody swam in the lane with me. I would say that I was quite thrown off and many things fell apart. But, I think that's actually a good thing. I think that I had really locked into a groove in the 17.5 yard lanes. The new conditions presented me a new challenge and thus a new spark to remain focused.

It took me between 17 and 18 strokes per length for the ear-hop drill. I also needed to breathe more. I think that the longer distance of the repeat, the fewer rest and reflection opportunities at each wall and the inability to stand at each wall and practice the recovery increased the level of effort for the practice.

So, I was way above my projection of 13 - 14 strokes per length. I'm not surprised though. I would have been much more surprised if I could do it in so few strokes. For starters, I had not actually hit eight strokes per 17.5 yards. And, I think my hunch was right that the pushoff makes more of a difference in 17.5 yards. But, I think it is reasonable for me to target 14 - 16 strokes per 25 yard repeat for a longer term goal.

The main lesson I am going to take from today's practice is that there are always things I can do to change things up in a way that will bring back the challenge to my practices (in a way that will help spur continued improvement). I can see that I am far from the point that I can make only small improvements. There are still opportunities for some quantum leaps like I made in the past two weeks.