Pool Progression

Swimming is one aspect of triathlon that stands alone as the black sheep.

It is it's own water world that poses as many questions as answers.

After taking a break from the pool I found myself floundering about, trying to remember what swimming felt like. If you take 2 days out of the water there is some loss in feel let alone 2-3 weeks. Humans were not born to swim, we were born to walk on dry land, unless of course your name is Andrew McCartney.

However that is not to say swimming is lost after time out of the pool. It is frustrating but over some time your body remembers. The specifics to swimming are what has to be remembered to swim well. The specific shoulder and back muscles need to remember how to work efficiently. Wrist and elbow angles need to be re-established.

After 2 weeks of swimming with training wheels, this week I noticed some progression back to normal self.

With similar 100's sets throughout the week I saw my pace drop from 1:15 to 1:11 to 1:06. This spurs on thoughts about the adaptation my body is going through right now. It is quick and with significant gains, kinda like going through puberty all over again.

A whole bunch of other related questions pop into my head while wandering off on a 600 fins.

- should i be eating more and/or more of something specific during this period?
- am i creating new neural pathways or just blowing the dust off of old ones?
- do i need more rest during this time?



...Thanks for the ginger cake Kirsten, hit the spot.