Grilled Underwater

The swim class have become more rigorous nowadays. No more slow strokes, paddling, and fooling around. What I know, next class I must come fully prepared - breakfast that is. I had some toasts with 'kaya', and a glass of milk, and that was not enough.

I arrived slightly late, and by the time I hit the pool, we were ready to go, but not without the customary one-arm drill. I have yet to improve on 10 - 11 (right - left), and I love those paddles. It magically transformed my palms 10-fold. But I hate it when we have to lose them for the real deal.

The menu for the day was a 200mx5 drills. I have done mostly 200m swim for my warm-up lap since the last few weeks, and had gone beyond 1k mark, but when the time started, I did not know the full extent of this drill.

My time varied from 4:40 - 4:56, and in the 3rd lap I went beyond 5 minutes because I was losing it. Somehow I couldn't pace myself, knowing others are moving faster. This is the killer, as it was in running before I learned pacing (I am still learning though). Needless to say, it was tough. I wished Eric would allow us more rest times in between, but Eric knows how to drill me into getting my correct strokes, and increase endurance.

Overall, I have enjoyed the drill, and my appetite during lunch confirms it - it indeed was a helluva workout. I have slowly improvised not dropping left arms while pushing and breathing. Breathing is nowhere near improving at a pace I wanted to, but I am warming up to bilateral breathing, which is taough on the left breathing.

A week before my first biathlon, there will be more drills of 100s and 200s to improvise on my strokes, and definitely breathing. Err, kena pegi shopping ke?