Been reading lately the swimmings-on (get it? That's a play on "goings-on"!) of Gords. He's preparing for an English Channel swim in 2012, and thus is a yardage monster. His daily swim total appears to be in the 12K range. Yes, you read that right. 12,000 yards! Almost 7 miles A DAY.
What's more, he doesn't just swim the distance straight. He actually does sets. And he'll do sets of 2000 backstroke. Yikes! That's incredible, both because of the stroke, but also the distance. Hell, the entire daily swim is amazing from a logistical stand-point. Talk about a supportive wife! And he's got seven kids.
So, on Friday this week, during my "long" swim (nothing seems long anymore, Gords, thanks a lot) of 90 minutes, I did 3 x 30 minutes, including the middle set being all backstroke. I seriously thought at the beginning that at one point I'd switch over to free. Backstroke is probably my second best stroke, but still, a half-hour of it? But you know what? It was easy. Sure I got a lot of water up my nose, which is never pleasant. But I got to breath a lot. Plus it is a bit of a challenge in my stupid pool. Not only is it only 33.3 yards per lap, but there are no flags. There are two architectural features on the walls on either end that I use to determine how close to the wall I am, and most of the time I flip over with ample room to flip-turn. Sometime I flip over and BOOM!, there's the wall. So, there's a little excitement added.
So thank you Gords, for the idea to spruce and liven up my long swims. And good luck on your new GSL swim next month!
Wow! Thanks for the props.
Although my swims mostly occur really early in the morning before I go to work, my weekend swims do take quite a bit of time away from the family. I'm starting to feel like a real slacker Dad. But I love Sundays so I can rest and spend some quality time with the fam.
Glad you liked the backstroke set. Yeah, we don't have flags up in our pool either. Thank goodness for those unique features in the ceiling right? Luckily I've not hit my foot on the heel in this pool though. That's the worst!
Keep it going. I'm following...
Posted by: Gords | 17 April 2011 at 09:44