I'm still on sick leave but after taking the munsci kids to school, I went for a swim. And since there was no hurry, I stayed at the pool until 9am. Yehey! And just to feed me there, I brought 3 bananas and lots of water. The pool floor was still dirty though. I don't think the pool boy was into cleaning thoroughly as he claimed. So I stayed mostly on deepend side where the floor tiles were cleaner. The dirty tiles elsewhere certainly affected how much I wanted to stay and practice. And so it was mostly widths for me today. I would've wanted to do lengths, but ... ugh... yuck.
Today I felt that I wasn't exiting my arms out cleanly in fly. It was as though I had too much water to push out and it was delaying the recovery. And so I experimented on a couple of action items to see if they improve the recovery:
I also experimented on breathing out through the nose rather than the mouth. I felt it cleared easily after finishing a width. I was not used to it before, preferring just exhaling through the mouth. Sigh! Decisions, decision. I can't imagine exhaling FULLY from both at the same time though.
Talking of solutions, here's a book I've been keeping all these years (long before I even got swim lessons). I've had it since college, just kept it, hoping to finally use it someday. Needless to say, it's a rare book now. And it's been a very good reference.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixkSHS-rxu2HuEW5oGdL_2bH-uNblhZO5NIiKwwjHRokLVg3Fvsz09tJ9aSl4K6r2OzYi9POk_MP0prwoluWuGLZeFlsH-z1U-ZkCnKRJSbUbus88Wc9poOnAz_UGPYE9NjXVRIA/s400/DSC03219.JPG)
The photos are those of famous swimmers like Mark Spitz, Gary Hall Sr., etc. and the pics, though black and white, are very clear. Here are frame-by-frame shots of the sidestroke. Notice the frayed and splitted middle of the book.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWDpHTToUKRDIWz7f1U0MKcMz8421s7sZh20nOMHn8fudXxl3rTp8eVpDDjKzO5ht4Xvx92uMcEAfNMX1LQKlo3uvWVycRTxT-QlT8vXMmsJS6ABRbZwwpFBGNHoWdJSZNCLfXAg/s400/DSC03222.JPG)
The drawings are a bit crude and funny though. They remind me of the ancient scientific drawings of the renaissance men like Da Vinci's flying machine.![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sATH8rOd6igDOhHK5r9dHNUSYvgysdhUNVI4dtWAmILk21E2IZfURkDWQk51_jMv3Ed51UIiydRYfhu3fYLdMRuX4wMP7oywvlrLng_UK99DJUXd-OX4wwfLis=s0-d)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN0bkX_V_kD2YjR16Wocym6bILibRzAZ-Y2z0g8D3sHw8V6QvycaZG9Bpip1Azuw-813YwyGTlED3NnbOCZpxxkQA6LdvHj9-JZCJF34ICpgHB_wcpJb1oTjbQwRiKAJ8FDRBB3A/s400/DSC03224.JPG)
Today I felt that I wasn't exiting my arms out cleanly in fly. It was as though I had too much water to push out and it was delaying the recovery. And so I experimented on a couple of action items to see if they improve the recovery:
- Undulate more. By doing so, the body doesn't stay flat and when the torso rises, the arms should be at a height where they could clear the surface.
- Focus on exiting with the pinkies out. This way, the hand at the last instant, will slice the surface rather than continue pushing more water.
I also experimented on breathing out through the nose rather than the mouth. I felt it cleared easily after finishing a width. I was not used to it before, preferring just exhaling through the mouth. Sigh! Decisions, decision. I can't imagine exhaling FULLY from both at the same time though.
Talking of solutions, here's a book I've been keeping all these years (long before I even got swim lessons). I've had it since college, just kept it, hoping to finally use it someday. Needless to say, it's a rare book now. And it's been a very good reference.
The photos are those of famous swimmers like Mark Spitz, Gary Hall Sr., etc. and the pics, though black and white, are very clear. Here are frame-by-frame shots of the sidestroke. Notice the frayed and splitted middle of the book.
The drawings are a bit crude and funny though. They remind me of the ancient scientific drawings of the renaissance men like Da Vinci's flying machine.
Go ahead, post your comment below!
Interesting book.