3-3-2-2

Over the last week or so I've committed to a breathing pattern that balances bilateral breathing with a need to breathe a light more. A rhythm of 3-3-2-2 seems to be a suitable balance.

In today's swim my pace was best in the first right side breathing set (60spm) and acceptable whilst doing a proportion of bilateral breathing (65spm). It's notable that SPL is higher and that my pace declines over the session with this approach. Hopefully though it protects my arms and shoulders.

Nonetheless I was satisfied with some lengths better than 2:15min/100m in the warm-up and an average below 2:30min/100m for 400m. Whilst a sub-10 minute 400m is nothing great this wasn't a 'fast' set and if I'd not run out of time I could have continued.

Quick dip at Heeley

I was passing Heeley pool at the lane swimming time and took a half hour there. The pool, and lanes, were very quiet which was great. I did a basic interval set covering 900 yards or there about, so not a great deal. I was pleased to see a 'sprint' pace below 2:00min/100yards and having worked it out I think it equate to 2:08min/100m. That's fine - even allowing for the advantage of a short pool.

I finished with 4 sets of 2 lengths with bilateral breathing. This is gradually feeling more balanced with less collapse of my right leading arm, even if I still don't have my breathing in order yet. The pace for these gentle sets was 2:20min/100m.

Data loss

I'm not sure how well today's swim went. I thought the first 200m warm-up went well at 62SPM but no data. It seems that the failing watch battery led to a corrupt file. I then did some sets at 63SPM with bilateral breathing but found that I was running out of breath by 6 lengths. I tried faster and slower cadence and much the same. It did feel successful to do a sort of 2-3-1 system to keep some symmetry and reduce the time between breaths but perhaps more complex than needed.

Just before stopping I tired a 'powerful' set with RHS only breathing but trying to push with my arms as much as possible. Don't know how the pace was!

Oh well, at least I was in the water for half an hour or so.

Back home I changed the battery but couldn't retrieve the file...

Keep on breathing

I wanted to build on Friday's bilateral breathing today and did sets at a range of stroke rates. As seems to be normal the first set of bilateral breathing was a struggle and I felt the pace was unsustainable even at 62SPM. I did a sequence of 200m sets at 64, 66 and 64 SPM and found the first 64SPM to be fastest. 66SPM felt to be above a critical speed.

To mix things up I then did 67m pairs of lengths at 68, 70 and 72SPM, acknowledging that it would be tending anaerobic and not suitable for any significant distance. Pleasingly the greater effort did give greater pace although maybe the workload became disproportionate; 70SPM being best for  a 'fast' lengths? Importantly over this session the SPL didn't rise excessively, I always show a gradual increase due to fatigue.

Unexpected pace

I wondered today how I'd do over 200m with the ToyBuoy with RHS breathing. I'd expected to be just over 4 minutes as a while ago I'd cracked the 8 minutes for 400m with the BigBuoy. Strangely it took 4:25minutes which was a little disappointing and my SPL increased alarmingly. Basically back to the old more effort and less speed.

So, onto the main set of just over 1100m with tidy controlled bilateral breathing but aided by the ToyBuoy. For this I was pleased to record 2:12min/100m average with a fairly uniform pacing. The SPL rose from 21 to 23. Importantly these results show that with the ToyBuoy I seem to achieve a similar pace with bilateral breathing, focussing, than I do with RHS breathing whilst rushing.

A little bit further

Today's main set was 1267m with the ToyBuoy and I managed to maintain bilateral breathing except when overtaking. The pace was reasonable too at 2:14min/100 with some lengths in the middle of the set peaking at 2:10min/100m. I felt I was fading towards the end and indeed there were some lengths at 2:20min/100m. I thought hard about keeping a high leading arm, getting a good roll and keeping my legs up. Every so often I realised that I'd become careless and my stroke was collapsing but with a bit of focus I go back on track even with some tiring.

Hopefully my neck and shoulder won't be too tired or aching tomorrow.

Apart from a few lengths when the pool was very rough I felt pretty comfortable and am intrigued to see if I could manage that rhythm in a wetsuit in open water. After all, the ToyBuoy is supposed to mimic the buoyancy of a wetsuit.

At some points in the warm up set, without a pull buoy, I noted that I was close to a 2 beat kick but the vey thought of that made me kick a little more energetically.

There is still some progress.

Pyramid interval swim

Today's swim highlighted how I've lost form over the lats 6 months. In the warm-up I was slow and in the 67m 'fast' intervals, the best I managed was 2:02min/100m. I don't know where the pace has gone; I'm really looking forwards to the video analysis session early in January 2018 to show me where my stroke has collapsed. In a way I feel it's more robust now with better hip roll; I think I'm achieving a slightly better elbow position for both catch and recovery; but the pace just isn't developing.

On the positive side I have settled into a nice steady 2:20min/100m where I can maintain bilateral breathing. I do notice that my reach of my right arm is inconsistent but I'm trying to keep a focus on it now I've noted it.

Looking after shoulder

Today's weather forecast was for blustery to become gale force and so I walked to the pool rather than driving to Hatfield. Ultimately the forecast was worse than reality and the really strong winds hadn't arrived some hours later.

Anyway the pool offers the opportunity for drills and practice in a more comfortable situation than in the middle of a lake. So, with my left arm being on the brink of problems it seemed a good time to focus on rotation to lift my left side more. Naturally this leads into breathing on that side too. After the usual 200m-with-legs warm-up I did 3 sets with favoured right side breathing, bilateral breathing and finally alternate lengths with left and right breathing. Naturally I was using the pull buoy to ease the load on my arms and retain good posture. Significantly I went at the same pace for both right-sided and bilateral breathing although I needed a single strike more per length. For the final set I was tiring (so out of practice) and so the slow pace for left-sided breathing is not conclusive.

In terms of technique I was aware of a falling right leading arm with left breaths, especially when working that side. My perception was also that I had an untidy body twist in that direction rather than a nice neat roll from the hips.

Over the time I was aware of my shoulder abut it didn't become troublesome, or indeed painful, so this intensity and volume doesn't seem to be a problem.

Bilateral breathing

In today's swim I did a few sets with bilateral breathing. As anticipated my pace was nothing like 1:44 min/100m as suggested from the last data. I don't know what happened there, but today I was around 2:10min/100m which is far more what I would expect. Inbetween a small proportion of the 66m intervals were at 2:00min/100m but I struggled to manage that.

I'm intrigued that as the session went on the bilateral pace was much like my 'fast' dominant side breathing. My chest felt tighter having to maintain the breath for 50% longer and I had perception of rushing but it didn't have much net effect on my pace. Perhaps there is a gain in swimming efficiency by keeping more streamlined which is offset by being closer to an aerobic threshold. This threshold might be centrally governed ('I must breath') rather than really physiological ('there isn't enough oxygen perfusion').

More 66m intervals

Saturday's 'long' swim at Hatfield was a success; further and faster than previously. I suspect that a goodly proportion of the improved pace was due to more controlled sighting and the rest was having more confidence to complete the third lap without taking (unnecessary) breaks at the buoys.

Today I returned to the Cofield pool after it's enforced weekend closure and completed a set of 66m intervals. The first few were within my 40s/length goal but I faded after half a dozen or so. In-between I tired doing breathing every fourth stroke, that seemed long time to keep breathing out for! Then, to break the rhythm I tried bilateral breathing again. Part of the reason for this was that at Hatfield I've suffered with the sun in my eyes a couple of weeks. This sounds rather feeble, but it has been very strong and even with tinted goggles it's been almost painful and certainly made me try to swim away from it! So, if I could look and breathe the other way it would be useful. Anyway, to make the breath last I worked comfortably but with focus. Then, to finish off I did 4 lengths.

I'm sure there must be a mistake somewhere as a pace of 1:44min/100m would be amazing for me. The lengths didn't record properly on my watch so I had to split them but it was certainly an even number and I know it was more than 2!