4 Swim Catch Up: Tu, Wed, Fri, Sun
I had a great swim today in the Village. I have a new routine in which I swim the first thirty laps underwater. Then I swim ten difficult back strokes, then ten easy backstrokes. It adds up to 50 lengths and takes me thirty-five minutes with five minutes of stretching afterwards. It's a fun routine because it gets progressively easier. I had a funny encounter in the locker room today:
Scene: I am in the locker room getting dressed, and a petite, fit, tan thirty-something woman walks in to the locker room in her work-out clothes (s/p her workout) and looks on the bench at another woman's wet swim suit. I am at the other end of the bench and quickly want to clarify that the suit is not mine, because the woman has a look on her face that's angry at that wet suit on the bench.
Me: "That's not mine! I don't know whose it is!" This is a lie because I just swam with the girl whose suit it is.
The lady shakes her head like it is just awful, that wet suit directly on the bench.
I want to exchange some locker room banter, so I say, "I don't know why people do that!" The truth is that I don't mind the wet suit at all.
The girl whose suit it is gets back, and I get excited about the possible upcoming confrontation which I plan to stay out of entirely.
The angry lady says in a sarcastic tone, "That's really considerate of you to put your wet suit there so that no one can sit down."
The girl wipes the bench with her towel and stammers a quiet apology. She's a great swimmer. She goes off to change in a changing area instead of with us.
Then the angry lady gets on her cell phone even though it's a cell free zone in the locker room. I am all about gym rules, so I'm thinking over and over, "She's breaking a rule! Someone should call her on it!" (No pun intended).
She connects to a hotel employee on her phone and says, "Put Liz on in Room 421." Then there is a pause and says, "We were just talking. She knows who this is." Then she says, "Liz, I want you to meet me in fifteen minutes at the corner of Washington and Horatio. WASHINGTON AND HORATIO. I'm want to photograph you with some grafitti that I found." Then she pauses and says, "Wear those gym shoes. I like those gym shoes." She pauses and then asks me for a pen. I am quick to give her one, and she is thankful. I love it when mean people are nice to me!
5 Comments:
Thanks for your comments on my last post. I answered most of them below.
What a bizarre interaction. Or bizarre woman, it seems.
RE: Use of weights to increase speed while swimming.
My apologies to your regular readers for this interjection into the flow of your comment section which I am doing at your request.
Quite frankly I'm not sure the use of weights generally is all that beneficial to increasing speed when swimming. This goes back to a long time theory that the use of weights decreases the flexibility of the muscles you are using. Certainly weights can be a beneficial part of an overall conditioning programming..that said:
1. The main muscles which are key to swimming speed are those of the upper back since these are the ones that provide the torque which propels you forward and ninety percent of swimming speed over 100 yards is coming from arm activity.(Leg muscles in flutter kicking use up about 75 % of your oxygen when kicking hard (6-8 beats a stroke) and exhaust you, your kick when doing crawlstroke or back stroke is 2-4 beats when you swim and this is really being used to "balance" the rest of your stroke or your feet would sink slightly and "drag".
If one of these fitness centers you visit has a "pullover" machine, this is the best one to strengthen the upper back. A pullover machine has "pads" built in for placement of you elbows
Lacking that machine here is something you can do at home:
Get a "heavy" book. (don't start with a five inch thick dictionary..this is harder than it sounds).
Put the book on the floor and then lay on the floor on your back so that you can grasp the book with your hands both straight back behind your head. Keeping your arms straight bring the book 90 degrees from floor above your head. Carefully bring the book down behind your head to the floor and then stretch your arms out straight then do it again. That is the basic movement which will strengthen you upper back. A competitive swimmer would do this same movement with a bar bell if he didn't have a pullover machine available. Start out easy do about 10-12 "reps" and rest 2 days before you do it again.
Probably the best way to increase speed is the use of hand paddles. You may have seen individual lap swimmers using them. What a hand paddle does is force you to discover the optimum movement of your arms through the water. If you aren't holding your hand in the right position when you "pull" you won't go anywhere. After you get your hands in the right position you will find that moving it in a certain path propels you faster than other paths. Hand paddles cost between twelve and fifteen dollars a pair and are available at sporting goods stores that cater to swimmers.
You probably do this anyway but if you don't the way you push off the wall affects your speed. Make sure when you push off that your arms when in the water are as straight as can be and your hands pointed together toward where you are going. Start your arm stroke slightly before the glide ends.
I hope some of this has been helpful to you. You seem to be a personable individual. Don't be afraid to ask the lifeguard or swimmers you admire to critique your stroke. They may notice something which will make a difference right away. You certainly are putting the effort in!
Wow. Sounds like you've got a tough swim workout.
Good stuff!
Polar Bear
Nice going Jenny Kate.
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