Disylizzy

Some free training plans: http://halhigdon.com/training/51135/Marathon-Training-Guide/ There are other distances as well.

I have my TT bike that I've been trying to sell... But I'm not sure if it'll be big enough for you... Size medium (54cm)

If I've been out of the water for a while, I also look more down as opposed to forward. But then the stronger I get the easier it becomes to hold my body level. The youtube video that Barend posted is quite cool, as well as the swimsmooth link. Just relax in the water, don't fight it, feel it. Breathing has a huge impact on how comfortable you are too, because if you know you can go one or two more strokes then you don't panic. Btw, I took my watch out again and it counts every time the arm with the watch takes a stroke. I am now officially sick so will wait to go play in the 25m pool.

Guys usually can't kick My very unscientific observation has been that I think men aren't built for it. However when you do practice kicking, which I highly recommend, concentrate on trying to get your hips up (not just your butt). A lot of people usually tend to drag the lower part of their body through the water especially when relying on a kickboard to keep your upper body bouyant. Some drills you can do: Kick on your side - up on your right side and down on your left - this helps quite a lot with kicking strength Kick without a kickboard, arms out infront - helps with thinking about your body position Kick with fins helps keep you more aware of your feet With fins do some fly kicking - do about 200m of it in bouts of 50's and if you do it right you WILL be hurting the next day. Work your way up to doing 200m continuously.

I thought it was June still...

It's generally good form to practic breathing to both sides, even though on race day you only breathe to one side. (If you do it for an extended period of time then your one side is visually stronger/more developed than the other side) But from what you've mentioned, it seems that you need to practice breathing over longer intervals. For endurance swimming you do not want to breathe every 2nd stroke. It's fairly simple to increase your anaerobic capacity by doing hypoxic drills - they are not pleasant, but the more you practice the better and easier it becomes. You can do this while you are pulling (or swimming): 1 x 100 pull - 25 breathe every 3rd, 50 breathe every 5th, 25 breathe every 3rd 1 x 100 pull - 25 breathe every 3rd, 25 breathe every 5th, 25 breathe every 7th, 25 breathe every 9th 1 x 100 pull - 25 breathe every 9th, 25 breathe every 7th, 25 breathe every 5th, 25 breathe every 3rd 1 x 100 pull - 25 breathe every 3rd, 50 breathe every 5th, 25 breathe every 3rd That's just an example, you can modify it to 3,5,7,5 then 5,7,5,3 if you can't do 3,5,7,9. And then once you can do that comfortably, then you work on longer sets of 200

That's was 20+ years of swimming tends to do... But I'm going to try out the pool by my office to see what happens. Cause the watch gives a SWOLF and Efficiency that's rated according to a 25m pool so that it's more universal. I want to see if there's any effect when I am in a longer pool. That's what my friend told me!

I think it's total for both arms, but I want to double check tonight. Still learning how the watch works, but so far it's really awesome!

I just got the 910xt, so used that. That's why I was wondering because on a 20m pool I average 8.2/length... http://connect.garmin.com/activity/203380875 Oh, and the 910 doesn't pick up your kicking!!! Grrr...

OK, so slightly back on topic - how do you guys calculate how many strokes you take? I.e. every arm or one rotation (left and right)?

How do you breathe when you're swimming? i.e. do you breathe in through your nose while you're swimming or in through your mouth?

Well apparently I'm doing backstroke where I'm actually doing freestyle... http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/202421171

Just a quick question for those that have used it for swimming: Have you had any problems with it not recognizing your type of strokes? Oh, and do you know of any preset workouts that you can load for swimming?

Thanks Gerald!

I was being facetious... But thanks for the vote of confidence. My goal is to get back to swimming 1:10min/100m, I'm currently at 1:25-1:30 depending on the day. EDIT: Don't meant to sound full of it, but I have actually never counted my strokes. So I'm curious to see what it is.

I must try this stroke count thing you guys speak of... Will report back on Monday...

Exactly as JGR said it, but the little "rhym" I was taught goes as follows: And do this infront of the mirror... FYI, your head is 12o'clock on a watch Arms above at 12, cup your hand slightly and pull it down infront of you, reaching down to your knee. Then bring your hand along your side, tickling, tickling, tickling up to your arm pit, bring your hand past your ear and reach as far out as what you can, entering the water with your thumb first. And a drill to practice the pulling with yout forearm through the water is swim with your hands closed, ie fists.

Come to CT and I'll show you how to swim...

Just to play devils advocate. Usually there are signs posted, the problem is that the drivers are going too fast and/or not paying attention. And if the area is known to be under construction then the road users should be more vigilant while using that stretch of road.

Did you actually go see an orthopaedic surgeon at all?

I fell and damaged my rotator cuff in January - I'm only just now getting strength back, but still have days when I'm suffering from pain. Swimming helped a lot, and after physio I went and saw a biokineticist who gave me more exercises and that helped with strengthening and reducing the pain in my shoulder much more than physio did. If you want me to send you the exercises, just drop me a PM.

How technical is the 40km? I'm coming off an injury and still a bit "scared" of the crazy stuff.

Cool, thanks for your feedback. It seems the multiple smaller meals throughout the day do the trick for a lot of people.

Just a quick question, why such a large calorie deficit? Aren't you feeling tired/lethargic at all? The general rule of thumb that I've heard is to not go more than 1000 cal deficit. Obviously its working for you though, just curious how it's affecting you other than weight loss?

You can still join!