I had brought my swimming goggles and trunks on vacation and my snorkel gear. When we arrived at the resort I found the beach very calm and great for swimming. Therefore the first day I decided to take a leisurely 40 minute swim on the beach. Well it turned out to be awesome. I loved the open water swimming.
Not only was it an opportunity to practice my skills as a open water swimmer in the ocean it was also an incredible amount of fun. I loved it and had the time of the my life swimming up and down the beach out to the reef and all around in the Caribbean. There were a few reefs right off the beach from the hotel that people were taking boats too. I said screw it and began swimming to the reefs daily. People were snorkeling there and all of the sudden I would swim up and they would be like “who the hell is this guy swimming out the reef”?
We met some couples and they were like holy crap are you that dude who has been swimming all over the beach and I was like “yep”. This British couple we hung out with during the week were teasing me the guy was like “What did you do this morning swim to Jamaica?” Basically I went crazy swimming all over the place. I do not know exactly how much I swam but it was a ton. I was going on multiple swims/day each was in excess of 20 minutes. Some were as long as 45 minutes to 1 hour. It was so much fun and totally exhilarating. I focused on form (Total Immersion Form) and practiced many of the techniques I had read about in Open Water Swimming made easy. I never really stopped or took breaks, I never need too. I basically did free style swimming the whole time during the swimming sessions.
I did throw in a tabata workouts here and there. When doing a tabata session during the rest I would simply tread water. Here is a photo my wife took on 6/17, it was raining at the time and I had just returned from a 30 minute swim. I was pretty tired and just came out of the water.
I do not necessarily consider these workouts since frankly I was just having fun doing open water swimming in the ocean, basically doing whatever I wanted. I felt like I could swim forever and not tire out. It was an awesome feeling. My TI form feels rock solid and after that week my bi lateral breathing feels almost perfect, breathing from either side feels almost flawless. I did bring my open water swimming book with me and what I had noticed was, I was not swimming “on my side” as Terry says in the TI books. The mental note here is the “push your buoy in the water” the buoy being your lat, this helps you roll more effectively while swimming.
I did many many TI drills while on vacation and brought my notes from the video’s with me. Here are the key points that I improved on… they are skills that are reinforced from the fish drill
-Move the water with a sleek bodyline while moving keep your head stationary
-Shoulders should be 90 degree from the water line during recovery (BIG TIME, this keeps the side of your and shoulder line perpendicular to the bottom, this is a huge key skill in having effective body roll)
-The fish drill reinforces these points
-Lay on side ---- while swimming sweet spot face bottom.
6/18/2009
About 2000 meters swam
6/17/2009
4 mile run
3000 meter swam on beach
6/16/2009
2000 meters
6/15/2009
A little Hotel wod...
20 min max rounds
(10 push ups
15 standing crunches
20 air squats max rounds)
22 rounds
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PM 45 minutes swim, 15 minute swim AM
6/14/2009
40 minute swim…
