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Posts tagged with: swim
Dec 27, 2010    |      0 comments

24Hr Dirty Fitness

Being a member of Equinox seriously spoiled me in terms of gym standards. Of course, I get what I pay for, and because the membership is so high, I get it, I get all these extras (cleaner lockers, workout towels, all the toiletries, more classes). I mainly picked Equinox because it was the most convenient to my workplace. It’s a no nonsense turn to the parking lot to and from work. Easy peasy. The main reason why I have my 24 membership is that I signed a contract years and years ago that I’m locked into a pretty cheap annual rate. It’s a good gym backup, plus I like the convenience of having an option if I ever needed to go to the gym at 11pm.

Today, I went to the new 24Hr Fitness closest to my parents house. I haven’t been to a 24 in forever, so coming back to this one was a huge improvement! Really clean machines, nicely lit interior, ample room. The pool is indoors and heated. I guess since I went on a busy hour, obviously, the pool was busy too. Usually, I get the privacy in the Equinox pool because hardly anyone can brave the cold (since it’s on the roof) before entering the water. The pool here started off at 3ft, then gets to 5ft towards the end. You see the photo above? Well, when I went the water was not clear at all. I don’t even remember seeing those lane lines. I went underwater and I could barely see the other end of the pool! I don’t know if it’s dirty, or the way their chlorine is, but it felt really dirty to me.

Sure, I guess you can call it part of triathlon training, because in an actual tri event, there’s no way I’m going to get ideal pool conditions anyway. It was the closest pool I could get to, so I shouldn’t complain. I was able to work on some drills, plus practice some breathing and turning skills my UCLA instructor told me to practice.

Dec 23, 2010    |      0 comments

Back to Basics

There’s only so much the coaches can do on group swim sessions to beginner swimmers, because there’s usually 20 of us (participants) and only a few of them at a given time. It’s pretty amazing what they have to done to me these past 8 weeks in the pool when I had ZERO swim experience. I can float, glide, do a few strokes, and the rest of the drills, but what I’m missing, is quite the most important part, are the swim basics & fundamentals. Yes, like breathing underwater, and treading water. I really need to get private swim lessons to focus on what really needs to happen before I move on. Even my coaches suggested I do so. By the end of January I think we will be doing open water swims, so I really need to step up my swim game to continue. My friend Petty, from the Westside TNT Tri Team is going through the same challenges (I found out when I tweeted seeking for swim coach suggestions). She reached out to her current coach for lessons, but is unavailable, so we were referred to a swim coach in UCLA.

This morning we met up at the Spieker Pool over in the north side of campus at 6:15am. Whoa! That was super early for my taste, but I gotta do what I gotta do! This pool was probably the nicest pool I’ve ever seen, as it had a modern design, super clean, seemed like professionals were in the pool, coaches on the sidelines – pretty much what you’d see on TV. Of course, it’s funded by some UCLA alums, so it has to be that state of the art. Petty and I met with Julia, our new swim instructor. We were both surprised that there was no shallow end of this pool! I think 8ft was the most shallow. Oh uh! We were so hesitant to get in that pool. “What? How do we… umm… where do I… what… where?!” hahaha! She had us put on some fins to help us float and navigate, but she had us go through some breathing drills by just having us submerge in water, blowing out air bubbles and go up for 1 second to grab air. We pretty much did that for a good 20 minutes, from stationary, to spanning the side of the pool. We also used the kick board moving across the lane, but also focusing on getting that breathing down. We had fins the whole time, with her sometimes testing us to see if we could go in the middle without having to grab something for support. We did a few rotation exercises, and flutter kicks as well. Being this is the first class, I haven’t been more comfortable in the water. She was really good at making us relax in the water, and to get rid of our deep end fears. We will meet again next week at 6am, but she wants us to get as much pool time as we can, so I bet she will make us take off those fins and do some basic swims.

Dec 21, 2010    |      0 comments

Body Rolls in the Rain

No, not THAT kind of body roll (above), but body rolls & rotation in relation to swimming. Tonight was another coached practice at the Culver City Plunge. It was raining, but it didn’t matter because we were going to get wet in the pool anyway. As long as it wasn’t a lightning storm, we should be ok. Again, it was a huge challenge, but it was actually the best one yet. I was actually able to do a freestyle swim (although sloppy) across the pool! I still had issues breathing, but like I mentioned earlier, it was mainly due to my body position. That’s exactly what I need to focus on. I know it’s tough to manage 20 or so participants in the pool, let alone help a super beginner, so the coaches suggested I seek outside help to get me up to speed. Understandable, and yes, I really need it. Ultimate deadline to get swimming is at the end of January, where I think the first open water swim will occur. I’m determined, so I’ll start to look for options and do whatever it will take to get swimming!

Dec 20, 2010    |      0 comments

Swimming Infants

Today’s a training rest day, so I spent some time looking up videos on YouTube for swimming tips & basics. I came across this video where an infant is SWIMMING. If an infant can do it, I can do it!

Dec 17, 2010    |      0 comments

Masters Swimming

Nope, that’s still not me in that image. That’s what I found out I need to be working on though – trying to get to my side after a stroke. Once I get that down, I can finally breathe correctly. Determined to get my swim down, I went to Equinox’s pool after work, and it just so happens that the Masters Swim class was at 7pm. No one showed up to the class, but the instructor was happy to show me some drills and pointers since he was there. I’m finally swimming getting from one side to the other, but still very sloppy. He pointed out my head has to stay underwater, like as if I was on a skewer, and I turn side to side. That was the same comment that Coach Jason told me a few days ago too. Everything still wasn’t fluid. When I was concentrating on my arm stroke, I stop kicking, and sometimes I even hold my breathe trying to get to point to point. I still have to work on getting relaxed in the water, and I don’t have to be in a rush to get to the other side. I had a few good strokes in, but inconsistent. The instructor said that once I get my head position correctly, things will eventually come together. I’m just glad I know exactly what to do, I just have to keep practicing. It’s almost like when I was first learning how to drive stick, it was choppy at first, but now it’s effortless and I don’t even think about it. That’s my goal.

Nov 10, 2010    |      0 comments

Am I at a Vacation Resort?!

Determined to improve my swim, I went to my gym (Equinox South Bay)’s rooftop pool for the first time this morning. Whoa! I was blown away! It kinda looked like a nice resort, or a downtown LA rooftop pool, like the W or The Standard. Nice! I could get used to this. The point from the locker room to the actual pool was pretty cold (LA cold that is), but the pool itself is heated. One girl was swimming, but I don’t think many people utilize it, which is great for me! Less people to see how bad my swim technique (or lack of it) is. I took one of those floaty boards and just practiced getting my flutter kick the whole time. Our drills at this point doesn’t include any arm movement (yet), but it focuses on getting horizontal in the water, and being able to efficiently kick in the water. Kick, kick, kick, kick, kick… until I was somewhat used to it. By the end of the hour and half, I was actually better! As long as there’s some improvement, I’m happy.

Kick, kick, kick… keep on kicking.

Nov 9, 2010    |      0 comments

First IronTeam Swim

Ok, I could have EASILY said, “No, I’m not going to join the IronTeam because I don’t know how to swim yet.”

I didn’t.

Crazy as it may sound, I never really had a doubt in my mind that I’ll eventually learn how to swim during this whole adventure. I was just a matter of WHEN. I’ve never been so determined to do this, and it’s such a rush because of it! I’ve taken my marathon training mentality to the swim, and just told myself I have to be patient, and trust that my coaches will get me through the finish line because four years ago, the TNT coaches made me from a video gaming couch potato to an addicted marathon runner.

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