Monday Night SCAQ Swim

February 20, 2017

President’s Day is a holiday that my office doesn’t observe. However, due to the rain our city experienced over the weekend, our office had no power. We all showed up bright and early on Monday morning, but by 10:45 am I was headed home. It was a fantastic impromptu holiday! I did some work in the garden and ran a few errands, but mostly spent the day on the couch in pajamas. It. Was. Glorious. That said, by the time 5:00 pm rolled around and I needed to get ready to head to the SCAQ workout, I was feeling rather sluggish.

I still made it out and I was VERY glad I did. The pool was drizzly and I was probably one of ten who was there. The coach was a substitute but the substitute was the founder of the SCAQ! Olympic silver medalist Clay Evans!!

With just a few of us in the pool, Clay made sure to check in with all of us on how our swimming was. I told him what Kristie had told me – that I would swim faster if I moved my arms faster – and he laughed. He said he would watch me swim to see if he could identify any changes I could make. After a few laps he told me that he knew what was wrong. It wasn’t that my arms were not moving fast enough, it was that I wasn’t breathing enough. He said that I needed more oxygen, and told me to breath every two strokes instead of four. He said I would knock at least 5 seconds off my 100 free time.

Before:

I tried the suggestion out and I felt like I was all over the place. My head was whipping back and forth and it felt like I could not find a rhythm with my stroke. After a 100, he said he had filmed me and asked for my number so he could text it to me. He said that my stroke looked even, I looked strong, and I had shaved off 8 seconds from the 100 free. It seems the chaos I was feeling was all in my head. In fact, I was swimming better and – believe it or not – faster! 

After:

The Workout (what I remember):

  • 350 warm up
  • 4x50 kick, 4x50 swim
  • 2x300, 2x200, 2x150, 3x100, 3x50, with 75 kick in between
  • 2x150 with 75 kick in between
  • 100 cool down
Amanda PrevendarCulver City Plunge