Backstroke Blues

Today was a swim day. (Note, all swimming is freestyle unless noted otherwise.)
250 m gradually speeding up warmup.
100 m backstroke.
4 x 50 m 45 seconds, on 1:15 start.
250 m working on specific parts of stroke. Particularly catch, keeping elbows up, forward quadrant elements, breathing every 5 strokes, every 7 strokes (gack).
300 m at moderate pace, trying to put all elements together, trying to swim so as to disturb the fewest number of water molecules.
100 m cool down.
15 min pool pilates in dive tank.

My problem with backstroke is that I haven't fully nailed down the stroke and breathing mechanics again. Today, this led to my sinuses getting backflushed pretty good, several times. There's a pause in my stroke, and it's like I slide backwards into the water, not unlike a ship being launched. I think I need to get a bit more body rotation going and get the arms back over my head out front quicker. If it works during freestyle, it stands to reason it will work in back stroke. Next time.

The good news was sharing the lane with someone that could swim just a little bit faster than me. That's no big news at the pool I used to swim at, but was a bit of a surprise at this one. Don't get me wrong, a nice surprise! I just hope he didn't think I was one of the geezers. The funny part of the morning was watching a guy trying to dive. He'd stand there, swinging arms back and forth, up and down, pumping his knees, then he'd leap as if hungry flesh-eating predators were after him. At the last possible second his knees would relax, and he'd go into the water like a falling tree. Ouch.

The run tomorrow morning should be interesting; it's supposed to snow tonight. I'm already trying to psych myself to run outside come what may. And with any luck at all, my bike shoes will come in and I can join the spin class after work.