Good Swim

My last several swim days have been fairly easy, so I decided to push a little harder today.
500 m warm up at a fairly brisk pace, 9 min 31 seconds.
50 m kick
50 m breast stroke
250 m drill, 5 x 50 m freestyle pulling hard, mostly 16 strokes per 25 m on 1:15 start.
50 m kick
50 m breast stroke
50 m back stroke (And yes, there was a minor backflushing, but more body rotation mitigates the effect.) (And no, we won't even talk about the affair the ropes and my thumb were having.)
500 m drill 10 x 50 m in 50 seconds, on 1:15 start. (some were a bit slower.)
100 m easy cooldown.
Total is 1600 m if I've done the math right.

Then I did 15 minutes of pool pilates in the dive tank. This has really improved core strength and flexibility. One example for you to contemplate. Hold onto the edge of the pool with your arms straight, and toes touching the side, feet together. Sort of like a full push up position, only your body is vertical. Leaving arms where they are, and not lifting body up, or letting it sink, move your toes outward along the wall, and upward. Hang onto pool edge. Slowly slide toes along pool wall, lifting them higher and further apart, using core muscles. Tuck butt under and continue pushing. Stop when you have gone as far as you can, then slowly lower them.

When I started doing them the furthest up my toes could go was mumblety feet below the water line. Today, my toes go less than 11 inches from the surface. I know this because about 11 inches down there is a band of black tiles that stick out a bit from the rest of the wall. I can get my toes well above that band. Maybe soon I'll be able to get them out of the water.

Today's swim was in the fast pool, as I think of it. At various times there were people in the next lane swimming at about my speed or even faster. That's great for encouragement. I feel about the same about swimming as Greg does about biking. I didn't really want to get out of the pool, but it was getting crowded and I had to get to work.

Those that have read this far get a bonus tidbit of information. When I checked my heart rate first thing this morning, I got 49 bpm. I didn't believe that so I waited a few minutes and did it again. This time I got 45. That's certainly the lowest I've ever seen it, but bear in mind I was waking up in a position where all I had to do to see the clock was to open my eyes, and I could already feel my heart rate without having to move my hands. Lastly, a number for future reference. 255. Never mind. Move along, nothing to see here. Situation is under control.

I'm not sure about weekend plans. I'd like to get on the bike tonight and do some one legged drills. Tomorrow is supposed to be a nice day. Hopefully nice enough to go for an actual bike ride. And maybe, if I'm feeling really, really ambitious, a short easy run after the bike ride. If I do that I figure I'll have earned my Wheaties for the day.