Another chi class, slowly easing out of recovery.

This morning I drafted off another swimmer, and made it work. I've always been dubious about the swimming draft. My reasoning is that if you swim through still water, you have to force yourself through it, and it will flow around you. But if you're in someone's draft, you're swimming in turbulent bubbly water that's already flowing against you to some extent. It should be harder for that turbulent water to flow around you and you have to overcome the resistance of whatever is flowing against you.

Yet the lady I was sharing a lane with has proved me wrong. She was back and forth like clockwork, slowly gaining on me. I could push harder and stay ahead for a bit, then I'd ease off and she'd gradually close the gap. Eventually she caught me and I let her by. Then I got on her feet and I was going to swim my brains out to stay there as long as possible. Colour me astonished to find I didn't have to work all that hard to keep up. I was clocking faster laps, and not working as hard. Then she stopped. I said thanks for the draft and kept going. All of a sudden I had to work harder again, and I slowed down a bit.

It still added up to a 19 minute K, and 1550 m in 30 min. Except for the draft laps, 5 or maybe 6 of them, this was between a medium and strong effort. Then another 30 minutes of core work with some deep water running, again, without the sissy belt. I'm impressed; this is more of a workout than I thought it would be.

I was a bit worried about tonight's Chi Running class because this afternoon was cool and cloudy. However, that cleared and it actually got hot when it came time to ride up to North Glenmore park. The ride up and ride back was about 45 minutes altogether, putting a bit more effort into it but still working on keeping an easy spin.

Lots of good stuff in the Chi class, I'm counting it as 1.5 hr workout. These are mostly notes for myself based on what Grant said. You can read Chi Running by Danny and Katherine Dreyer and get all this as well. I won't say it as well, so the rest of this will likely bore you.

Review posture, feet straight, weight balanced, soft knees, elongate back, set head, neutral pelvis, align column. Did loosening exercises, ankles, knees, hips, pelvis/low back, shoulders. Get an electronic metronome and check running to be sure cadence is 85 to 90 rpm. When I've checked this using a stopwatch, I'm around 85. Don't count using feet, pretend you're pushing a button with your elbow. Cadence always stays the same, to run faster lean forward and the stride will lengthen.

Three paces normally, warmup, training, and racing. Running from bears doesn't really count; you'll know when to use it. Long warmup, slow walk, medium, then brisk. Then warmup run, very slow. Training pace should allow you to breath through your nose. Cool down, reverse of warm up. Stop and do loosening exercises if anything is still tight. Running should be relaxed.

Up a gradual hill. Lean forward, pump arms up almost punching self in chin. Short strides. Make sure heel lands on ground, maintain mid-sole strike. Down, allow stride to lengthen, pick up heels, allow hips to move and absorb impact.

Up steep hill, turn feet sideways, pump bottom arm hard, upper arm less so, maintain posture. Down, peel up heels, roll ankles, take tiny fast steps.