Swimming Progress

I've started following the recommended exercises for Total Immersion swimming. I agree with the logic that I'm not swimming in Tri's so much to win the leg but to do it in a reasonable amount of time and have energy left for the other two legs. With that in mind, I hit the pool today to work on technique.

Fist Gloves ON.

The first 10 minutes I spent getting an average SPL (strokes per length) number at a comfortable pace, with fist gloves. The number worked out to about 25.

I then did 10x50 repeats with a goal of 23 SPL, making me pay attention to form and slowing down a bit. I was able to do that successfully, with flip turns, for the first few repeats. I decreased to 21 SPL's for the next 3, and then 19 for the following 3. 19! This is what I was doing without fist gloves last week!

Fist Gloves OFF.

Bare-handed I got down to 17 SPL! 17!!! I was swimming at decent speed, silently, saving energy, breathing correctly. It felt great and when I got out, I felt like I could do the whole workout again! This is going to really affect my race planning as I feel, with more work of course, that I can swim much longer now. Time will tell.