Accomplishing More by Doing Less

Just because I haven’t been blogging doesn’t mean I haven’t been training.  I started my new job on Monday December 5^th and so my schedule is all over the place.  Fortunately the company I now work for is pretty understanding about my training schedule.  They still don’t know why I joined up with Team in Training but I made it very clear in the interview that this is a huge priority for me.

If you’re up to speed on this blog (and I hope you’ve read my previous entries) you’ll know that the last time I posted was on December 3^rd after spin class and swim evaluation.  I like Coach Joe’s style because he’s all about technique; just like me.  Back in my pool playing days I could always go back to my fundamental techniques to find out why I was playing poorly on any given day.  I’m a firm believer that conscious technique is the only way to improve and be consistent.  Practice technique and it becomes subconscious.

I didn’t get any additional training after spin and evaluation until the following Tuesday night when I went out to swim with the team and Coach Joe at Suffolk Community College.  I had to get my fitness evaluation done and then figured I’d go back to Hofstra every Tuesday to train with those folks.  That’s not going to happen and here’s why.  The long version of course.

When I went to swimming at Hofstra Coach Steve was all about “do 4x25” (translation: 100 meters) or “do 6x25.”  Then we did drills.  Of course I found out on my video analysis that I could do drills all day long and not improve because my technique was awful.  Remember my shoulder pain?  This past Tuesday I went to SCCC and was told to count how many strokes it took me to go 100 meters.  I would count each stroke every 25 meters and then have 4 numbers at the end.  Like this:

25m = 24 strokes

25m = 25 strokes

25m = 22 strokes

25m = 23 strokes

So in the beginning I was averaging 23.5 strokes per 100 meters and it was taking me roughly 2:10.  Coach Joe told me to glide more and consider technique instead of strokes.  By the end of the hour I was able to go 100 meters using an average of 18 strokes and my time was 2:01.  So let me get this straight…I do less, make it farther and go faster?  I call that an improvement in efficiency.  I now plan on going out to SCCC every Tuesday to train.  It’s tough to find improvement when swimming and the fact that Coach Joe can quantify it and tell me where I am is immensely helpful in my mind.  It’s not for everyone but I like it!

While it takes an extra half hour to get to SCCC versus Hofstra from my apartment I think it’ll definitely be worth the trek.  After all, swimming a mile while hardly doing anything takes a lot of effort!