Cutting down my 30 laps swim PB by 90s in 2.5mths....

About half a year ago in April, I posted about starting long swim since feb...I was then doing 30laps in 40:12min

2 months later in June, I cut down my 30laps to 37:00min

Another 2 months later in August...I tried out new techniques to my stroke and managed to cut my time further to 35:00min

Another 2 months has passed, in the last 2 months, still keeping to 2 swim sessions per week (Wed and Sun) I increased my swim distance to 50 laps.......I dun go for fast and tough swim because tuesday I would be in the gym so Wed my swim needed muscles will still be sore......and Sat is usually my long run and sunday swim will be slow but long for recovery of lower body from the previous day run and to increased stamina of upper body...

Today is a bit different....I din go gym yesterday but went for a run so my upper body is fully rested for the swim.....a strong swimmer was swimming beside me giving a bit of motivation to swim faster (although I am much slower than her).........I managed to cut down 90s off my previous best 2 months ago and hit 33:23min for 30 laps

The graph below shows the progression for my timed 1.5km swim from May....other swim sessions longer or shorter than 1.5km are not in...that's y the data are few on the graph

I hope I will continue to swim and make it part of weekly schedule to keep myself healthy

Current Read: The Man Who Swam The Amazon

I was scanning the shelf for something to occupy my time on the bus to work everyday when I came upon this RED little book!!! The title sure caught my attention...

The MAN in the book is Martin Strel...4 Cuinness World Records on Ultra-long distance swimming....Mississipi, Yangze,Danube,Nile and in 2007....THE AMAZON filled with pirates,anacondas,piranhas and crocodiles......

The official website is at www.amazonswim.com....a movie is even released about his amazon journey...titled TheBigRiverMan

Sundance 2009 with Martin

Amazing guy...amazing story...I am not even 20% of the book and the journey is getting very crazy

Longest ever swim in my life

I am a weak swimmer.....my front crawl is slower than people's breast stroke.....my breast stroke is much faster than my front crawl

Started regular weekly swim in mid-April...I have been swimming at least once a week and at least once a week of 30 laps....at the same time, I tried to improve my technique for front crawl...look like there is some results:

After taking a 2 day exercise break.....I went for a swim after work....wanted to try and do 10 more than my usual and I did it!

10 laps (0.5km) - 12:18

10 laps (0.5km) - 12:32

10 laps (0.5km) - 12:28

10 laps (0.5km) - 12:21

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Surprisingly, my slower 10 lap is my second 10s, my last 10 laps is just 3 sec slower than my 1st 10s......I did a negative split for 2nd half is only 1sec faster than my first half........my speed is very consistent actually......I think I can go for 10 laps more...maybe 3 moer months, I will try that..

My longest swim in my life using front crawl

Chinese Total Immersion book......

Saw this TI swimming book in a Taipei bookshop...

Looking at the row of chinese names at the bottom of the cover...for those who do not know how to read chinese..the first name on the left is the President of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou...Wow..they even get him to endorsed TI swimming......

Monday is closed!!!

I went down to Sengkang Swimming Complex again to check out the weekday crowd and saw this pasted at one of the door:

At east they spend one whole day to clean the pool here...hopefully next time it gets cleaner

The competition pool has some class going on...but at least is only one group occupying 4 lanes...all swim very fast...seems to be some swim team....even small boy also swim very fast

The pool is cleaner now...at the least the mud stain at the walls are removed...but still got stains at the floor....

managed to swim 12 laps continuous......but not very good form...need to swim more...but at this pool.....coming here 2 times equal to going somewhere else 3 times...btw, stored value card discount does not seems to apply for this pool as well....so weekday is still $1.50 compared to other normal pool which cost $0.90

Sengkang Sports Complex or Sengkang Swimming Pool or Anchorvale CC is here on the map:

2nd day of the newly opened Sengkang Swimming Complex

Took the LRT from Renjong station to Farmway to reach the newly opened Sengkang Swimming Complex...the view of Buangkok mrt and the newly built flats

The Sengkang Sports Complex:

Beside the Sports Complex is the Anchorvale Community Centre

From the swimming pool entrance, this is what you can see......it actually consist of 6 sections: indoor olympic size training pool of depth 1.2m, olympic size outdoor competition pool, playground pool, baby pool, jacuzzi pool and slides pool..click to see bigger photo:

The indoor 8 lanes olympic size pool...i thought is another competition pool until i swam a length of it and found it to be 1.2m thruout.....water here is cold...i think because is sheltered......not many pple swimming here...pool is cloudy when I swam there.......

you can see the jacuzzi pool in the foreground....it got 3 outlets for a person....one for lowerback and 2 for each calf of both legs.....good for post-run massage...background is the slides area...I tried it and is fun...like last time big splash but shorter......favourite of the kids and teenagers

The playground pools for the families

another view of the playground pool

the slides from another view:

This is the compeition pool...I was shocked at the condition under water.....the water is clear but a lot of sand particles at the pool floor.....mud stains also....and one side of the pool wall was full of mud stain.....not a lot of swimmers....but cannot justify the condition......although stadium construction is beside but 2nd day of opening cannot cause so much mud stain.....i complaint to the lifeguard about it...........like pasir ris beach water....8-(

stayed till 8pm...the flood lights are strong..the whole place was very bright at nite...click to see bigger photo:

the indoor training pool at nite

openning hours and entry fees

saw a club-fitt gym nearby

the machine inside

1km long, 35m deep swimming pool!!!!!

lousy swim doesnt mean slow swim......

The sky was glommy when I stepped out of office....then raindrops keep falling on my head as I walked to catch the bus....based on observation of the wind and the sky...it was just passing shower and I got it right.....by the time I reached the entrance, it stopped

As per last week, a big group of life saving course swimmers were sitting at the grandstand listening to some lecture...the tall one, the GP teacher and babu was in teh class occupying the 3 lanes......there was about 10 swimmers when I arrived but by 8pm, I am the only "public" swimmer around.....the life saving course din came down to the pool....so I have 5 lanes to myself

The pool was so clean that I almost can see from one end to the other......unfortunately, it was a bad swim day......I do not seems to be able to warm up my engine....I was swimming "without feeling the water".....as a result..cannot feel fatigue also.....my nerve system seems to go haywired.....I was struggling to fight against the water

I decided to went ahead with my laps.....first 10 laps, I finished in 13:16min.....that was fast considering the condition I am in.....still stuggling and I tried to swim slower......finished the second in 13:14min...wow...2sec faster somemore......i wanted to stop but something inside me ask to continue.....i went ahead with a struggling stroke......and I was surprised I finished the last 10 in 13:08min! even faster than my first 2...and probably my PR for 10laps......so finished 1.5km in 39:40min....so I also clocked my fastest 1km swim so far at 26:31min

I took a rest and continued to do some slow swim.....normally, by now, I should warm up...but the same numbness feeling is there...nothing seems to be right.....

worst of all.....my hip dun feel good....

Because of my hip, I decided to rest 2 days after my last sunday swim and stop doing my tuesday run....i thought swimming supposed to be non-impact.....but after every swim, my hip seems to get worst...and after every run, it seems to recover.....maybe I should run more

How to swim beautifully like a fish!!

LDS: Long Distance Swim

About 2 months ago, I started to incorporate swimming into my exercise program....I managed to keep it consistent for past 8 weeks..I would go for at least one swim per week...last few weeks, I actually went for 2....

I tried going to Jalan Besar Swimming complex on sunday afternoon and the timing is perfect...not much swimmers and I am able to do laps easily....it was recent weeks that I started to swim after work during weekday nite that I tried to look for a suitable pool...

first with Geylang East which is quite ulu but was a disaster...hit with a water aerobic class that resulted in only 2 lanes that is able to swim full 50m laps....a lot of swimmers...too crowded to do proper swim...

Second, I went Jalan Besar....nice place to reach from my office....crowd is so so...still managable but 2 classes of children swim classes came and cause a lot of disruption....only after 8pm that the pool is good enough for laps

And this evening, I tried the one nearest to my office and the supposed to be very ulu........

I reached the pool very early at about 6:35pm.......saw the sign that 3 lanes will be closed for swimming lesson from 6:45pm and 8:45pm....then I met babu in the changing room then I found out that Alex's classes has shifted to here every tues and wed....

Saw a big group of people eating and chatting by the pool...the pool has only < 10 swimmers and I managed to do reasonable warm up swim...then saw Mr Sotong and Miss Lin as well who are joining Alex's class....then I realised the 3 lanes are reserved for them....that is good as I heard a big crowd is coming down for the class

I started my LONG DISTANCE Swim and managed to have proper clear path.....the first 10 laps are fien and I clocked 13:11min....as I continue, I realised that less swimmers are in the pool....the big crowd has changed to their swim attire and a briefing was conducted for them....second 10 laps took 13:30min.....i thought of stopping but my body has warmed up and decided to go for another 10.....i went on and finished the last 10 in 13:31min...so I took 40:12min for 1.5km...no a bad one and I was able to maintained the consistent speed for last 20 laps

Then the large crowd was splitted into 3 groups with an instructor for each....and they occuppied 3 different sides of the pool...then i realised is a life-saving class.....the whole pool was occupied and luckily public swimmers left only 2!!! Me and another old man using lane 4....I was doing some easy laps until Alex's class ended and joined the Tall one and the Ang Mo very good one for a nice Yong Tou Hu at Jalan Besar

Considered I only started consistent swimming 8 weeks ago, it was a big improvement in my swim time.....My first timing for 1km was 2 weeks again and I took 28:47min...within 2 weeks, I managed to cut down 2min to 26:41min.....damn...I started to get addicted.....