I usually swim at the Triangle Sportsplex in Hillsborough, NC. During off hours, I have ten lanes all to myself. I chat with a friendly lifeguard named Chuck. It’s a great place for a swim.
Recently, I’ve been trying out the newly renovated Chapel Hill Community Center Pool, which is much closer to home…saves on gas money. It’s a popular swim spot, so I always have to share a lane. This last time, my lane-mate was doing butterfly and breaststroke and hogging the lane. To keep from bumping into him, I was trying to stay close to the lane line on my side. I was vaguely aware that the knuckle of my left hand would sometimes hitt the lane line. After about 45 minutes, my hand started to feel sore. I looked down and noticed the knuckles were red and irritated. It then dawned on my that it was due to hitting the lane line. I tried hard to prevent this from happening again, but without success; and, it really hurt toward the end. Here’s what my hand looked like the next day:
I was doing a workout from Gale Bernhardt’s book, Swim Workouts in a Binder. This book really helps me stay focused during swim sessions. Last month I came up with an “off season” idea – go through the Endurance swim section in this book page by page, in order. Usually, I just glance through the book and pick a page that appeals to me. However, I tend to pick the same few workouts, and avoid those with lots of kicking or really long sets (like today’s).
Here’s what I did:
Endurance #6, page 24
Warmup:
300 SW 300 K 300 Pull
200 SW 200 K 200 Pull
Main Set:
1 x 1000 DESC 200s, 1-5
Cooldown:
300 (every third DPS)
During the 1000, I checked my time at the end of each 200. I did this by lifting my head as if sighting a buoy and glancing up at the timing clock. When doing descending or negative split workouts, I don’t use a lap timer or stop watch. I just look at the swim clock and start at when the timer is at the top. I go for 60 seconds per lap (50 yards) as my starting pace. So, for the first 200, the second hand should be back at the top again. Then I try to cut 5 seconds per 50 yards off each set. So, for the next 200, the second hand should be at the 40 mark, etc.
When I finished the first 200, the second hand was at the 30 mark. I thought “holy crap, I’m either swimming really fast today, or horribly slow!” So, I did a 50 and glanced at the clock to check my time on just one lap – and I was swimming 65+ seconds per 50. “I’m pretty sure this pool is yards, but maybe it’s meters. It better be meters!” is what went through my mind. I finished the workout not stressing about this, and just focused on getting faster with each successive 200.
When I got home, I checked the Community Center Pool website, and the pool is indeed meters. Phew!
Wow, your hand looks bad. I hope it heals soon. I don’t like sharing myself, and I have been lucky this winter to have to rarely share a lane. Soon school will be out and I will likely be sharing a lane through the summer months–oh well.
Bob