Even as I wrote last time about every workout being swim practice, there was a part of my training I’d neglected.  I am really bad at flip turns, and it is a source of embarrassment for me.

My swim team trained kids haven’t been much help in the past.  My son just thinks I’m pitiful, while my daughter would admonish me not to flail my arms so much.

But now she’s swimming with me, and she is much more helpful.  She even went down the lane with me, she on kickboard, I swimming freestyle.  First she corrected my error of taking a last ditch effort front facing breath before going into the turn.  She had told me not to do that before, that it slows you way down.  But this time, she also told me what to do instead:  take a big breath on the last breath and then go into the turn.  I’ve been working on my breathing enough that this is doable now.

Turning from the back is tricky.  I’d watched Coach Vince tell the kids to count their backstroke to the wall and turn around on the last stroke.  I know that after the flags, I have five strokes before I should turn over to go into my flip turn.  But my turns, especially in shallow water are very clumsy.  In the shallow water, I go way too deep after the turn and brush the bottom of the pool.  In the deep water, I try to come up too soon, and inhale water through my nose.  Talk about a chlorine headache!  And a mistake like that usually means I’m done practicing flip turns for the day!

I was driven to perfect them this time.  My competitive drive got the better of me.  I saw another black woman in the pool.  She was a good swimmer, who did effortless flip turns.  Here I am with my stroke getting more and more refined, yet I can’t do a basic flip turn.  Flip turn, thy time has come!

On another note, I decreased my back stroke by another stroke, sometimes 2, and it did translate to better IM times.  My first IM came in at 2:45.88, and my second time was even better, if only slightly:  2:45.05.  I also increased my freestyle and backstroke yardage to 400 each. My total yardage for the day was 1300.