Flashes of Panic

I did a swimming workout with my brother on Sunday, and did about 1700y, which is a bit more than half of what I “should” be doing, but about three times more than I’ve done in one session since Thanksgiving, due to the shoulder. Sure, a lot of it was pushing the kick board, but he also showed me the three different “sculling” drills and I did quite a bit of that. Sculling involves hauling oneself down the pool without, say, moving one’s arms above the elbow. I think of it as proof that you actually can get somewhere with a lot of hand-waving.

The three drills focus on hand position at the catch (hands out), halfway through the stroke (hands at shoulder level) and at the end of the stroke (hands at waist level.) They really load your forearms. He showed me how the catch involves loading a series of muscles from forearms down to the shoulders, and since all of them are pulling on the others, a weak link will eventually strain. Then he showed me how different degrees of torso twist involve different chains of muscles, and thus perhaps my tendency not to breathe on the left is responsible for me straining my left shoulder and not my right.

I wonder if I’ll be functional in time to try the One Hour Swim this year. I wonder if I’ll be able to do it somewhere I can get a lap counter.

Now Playing: Sound from Getting Away With It… Live (Disc 2) by James