Back balance, sweet spot, fish, skate, zipper – do you know what I am talking about?

I dropped Binita off to the airport this morning. She is going back her childhood home to Michigan to help her mother pack for her move (permanent) to Arizona.

Straight from the airport, I went to Lifetime Fitness for an hour-long run on the treadmill. My right calf that was hurting for the past couple of days is back to normal. It was probably just sore from my long run on Wednesday. Today’s run on the treadmill was pretty intense. In an hour, I ran almost 7.8 miles with a slow warm-up and a slow cool-down. For most of the run, I was running at sub-7:30 pace peaking at sub-7 pace.

At 11AM, I went for my first one-on-one swim lesson with Anne Wilson at the Jewish Community Center. They have a 25-yard pool that is quite nice! I grew up as a competitive swimmer (sprints) but never had any sophisticated coaching like the one I had this morning. It was a series of alignment and breathing drills that will help me become a much more efficient (and therefore faster) swimmer. Here’s a synopsis of my drills (excerpted from Anne’s email):

  1. Back Balance
  2. Sweet Spot
  3. Fish
  4. Skate
  5. Zipper Skate
  6. Zipper Switch
Sounds complicated, doesn’t it? For most of these drills, I feel like I am about to drown. Anne’s final words in her email, “Above all, relax!!” I’ll try.

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