Progress

I read this on Facebook the other day. It cracked me up:

If the opposite of pro is con, then what must be the opposite of progress?

Anyway, this will be short. So I finally timed myself swimming 100 yards. I did it several times during my workout to be sure I was accurate. I was not swimming with all out exertion. I was giving an effort close to what I would give for a 1.2 mile swim during a race.

Little bit of background: As we all know I’m fairly slow but I can get it done. I’ve been working all winter improving my stroke technique and nothing else regarding swimming. Although improved speed is a benefit of improved technique, my main goal was technique.

A little more background: This is my information that is in the books. Granted, open water swimming is different from doing laps but you will get an idea of my progress.

My first triathlon in 2009: Average 4:23/100 yds
Sprint tri in July 2010: Average 3:06/100 yds
Olympic tri in August 2010: Average 2:59/100 yds
Rev3 Half Iron tri in Sept 2010: 3:29/100 yds

That last one resulted in a 1.2 mile swim of 1hr 7 min.

Drum roll please:

I was swimming between a 2:07/100 yds and a 2:09/100 yds the entire workout (1500 yds yesterday). That is nearly 1 minute off my average – for 100 yards. What does that translate to? As long as I can maintain that pace – and I plan to – My swim for 1.2 miles would be around 43 minutes.