# More Swimming stuff.



## Chris Hobson (May 1, 2022)

Yet another update, I'm wondering if anyone reads them anymore as I think that they may be getting a bit repetitive. At the time of writing I've  done 237 miles so I'm almost at the halfway point.

I started out the year as a pretty mediocre swimmer. Now, well still mediocre but a bit further up the Total Fitness pool pecking order than I was. I can now do that lazy but efficient crawl stroke which often allows me to outpace the swimmer in the next lane while making it look as though I'm not even trying. This is quite good for the ego but I've still got a long way to go before I can keep up with the proper swimmers in the fast lane. I am still improving though. At a steady pace one kilometre used to take me half an hour. This gradually came down to twenty five minutes. It's now around twenty three and a half. My swolf score has come down from around 65 in January to 55 now, 53 on a good day. According to the Garmin connect app 40 is a good score so there is my target.

Tumble turns are proving to be a bit of a challenge. I'm getting them more or less right by starting a couple of metres behind the flags, swimming to the end, breath, tumble, underwater wiggle, surface, pick up crawl technique again. That's great says teacher, now it's time for a hundred metre set with tumbles at each end. I thought that I had the breathing technique sorted for my front crawl but not being able to take a few breaths each time you turn at the end makes a big difference. You have to time your last breath and go into your tumble without losing your momentum, do your tumble and your wiggle before you can start breathing again. Consequently, at the fifty metre mark I haven't quite got my breath back before having to hold it again for the next one. By the third turn the wiggle part is non existent as I just need to get to the surface before I drown. Meanwhile, up at the far end there are people making it look easy.

I've lost a little more weight and I'm now down to around 71 kilos. I'm having a great relationship with my reflection as I'm looking very lean and triangle shaped. I've developed a ravenous appetite and have a constant craving for pizza. No matter how much I eat I keep getting thinner.

Meanwhile, don't forget to support the guide dogs. 
www.justgiving.com/fundraising/chris-hobson9


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## Grannylorraine (May 3, 2022)

Well done Chris, I always read your report even if I don't reply.  Good on the losing weight while eating more.


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## helli (May 3, 2022)

Great effort @Chris Hobson. I am constantly impressed by your reports and perseverance.
Keep at the "tumble and wiggle" - you have a few hundred miles left to perfect it.


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## Chris Hobson (May 4, 2022)

I'm now up to 247.9 miles. Being so close to my next spicy food and beer fix gives me an extra incentive to swim further. This morning I got up nice and early and managed to swim 8k, that is five miles. Having done an ironman triathlon, (2.4 mile swim 112 mile bike 26.2 mile run) I mentioned in an old thread a tri distance known as the isoman. This is similar to an ironman but the swim and bike distances are adjusted to make the time for the three disciplines roughly equal. The swim is seven miles, the cycle ride 61 miles and the run the same as an ironman at 26.2 miles. At the time of that post I thought that swimming seven miles was beyond my swimming abilities, now I might be in with a chance.

Edit
Thursday morning's 4k swim brings the total up to 250.4 miles. Yay!


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