It was recently brought to my attention that I've been woefully behind in posting swim information!!!

 

Vancouver Aquatic Center.

I'm sure any of my readers who are also planning trips to Vancouver will want to know about the Aquatics Center. It's on the way to the water taxis that take people to Granville Island. I'm curious to know why none of the folks more familiar than I with Vancouver failed to mention this standout facility.... 😆

The pool is a 50 meter main pool with a separate diving well to the far side of the entrance. The cost to swim is $3 Canadian and if you are so disposed there are two different masters teams that have scheduled practices throughout the week. It's an absolute must see! for anyone traveling into the northwest.

I have been watching videos of American swimming star, Katie Ladecky, for the last month. She shattered the world records in both the 800 and 1500 yard short course events. Many of the swim sites on YouTube have been showing her swims in slow motion and pointing out all the ways in which she achieves speed and efficiency in the water. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p20kZqUAd0k you'll definitely want to check this out. It plainly shows the difference between real sports and.....games. 

I have been trying to incorporate as much of her style into my own freestyle swimming and I'm pretty happy with the results. So much of the finesse is in the arm/hand catch and the trajectory of her pull through. Just watch the video and you'll probably swim faster by five seconds per hundred. 

I got back into town and finally home at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday morning so I missed the workout that morning. I thought it better to sleep. But I have made the next three days in a row to make up for the week I took off. 

This morning was wonderful. Our weather is about to turn but it was warm and there was a gentle breeze when we hit the water at 8. I shared a lane with Leslie and we paced with the folks in the adjacent lane hammering through the typical 3,000+ yard work out. The time off was helpful and I was nicely relaxed in the water today. I've been trying to stretch more between workouts and that seems to aid in making my stroke a bit more efficient. 

We did a series of nine 100 yard swims and I was delighted to hold a 1:25 pace on most of the set. Not too bad. 

I've got two more good swim days ahead of me before I break for a couple days of work. Add in some strength training and I've basically got a full schedule ahead. 

Note: more and more scientific research is pointing to exercise as the fountain of youth. doesn't really matter which kind of exercise as long as you're moving and breathing harder than you do when you're sitting on the couch watching TV and munching on chips. An hour a day is nice. Two hours is even better. 

I just knew you wanted to read a bit about swimming.... so there you go.