24th May 2010; Monday - YF swim; Drop back to lane 1

Tonight I thought I could still hang on to Lane 2, even though I had just recovered from diarrhoea due to food poisoning last week while in Jakarta on business trip. I have just been "promoted" to lane 2 last month after attended alot of make-up classes on every Thursday. I thought I still should be strong enough believing the training would still be like any other days.

The many warm up laps were tough especially the 6x50m with pull buoy-8x2x2 which was 8 stroke 1 breathe by 2x2 stroke 1 breathe; 6x50m without pull buoy - 8x2x2 again. This was the killer; it drained me out totally. It made me so tired that I could not keep up the following long swim of 5x200m/1x100m at 4.45min/200m. Noticing I was slow, Coach dropped me to Lane 1 but asked me to lead as 2nd or 3rd swimmer. I told him that I preferred to stay last for tonight.

In Lane 1 we did another 5 x200m and I was more than happy to swim as slow as I could to focus on my stroke, the feel of the glide; the roll; what have you!! It was so relaxing in this lane that I managed well the reminder 8x 50m finale swim. Not too bad after all; it was still a very enjoyable swim.

However, I did learn something though. Next time don't be too ambitious, if you have just recovered from any sickness or after any medication, please train easy. Don't push, your body will not co-operate anyway. This I told myself after the swim. :)
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23rd November 2009 Monday - 22nd YF pool swim; Coach lost his voice and I was his interpreter; I "sabo" him.. hahaha

Photo Courtesy of YellowFish from

YellowFish trainning Blog:- http://yellowfish-training.blogspot.com/

"Coach gave me this nickname in his Class"

Tonight swim was fun. Coach lost his voice on toasting after attending a Sat Wedding dinner of his trainees from Tuesday class, and he asked me to be his interpreter for the night:- "OK, English to English huh!" I readily and happily agreed. Hmm actually not so much of a interpreter lah, just to repeat his instructions.

He gave instructions what we would be doing tonight and that we would have a relay race after 8pm, so I repeated after him words for words. One part regarding about today being the last lesson and there would be no lesson next Monday; as he was afraid some of us may turn up, thus he uttered to me softly:-"Henry, this part you must said it loud make sure they hear you; some idiots do not listen. Next Monday no class, tonight last ..........." Before he could finish I repeated after him:- "Hey you listen huh; some "IDIOT" do not listen; next week no class huh, Ooooops!!" I turned to Coach: "Sorry huh Coach, 'You idiot' cannot say hor?" and we laughed.....I was poking him and "sabo" him hahaha...!!!

Tonight I "kung ho" a bit. I volunteered myself to be first swimmer in my home lane 2 and lead in the drill and long swim all the way for the night. After the long swim we have relay race, it was fun......!!

Tonight menu:-
100 kick with buoy

4x25 Flutter kick/Breast stroke kick

400m - 9.03 - 8 laps
400m - 9.00

350m - 8.08 - 7 laps
350m - 8.12

250m - 5.52 - 5 laps
250m - 5.46 -

200m - 4.39 - 4 laps
200m - 4.43 --- (total 48laps)

3 relay races - 6 swimmers to a lane - 5 x 50m (FC, BS, FC)

During the relay I managed to clock yhe last front crawl 50m swim - 54sec; my fastest so far after a training.

Lane 1---2x350,2x250,2x200,2x150,relay swim
Lane 2---2x400,2x350,2x250,2x200,relay swim
Lane 3---2x450,2x350,2x300,2x200,relay swim
Lane 4---2x500,2x400,2x300,2x200,relay swim.

Coach has clarified the mistake; there would be one more training next Monday before the Dec break. Next Semester start on 4th Jan 2010.
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19th November 2009 Thursday - 21st YF swim (Extra Lesson); similiar training as Monday but.....

It was still raining cats and dogs around my office area at 5 plus, and wondered if it would ever stop. I hope so because I looked forward to the YF swimming since my injury was still not fully recovered for MF running. It was still drizzling as I made my way to the Clementi pool from 6.15pm. The traffic was really bad due to the long heavy downpour all day, caused some area to flood and affect most roads badly. I reached the pool's carpark at 6.45pm, hmm only took 30min even with bad traffic, I remembered last week I took only 20min. The journey to Clementi pool is actually easier and cheaper (no ECP charge and shorter journey) compared to Katong pool (have to pay $3 for ECP if I did not manage to pass the AYE's ECP before 6.30pm, more heavy traffic and always has to jump queue illegally to gain time at Keppel Viaduct). This prompted me to consider going Clementi pool for Thursday class beginning next semester, but I will have to sacrifice MF run. Hmmm let's see.....!

The rain did stop before the swim start. Tonight was my extra lesson for the semester. We have 4 extra lessons so took advantage of it. Tonight swim was very similar to Monday's but tougher as we started doing those tiring drill first and ended with 10x50m full sprint. Unlike Monday swim, I did not skive; swam in my home lane 2 and most of the time as 2nd or 3rd swimmer.

I felt Thursday class was very different from Monday class as there were many strong swimmers who could swim very fast. Also, the swimmers seem more serious, I think it could be because most of them are preparing for their WA Baselton FIM this early Dec.

Tonight training was a tough one but I was glad I managed all the laps except toward the last few laps of sprint that I was nearly "punctured".

Timing:-
2x50 fluttered kick with buoy
2x50 butterfly kick with with buoy
2x25 Butterfly swim (quite satisfied that 1st 25m, I could actually lift up shoulder high and swim nicely, but not for the 2nd 25m. Hmm I wondered when can I swim a proper nice butterfly stroke for a complete 50m for other swimmers to admire hahaha!!)
2x25 Back stroke swim (must have been due to those earlier drill that could not swim this back stroke well, kept sinking hahaha and way off course...!!

Lane 2---450,7x100,400,7x100,400,10x50

1x 450m (U turn further, 470m) - 11.10min
7x100m - 2.09, 2.11, 2.14, 2.12, 2.10, 2.09, 210 (2.45min/100m)
1x400m - 9.24min
7 x100m - 2.15, 2.20, 2.15, 2.13, 2.16, 2.14, 2.14 (2.30min/100m)
1x400 - 9.47min
10x50 sprint - 1.02, 1.02, 1.03, 1.03, 1.03, 1.03, 1.04, xxx, xxx,xxx (HRM stop watch limited to 50 break time)
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16th November 2009 Monday - 20th YF swim; slacked and skived on the sprints laps

By evening I was still not too sure if I should swim with all the injury sustained from yesterday collision with biker in ECP. I was still limping every time I got up from my seat as the swollen muscle was still painful. Nonetheless; swimming does help muscle recovery, the only setback was that my wounds would get wet and it would not heal faster than it should; hmmm how to have the best of both world. Only at 6.15pm I then decided to go for the YF swim training.

As I was not too sure how long I could last tonight, I informed Coach not to be alarmed if I decided to quit half way thru the training. I explained to him my Sunday's ordeal. The pool was cold, so was the weather as it was raining all day. I stayed on my home lane - lane 2.

Coach started the swim without drill, something he had not done before, so should we be happy or worried? I asked silently. He started by asking us to give him 1x500m easy long swim, well this was easy so I thought. Surprise came after the long swim; lane 1 and 2 - 7x100 sprints, lane 3 and 4 - 8 x100m sprints. They were many "Huh?" in my lane. At first I thought I heard wrongly; he meant moderate swim; right? How could it be 7 x100m sprint? No mistake; he meant 7x 100m sprint. I took turn to lead with a swimmer as it was quite stressful to lead in the pack. We sprint, pant and pant with 20 to 30 sec breather after each 100m sprint, but we survived.

After the sprint we went back to slow swim, this time 1 x400m and I happily volunteered to lead in the pack; no problem I could manage for slow and easy swim and thinking that it would be slow long swim for the rest of the night.

After 400m slow swim, came another 7 x 100m sprint, how to survive I thought to myself. As leading the pack in yet another sprint laps would be more stressful, so I suggested to my fellow swimmers in lane 2 to take turn to lead. So when it was my turn to be last swimmer; it was a slow and easy swim; so I skived a little and managed to skive a few laps but it was good enough for me due to my condition. After the 2nd set of sprint, we went back to slow 400m swim again and I volunteered to lead again. I did hard pull but light kick to ensure I did not aggravate my injured muscle, thou felt some very minor muscle pull in a couple of laps.

Our grand finale was the last surprise of the night; 8 x 50m, alternate easy and hard swim. As coach called it HARD swim, to me it was still a sprint depend on what condition you were in toward the end of the swim. I must admit I literally "punctured" at the last sprint lap; so I swam slow and easy.

Very tough swim indeed for tonight, but very good work out.

Timing:-
1x500m - 11.23min
7x100m sprint - 2.05, 2.08,2.10,2.06 2.08 2.14.2.14 (20 to 30 sec breather)
1x400m - 9.38min
7x100m sprint - 2.18, 2.20, 2.21, 2.19, 2.13, 2.13, 2.20(20 to 30 sec breather)
1 x400m - 9.48m
8 x50m ( alternate easy/hard swim)
E1.14, H1.03, E1.08, H1.05, E1.12, H1.05 (so many laps that my HRM watch could not registered the last 2 laps, limited to 50 break times)
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12th November 2009 Thursday - 19th YF swim at Clementi Pool; "your kicking was so calm"

Tonight went to Clementi Swimming for YF training. They have changed to this pool from Bouna Vista pool a month ago or so. I kind of like this pool because it is brighter in term of lighting, pool bigger-more lane and parking is easier.

Tonight all lane were quite crowded, could be due to some swimmers skipped Monday class and some came for extra lesson. I noticed lane 3 and 4 were nosier but made the training more lively; swimmers talked and giggled non stopped. I was actually distracted and did not quite pay attention to coach's instruction initially, that during the drill I u turned at the wrong point. Coach called off the drill sooner as most did not quite followed his instruction.

Anyway, we did many short lap swims. I was in my home lane 2 again. We took turn to lead since there were so many laps.

Time:-
7x100 (2.45min)
2.01, 2.03, 2.05, 2.11, 2.14, 2.19, 2.18

7x100 (2.45min)
2.05, 2.10, 2.08, 2.09, 2.10, 2.13, 2.15

5x100 (2.30min)
2.07, 2.15, 2.18, 2.19, 2.21

7x100 (2.45min)
2.28, 2.27, 2.30, xxx, xxx, xxx,xxx ( so many laps that my HRM stop watch could not cope because it limited to 50 break-time only.)

6x50 sprint (did not manage to clock, however from Coach's clocking 60 to 65sec)

I felt tonight's toughest set was the 5 x 100 (2.30min).

Graham who was recently promoted to lane 2; stayed behind me in most of the laps, uttered to me after one of the set:- "I like to draft behind you because your kicking was so calm; no splashing of water and excessive bubble, nice!!" This was because I did one stroke 2 beat kick which kept me going in the long swim.

I could still felt the effect of last Sunday powerman race that I felt very tired, shoulder bone and arm were aching badly. I felt some minor pull in the ham and feet muscles during the last couple of set and started to slow down even more.

Anyway, nice swim!!!
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2nd Nov 2009 Monday - 18th YF sea swim - Survived the swim training as it was not as hard as I expected

In tonight's YF swim, I volunteered to go lane 1 (slower lane, lesser laps) as I explained to Coach that I ran 34km on Sunday and my legs were tired now, might not be able to swim long. He seemed reluctant but consented anyhow. However as lane 1 was too crowded, I decided go back to my home lane; lane 2.

I was thinking that if tonight swim were like last Monday or 8 to 10 laps per set, I would probably "puncture". Luckily!! not too bad, it was all short laps with enough rest; 7x200m and 9x100m. But the drills were still tiring though. 2x50 kick, 4x25 Butterfly, 4x25 Back stroke

7x200m - at 5.30min per set
4.33, 4.42, 4.24, 4.26, 4.25, 4.30, 4.33

9x100m - at 2.30min per set
2.08, 2.16, 2.17, 2.19, 2.17, 2.17, 2.20, 2.17, 2.18

We ended the training with 2x50m moderate swim and 2 x50m sprint. (56sec, 60sec)

It was tough but not as hard as I expected. Wow, what a week, consecutive work out, Sat 80 laps swim, Sun 34km run and tonight's over 50 laps swim.
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26th Oct 2009 Monday - 17th YF Swim; Tough Desending then Ascending Swim Laps

Like I have said last Monday, I love ascending then descending lap swim and I still do after tonight reverse order swim; descending then ascending lap swim. It was so tiring and I was battling every ascending lap swim.

After many drill without float; yes without float! alas all the sudden I missed my float tonight. With float we got to breathe better when doing drill and somehow felt not too tiring and breathless. We also did the long-missed catch up drill which I have not done it ever since I moved away from Friday class.

Long swim Timing:-
500m-11.11min (40s breather)
400m- 9.25min (41s)
300m -7.05min (42s)
200m -4.44min (19s)
100m - 2.19min (47s)
200m- 5.01min (43s)
300m -7.34min (11s)
400m (360m) - (8.50min) (ugh, I was stopped by the Coach half way into my second last lap. He told me to save my strength for sprints, I think I was far off his cut off time for the last 400m).

I was in Lane 2 as usual, kind of like my home lane now. Lane 2 started with 6 or 7 swimmers, ended up only 3 swimmers left after the long swim and I being the slowest dropped to 3rd swimmer, sigh!!

Tonight training was really tough, for most Fish I guessed. Before we started our 6x50m sprints, we were bargaining. I suggested :- "4 x50m OK?" and one suggested "Why not 2 easy, 2 moderate, 2 hard".. Hahaha hello a sprint is a sprint lah, no such thing as easy or moderate sprint....:). Anyway still no discount........!!

6x50m sprint -->1.05s,, 1.06s,, 1.07s,, 1.10s,, 1.08s,, 1.06s, really really breathless....!

Well, despite another solid and tough training, I could see that all the Fish were happy with it.
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19th October 2009 Monday - 16th YF swim; ascending then descending laps swim

Arrived the pool early tonight and chatted with coach and other Fish regarding the Sunday OWS. Many praises and good words to this well organised event and also to the a co-operative weather. Coach shared that he was thinking of calling off the swim when there was a 10min strong downpour after 3km wave started. Some of us including me were surprised that there was a downpour as we only thought it was a drizzle; we totally did not feel the downpour at all in the sea, not even some strong waves. Coach also confirmed that 1 loop was 600m, not 500m, until toward the end that current pushed in a buoy to make below 600m. I suggested to Coach to do FINA dist next time 1,3 and 5km.

Tonight some fish were hoping Coach would do a light training since most of us participated Sunday OWS and the so-called-recovery-swim would be more enticing. One even suggested no sprint tonight and Coach asked jokingly: "Since when my training does not have sprint?" and she replied: "Let starts from tonight lor!!" and everybody burst into laughter. No discount; tonight training was as hard as other nights and somehow I like it this way :).

Tonight drill was different and interesting. We did many laps of kick drill of the other styles; butterfly, backstroke, breast stroke and then swim the actual stroke style. Butterfly "killed" me, totally no clue how to swim. Just whack!! Hey but I kind of like back stroke, felt the kick and stroke, hence the swim was smooth. Finally we did a medley drill 25m each; started with backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke and then our classic front crawl.

Our long swim; if I can remember correctly; was something that we have never done before. Coach introduced ascending then descending laps moderate swim. I like this training as during descending laps, felt a sense of having bonus swim since it got easier.

100m-2.07min (approx 1 min breather)
200m-4.34min (ditto)
300m-6.58min (ditto)
400m-9.29min (approx 2 min breather)--

After this 400m laps, Coach stared at me with a smile and said:- "Want to hear if you are panting hard; not panting hard right? then OK!". "I felt good" I told him. He used to always comment that I pant hard, that means swimming inefficiently and push to hard. I think the 1 stroke 2 beat works very well for me in long swim, I actually felt relax. Sometimes during the swim I "played" with my swim speed, I applied 1 stroke 4 beat.

300m-7.08min (approx 1 min breather)
200m-4.38min (ditto)
100m-2.12min (ditto)

100m- breaststroke 2.50min; this break stroke reminded me of the time I started my Triathlon last year, and now realised how slow and tiring it could be if want to swim fast. Glad I picked up front crawl with great improvement.

Finally we did 4x50m sprint. 1min, 1.02min, 1.01min, 1.o2min.

After having attempted 60 lap pool swim a week ago, the recent YF OWS 3.4km sea swim with decent timings and many months of hard swim training sessions with the YF, my confidence now are well boosted, so I think it is time I should be going for longer distance and speed from now on.
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12th Oct 2009 Monday - 15th YF swim; can I survive??

I have been thinking all day long whether I can survive tonight's YF training after Friday golf, Sat 3km (60laps) pool swim and Sun 30km run. In fact I was hoping there would not be any drills, instead coach would just let us swim 30 or 40 x 100m easy swim in preparation of Sun long sea swim, and this I was sure I could survive. But fat hope, we have hard drill which exhausted me. The worst thing was; Coach put me in lane 3 and I wondered how soon I would run out of gas.

Menu for drill:-
4x50 flutter kick
2x25x25 Butterfly kick + easy kick
2x50 Easy swim Pull
2x50 4 stroke/1 breathe
2x50 3 stroke/1 breathe
2x50 3 stroke/1 breathe with 5 stroke 1 breathe
2x50 Easy swim with on-side breathe

Menu for long swim:-
Lane 3
400m - 9.07min (ave 68sec/lap)
450m -10.51min (ave 72sec/lap)
350m -8.08min (ave 70sec/lap)
300m -7.07min (ave 71sec/lap)

I was then moved to lane 2 as coach noticed I was lagging behind in lane 3. Hmm but by judging the above timing I was doing OK, just that those guys and gals in lane 3 were simply too fast and strong :). They were really good.

Lane 2
200 -4.43min
100Easy swim- 2.10min
3x100(50 hard,50 easy)- (ave 2.15min per 100m)
2x50 sprint (60sec/lap)
Total laps = approx 60 laps (3 km).

Yes, I survived another tough training but totally drained. Cooled!! Will have slow run for the rest the week.
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7th Sept 2009 Monday - 11th YF swim (2nd Semester) Sprint First

After a few 100 m of drill as usual, coach did something different. He made us sprint for 10 x 50m which was a reverse of what we normally did; we would do 2x 50m or 4 x50m sprint at the end of the session. After the sprint then we did 3x400m slow swim focusing on stroke technique and hip row.

I took this opportunity to practice 1 stroke 1 kick; picked up this technique last Thursday session which was very useful for long long swim. After my 1st set coach commented that I was jerking when taking my breath and I noticed the execution of 1 stroke 1 kick was incorrect. My left leg kick should be done before right hand entering the water. I did it when my right arm was pulling. When did incorrectly the stroke was not smooth, resulting jerking... The last 2 sets was quite OK. Will practice more as this technique made long swim less tiring and made better hip row.

Tonight drills were tough, long fist swim, one arm swim, fast flutter kick etc.

10x50m (managed 58 to 65 sec per lap)
3x 400m ( 10min, 9.49m, 9.42m)
end the swim with moderate Breath stroke, Butterfly, Back stroke and then coach changed plan to get us to do 1 x50 m FC sprint to end the session.

I loved tonight training but last Thursday swim was a lot more tougher than this.
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3rd Sept 2009 Thursday - 10th YF swim, 2nd semester; first time could not complete set

Last night YF swim was the toughest session I have ever had since upgraded to faster class. All sets were moderate to hard. It was my made up class since I missed Monday regular class because I was sick.

Various drills
1 x200m(moderate to hard, 5min)
8x100m (2.30min)
10x50m(1.15min)
a short break
12x50m(1.15min)
8x50m(1.30min)

I could not keep pace with swimmer in the 3rd lane, and moved myself to 2nd lane and missed out a few laps in the middle of 12x50m. Swim itself it was 2.5km (50 laps). I felt it was a very good training as a muscular endurance session. And I also realized what speed would worn me out quickly.

When I reached home, I uttered to Lucille that I was "dead"tired. I washed up and jumped into my cosy bed and dozed off instantly.
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23th July 2009 Thursday - 2nd Semester; 5th YF Swim

I got a SMS from Coach David yesterday morning, and this was his exact word:-" Try to move away frm fri, good 4u. u can b faster".

Coach has encouraged me to "upgrade" to other faster classes since end of last semester; early June because he felt that I have improved. That time I told him that I was still not ready to go away from Friday class, apparently Friday were for slower swimmer or beginner and we concentrate more on stroke technique as we were doing a lot of drill. I felt I still need to further improve my stroke technique and coordination of fluttered kick with stroke; before I proceed to muscular endurane long swim. I explained this to Coach when new semester started on 26th June and he accomodated my request. I stayed on 4 more Friday classes since the semester started, and lately I knew I was ready to move. His message came timely. I responded to his SMS that I would move to Thursday class.

Tonight I was initially put on lane 2 (lane 1 and 2 being the slower lane, lane 3 and 4 were faster lane with stronger swimmers). After the usual few 100m of drill, Coach moved me to Lane 3, 8th swimmer before our long swim started.

Our Long swim consisted of :-
2 x (200m, 100m, 200m, 100m, 200m, 100m, 100m - 20laps) Wow, cool, my first's attempt to swim FC beyond 10 laps without long break (we stopped 15 to 30 sec in between). I did pretty well;

1st set
200m-4.34min, 100m-2.16min, 200m-4.43min, 100m-2.19min, 200m-4.36min, 100m-2.14min, 100m-2.16min ( 20 laps - effective swim time = approx 23min)

2nd set (I was stopped by the coach after my initial 600m to skip the next 200m and take some rest, before I continue my reminder 2 x 100m. He told me that I needed rest as my stroke started to get a little haywire and no point to continue if I could not focus on the right stroke technique when tired)

Timing for my 600m :- 200m-4.37min, 100m-2.20min, 200m-4.51min, 100m-2.22min ( 12 laps - effective timing = approx 14min)

Rested approx 4.5min ( 200m swim) before I continued to do the reminder 2 x100m.

We ended our training with 4 x 50m sprint. Ave sprint timing 58sec to 63 sec.

Looking at tonight's timing, I could swim 30 laps below 40min, the bench mark trial timing to qualify for Singapore Biathlon. I did 32 laps at 37min and if taking into account my effective rest time as 5 min for the 32 laps, then my timing would be 42min.

Tonight swim had given me a lot of confidence and morale for more muscular endurance swim. Tonight swim had also signified I can achieve my goal which is to swim 30 laps below 40min. I set this goal when join YF class and target to achieve it by end of 2nd semester. More importantly I have improved and moved away from Friday class, cool man!!!
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5th June 2009 Friday - My 9th YF swim, Light Swim + Some Fun Relay

As tonight was our last lesson of the semester, coach had decided to do a light training. As usual we did a 100m warm up and followed by the following drills:-

Assigned in 3rd lane
Flutter kick - 100m
Slow normal FC swim with buoy - 100m
Slow normal FC swim w/o buoy - 2x100m
Catchup drill w/o buoy 2x70m (cone u turn)
Swim with only right hand on side breath 2x70m (cone u turn)
Swim with only left hand off side breath 2x 70m (cone u turn)

Long Swim
1x400m - 10m 30sec
1x300m
After the long swim coach briefed us on our individual common mistake, and encouraged us that during this break, train our self and correct these small mistakes. Sound like graduated from this semester, haha!!

Next we did relay, it was in the name of fun and to prepare this Friday class for next week YF swim meet. Hmm unfortunately I could not attend.

Relay 4 teams - 5 swimmers in each team. I was last swimmer so was the coach.
1st event 5 x 100m FC + BS

2nd event 5x50m BS (Coach could not catch up with me as I was half pool length ahead of him, well done my team member)

3rd event 5x50m any stroke sling with a small pail. (created resistance) (Coach is a coach; caught up with me even though I was a 1/4 pool length ahead of him

4rd event 5x25m one swim constantly with a swimmer holding front swimmer leg and walk

5th event 5 x25m one swim constantly with a swimmer holding front swimmer leg and kick,

6th event butterfly swim. Very messy as most of us could not execute this style. I, steady lah, just like last week class; did the kick by pushing myself from the bottom of the pool haha... the style look dame nice but DQ...... haha!!

It was a fun night......!! Look forward to going back to the training on 26th Jun 2009.
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29th May 2009 Friday - My 8th YF Swim, 10 x 50m Hard Sprint Swim

There was so many drills in tonight class, the most we ever had. Legs were very tired from all these drill....

The highlight for tonight was the 10x50m sprint - hard swim. I was doing quite OK for the first few laps until the 5 lap; I think, I sprint too fast in the beginning and this tired me down for the rest of the remaining laps. Nevertheless, managed below 1 min for 7 to 8 laps, and the rest was slightly over 1 min.

The coach ended the training by doing some relay. The distance was quite short though; 20m. And one was the relay swim was butterfly and it seemed that most of us could not manage. I swam the butterfly by pushing up from the bottom; the stroke looked very impressive hahaha!! Some swimmers complained that I cheated. What to do cannot swim butterfly mah?hehe!!"
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22th May 2009 Friday. My 7th YF Swim; I Was Moved To Lane 3 - Longer and Harder Swim

On last Friday 15th May YF training, while still swimming in lane 2; coach told me that I was his 4th swimmer in the lane 3. A lane for faster swimmers who will have to swim more laps than in lane 1 and 2. I was actually hoping that he would not move me to lane 3; reason being I have just begun to be in this comfort zone.

I arrived the pool quite early this evening and after 200m warm up swim + 2 x 25m flutter kick with buoy, Coach told me that he moved me to lane 3; I thought of requesting to stay on lane 2 but decided to take the challenge for harder and longer training. Any way I don't have a choice.

It turned out to be my most tiring YF swim ever since I took up the class. We started the training with various drills with pull buoy; sculling 2x50m, flutter kick 2x 50m, side kick 2 x50m' he introduced back stroke kick hugging the PB (2 x25m) which I had problem with this particular drill as this was my first time doing back stroke flutter kick. This was not easy for me at all, I literally sank while doing it but this drill was very useful for FC. Definitely need to do more on this drill.

After the 1 hour drill, Coach told us that tonight we would do hard swim, and having all eyes stared at him, he repeated with a smile:- "just a little hard only". Contrarily it was not a little hard, but was hard. We did so many sets that I could not even remember how many we have done.

For lane 3 we did 4 to 5 x 100m slow to hard swim. ( between 2.10 to 2.28min ) in between mixed with 3 to 4 x 300m ( laps between 7.20min to 7.46min). Finally we did 4 to 5 x 50m sprint swim (approx 60sec).

After the swim I could feel my arms were aching badly. Nevertheless, I was happy to be "promoted" to lane 3 where I could improve further and increase my intensity in the swim.
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15th May 2009, Friday. My 6th YF Swim; Coach commented:- "You are my 4th swimmer in lane 3!"

Tonight was my 6th YF swim. Again I was grouped into my usual lane 2 and 3rd swimmer. Was a little late so skipped the swam up swim.

As usual we began with a hour of drill. I was getting used to all the drill now; I should be as this was my 6th training with him now.

Tonight, seemed to have few new swimmers in lane one who have a little problem keeping to their own lane and swam CCW, just like me when I started my lesson with them. Occasionally heard coach poking fun saying "Hey keep to your own lane, you wouldn't want to hit against Henry; right? see he is so big size". Hey coach you meant fat is it? hahaha! OK I took it as a compliment. During the drill, I was slowly shifted by coach to 1st swimmer, means what? I was getting faster. doubt

Undoubtedly a sure compliment from him tonight was during our 3 sets of 200m long swim, he commented after my 2nd set;" Hey, have you been swimming?" I told him that I have been working hard on my hand entry since the last time he corrected me and he continued:- "Hey, the speed you are going, you are my 4th swimmer in lane 3" and he put his thumb up to me and said smilingly; "good, just try to keep your head up a bit, speed up your recovery stroke will help. (apparently lane 3 are all for fast and seasoned swimmer with well polished stroke).

Yes I have improved and was fast, my 3 x200m timing was around 5 min - 5min 15sec. But really; fast was not in my mind, what I wanted was slow but swim efficiently with good glide. I noticed that I was also not panting so hard like before after each set of swim.

We also did; lost count; I think 6 to 7 set 50m sprint, I recorded only the last 2 laps that my timing was slightly over 1min, and the rest were between 55 - 58 sec. Well done, your effort and training paid off. The swim ended with threading water which most swimmers dislike, I supposed, but coach did explain the importance.
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8th May 2009 Friday. My 5th YF Pool Swim-King Henry You Go First.

Tonight was my 5th YF pool swim. It appeared that my effort paid off after training on my own to correct my mistake that was "hand entering water during recovery stroke". With correct hand entry it reduced drag, and thus tonight I was gliding fast with slow stroke. Having said that I was also attempting to be conscious on the pull and push. During our long slow swim, I was initially 5th swimmer but after 1st lap coach shifted me to 4th swimmer, and after the end of the 1st set of 200m, coach called out to me" King Henry, you go first as 1st swimmer", a compliment I believe. He must have noticed that I closed up the front swimmer too soon that I have to stop several time. He commented that I could soon go to lane three (a lane for faster swimmer), but may be not so soon, I still need to brush up my stroke.

I enjoyed tonight drill. We did longer lap drill which was something that I like. I felt I was getting use to all the drill being introduced. I particularly like side kick although it was very tiring, and something I like to improve on. Perhaps this week during my own training I focus on this. Hopefully, all my focus in each particular motion will be in my sub-consciousness.

The long slow swim was 3x 200m, 1x100m, 2 x (25m sprint follow by relax front crawl). Before the swim end we did threading water, it seemed that most swimmers dislike this part of the training.

After the swim, I rushed off to my niece Pauljean 21st birthday at One Degree 15 Sentosa Cove.
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24th April 2009 Friday, My 4th Yellow Fish Pool Swim. A Tiring 8 laps sprint.

Tonight we had most laps of 50m sprint ever since I joined YF; 8 laps - 400m, rest less than 1 min after each lap. To me this was very tough, I think I slowed down quite a lot on the last 2 laps, managed to clock 1min on my fast laps. It was very tiring but I felt it was a very good training to train stamina and speed, and most importantly we must get the stroke correct during slow swim.

We started off with various drills with pull buoy; fluttering, side kick, sculling, catch-up pull, time spent on these drills was more than an hour.

After the drills, it was the long slow swim. Coach pointed out that I still tend to swim too fast, contrary to his request to swim slow to check efficiency of every stroke. Coach corrected my stroke; my hand entry into water was too far thus tend to be side ward instead from top downward. He emphasized during the recovery stroke, my hand should band, enter and stretch forward in the water, while the other hand was doing the pull and push.

I gathered that swimming is like golf swing, while you are working on one motion, you tend to put less focus on other motion and ruin it. I guess I have to work on hand entry during my own training this week. And also learn how to swim slow.

Distance of these slow swims were:-
1x400m, 1x300m, 1x250m.

Then followed by 8 laps sprint, less than 1 min rest between each lap.

Tonight; absent minded me, I left my 2 weeks old pull buoy in the swimming pool, hmm, I blamed it on the ineffectiveness of Omega 3 from Lucille again. hahaha!!
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19th April 2009 Sunday, No Brick Training Until Sunday

I was planning to do a run-cycle-run brick last week in the gym at least once to prepare for the up coming Raw Duathlon on 26th April. But there is no opportunity and time did not permit. Anyhow, it was a busy week last week:-

Tuesday 14/04 - speed work with MF runner in Queen Town stadium
MF Club to QT stadium - 4km - 24min
3x1200m - 5.19min, 5.25min, 5.29min
2x800m - 3.38min, 3.49min
1x400m-1.45min,
QT stadium to MF Club- 4 km - 22min
Really can't remember when was the last time I did speed work. Anyway it was quite a good work out. When running back to club I was planing to do a very slow jog back, instead I pace up with MH with 5.5min/km tiring pace. After the run, my legs were aching and I felt very tired.

Wednesday 15/04 - I have thought of doing a brick in the gym but was too busy to leave office early. So I went for a swim in MF late evening instead while waiting to pickup Lucille from her gym work out. The pool was crowded and my swim was quite chaotic. I was disappointed to see most of the swimmers did not know how to swim CCW within their own lane. Not only I was swimming, I was also manoeuvring around to avoid collision. But I still collided head on with a guy with his hand scratched and hurt my nose. I think some of these swimmers must attend courtesy lesson to swim in right direction. Hello swim CCW in your lane, OK?? That means lane marker is always on your left. Somehow, I completed slow 20 laps mixture of FC and BS.

Thursday 16/04 - Did not do any training with MF runners. I bought a new golf set for Lucille for her birthday early this week and brought her to Seletar Country Club to let her test out and get use to her new "baby", and hopefully she could enjoyed her golf game this Sat. So no chance to do brick too. I think it has been more than 9 months since the last time we have been to any driving range, so after to 160balls for me and 120ball for her, our back ache.

Friday 17/04 - Went for my 3rd YF pool training. We got to learn how to use pull buoy. It seemed easy to use the buoy, but it was not actually. Coach Lim explained to us some drill with the buoy such sculling, FC , fluttering and etc. Finally did the following slow swim drill w/o buoy:- 1x400m, 1x300m, 1x200m 2 x 25m sprint, 2 x50m sprint. I always felt totally drained after the YF training. And tonight was especially even more drained, must be the effect of the 160 ball - golf swing I had on Thursday, after almost more 9 months not headed to the golf range. Rushed back home and knocked off for the day to have a good rest for the golf game on early Sat morning.

Oh yes Saturday 18/04 - Lucille, the two boys and I went to Japan buffet restaurant (Kuishinbo) in Jurong Point to celebrate Lucille's and Niel's birthday. Niel turn 20 this year, wow time flies, he is a big boy now. And as for Lucille, my same old saying to her jokingly , "you always get a year older earlier than I first,,, you get OLDERRRRR (my emphasis) first!!"

We ate so much that I kept telling them that I must do longer training tomorrow. Lucille and I had a good time chatting with the boys as we spend almost 2 -1/2 hrs in the resturant.

Sunday 19/04 - Ok, die die must do a brick to prepare for the Raw Duathlon on 26/04 this coming Sun in Changi coast road. I woke up later in the morning so as to deliberately start the brick training at the hottest part of the day, not only to get use to the heat for the next week Raw, but also felt "guilty" that I must burned off those fat from the food I had yesterday. I started at 10.45am and did 8.5km run - 37km bike - 8.5km run. It was a very hot Sunday indeed and the heat was getting on me especially during the run. During my transitions, I saw myself totally drench as if soaked in water. I felt very satisfied to have done this brick since I have no chance to do it this whole week. Lucille told me that I was burned after I have completed the training.

1st leg 8.5km - Home - Civic Plaza - Woodland stadium - Sport School- Home (1 loop) - 49 min.

2nd leg 37km - home to Gambas Ave - Yishun Ave - Mandai Road - U turn - Mandai Rd - Upper Thomson -Gambas Ave - home (1 loop) - 1hr 20min

3rd leg 8.5km - run route same as 1st leg ( 1 loop) - 58min

I survived the scorching heat but 3rd leg was tough as cramp set in after 5km. Hopefully I will be able tolerate the heat again next week Raw and enjoy my race.
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3rd April 2009 Friday, My 2nd YF Pool swim

Tonight Pool swim was great. I started off with a warm-up 100m FC swim followed by doing some drills.

Drill side kick - 100m+100m - purposes was to stabilize hip rotation while swimming FC.

Drill sculling - 100m + 100m with return EZ FC swim- this was very tough as we needed to hold our breath in water as we did the hand sculling. It was very tiring on the hand too. I did not do it correctly last week, but I got the right motion tonight. The purposes was to ensure that we could get the feel-of-catching the water. I found myself gasping constantly and panting hard. I needed to get my breathing rhythm right for this drill.

We also did a combine stroke swim, that was 50m BS and 50mFC (2x) This was to ensure that exercise different part of our muscles. Coach corrected some swimmer's BS.

Tonight Coach Lim introducing something new to us, the Friday grp. He said that he has done it on Tuesday grp and it was quite chaotic. He wanted us to swim 50m+100m speed swim. Each swimmers from each lane would start to upon his Signal, and closely followed by the next swimmer. And we have to swim as fast as we could with 70 to 80% of correct stroke. It was quite different from sprint swimming. We had a very short rest after each 50m and 100m swim, we started the swim again upon his signal. We did 50m+100m (3x), and that amount to 450m (9 solid laps). I stopped and caught my breath after each lap in the 100m swim too. I hope the next time I would not need to stop in the 100m lap.

We then did 2x200, 1x100m EZ swim 100% focusing on stroke. I was also trying to work on my breathing. Finally we did a 5 min treading water in the middle of the pool. I did not know this was so difficult until tonight. While treading, we were told lift up one hand, then both hand, both hand by the side. The difficult was to tread with only the hand with legs cross, I sunk in this hahaha!!! Coach said jokingly:- This is the best time to "turk kang" us.

We were informed to get buoyancy float as he would start training with it and also this coming Sunday sea swim. We were told to go at 8am as he will be doing sea swim fundamental for the new swimmers for 1 hr and the actual training will start after that. I was given a nice Yellowfish T. There will be no training next next week as it is a Good Friday, great timing I thought because I am going to Batam staying over from Friday morning to Sat evening for golfing.

Well it was another interesting training and I felt that my stroke was improving.
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