Two and Under

"Two and Under" is a phrase many parents like to hear. Especially when it is followed by the even better phrase "eat (stay/ride/play/etc) free." Any parent can tell you that paying anything for a toddler to eat is pretty much liking throwing money on the roullette table. A pure gamble. Perhaps you get your money's worth, perhaps you lose big.

Today, I experienced another wonderful "two and under." Only this time, it came in the pool during a time trial. Part of Coach Mike's program is regular time trials to gauge performance and improvement. This is the third or fourth time trial I've completed, and each has held big suprises.

Today's was huge, in Iron Pol terms. For the first time, I averaged under 2 minutes per 100 yards. I completed a total of 1075 yards in 21 minutes, 20 seconds. In addition to breaking 2 minutes average, I managed to keep every 4-lap set under 2 minutes (our pool is 24.4 yards). In the past, early lengths have been a bit under 2 minutes and later lengths fell well over that pace. Today, there was only 6 seconds between the fastest and slowest 100 yard sets.

Now some might look at that pace and know it is, by comparison, pokey. At the same time, they would acknowledge the HUGE improvements from just a few short months ago. While I am a long way from keeping up with many of them because of their dolphin like movement through the water, I am pleased with my progress. It turns out that "Under Two" is, in fact, possible in the pool.

For those of you out there struggling with the swim, I invite you to look at my prior posts about swimming. You will quickly learn that swimming is truly my weak discipline. You will also note that things like "2m 30s/100 yards" and "will never swim under 2m/100 yards" were common threads. As with every discipline, training and experience have paid huge dividends. The simple act of putting the yardage in has led to these improvements. No former US Olympic coach in the pool with me. No hours plodding through drills. Just swimming the sets assigned by my coach. Who, by the way, has posted his own comments about improving your swim.

Under Two. Who'd have thought it possible?