The Penguin Leaps

Today was a big day, as I ran, biked and swam, all in one day. Now, this was by no means an athletic biking day, as Fiona was with me all the time, but the running was legit, if slow, and the swimming was probably the most like the real thing. In fact, the swim was very interesting to me. This was my first swim of the year; no time like the present. I discovered that there is no way I am going to successfully swim the crawl in the Tango, and probably not anywhere else either, frankly. But I did develop what I think will come to be called the Fat Penguin stroke, which actually worked great. I was comfortably able to swim 6 full laps at a reasonable speed without feeling out of breath or muscularly exhausted. I feel fairly confident that I can keep that up easily for the 9 laps of a sprint tri, and probably indefinitely. I had no fins on either, so my pace in the Tango will pick up considerably. I did try the crawl for one lap, and I did a full speed backstroke for half a lap too (not in the counted laps). The crawl gets me totally out of breath, which is because I have terrible form, but my breathing is my enemy in all sports. I need way too much air to keep all this muscle mass well fed. So the backstroke is great for me. When I did the regular overhand, full-speed backstroke, I really went fast, but I can't keep up that pace very long. It's like sprinting the hundred-meter dash. So like a Fat Penguin, I flap my wings and fly gracefully through the water much more quickly than my heft might suggest, yet without using too much oxygen. I love not having to bear the weight. It is a nice field-leveler. I would really like to construct some arm fins that resemble penguin wings and strap those on for the Tango. I was thinking of making them out of biogel, and molding them to fit my arms like a wetsuit. I'll let you know how that goes when the time comes.

I am now excited to try some fins and eventually get out on a local lake for some long swims to see if this technique will really work for an hour or more. In the meantime, I will continue to try to boost my aerobic capacity.