I wouldn’t call it a breakthrough, but I had a solid swim today. The Friday masters class at Rally is a long grind that really gives me a chance to reflect on technique.

After a few laps of observation, Coach Louis provided several technique areas to work on.

• Apparently I’ve been forcing the recovery phase of the stroke and not actually recovering. This leads to me quickly going anaerobic and blowing up. As a result I normally end up spending way too much time hanging on the wall sucking wind.
• Having the extra oxygen to burn allows me to power up my kick which is another area I have been focusing in improving. Too much knee bend has been adding drag and slowing me down.
• Riding too low in the water and not rotating enough on my left stroke which leads to my left shoulder plowing through the water adding additional drag.

The net result is that I was able to get through the 3k workout and come out the other side in pretty good shape. For once, I wasn’t totally gassed. AT&T be end, we threw in a 50 yd sprint and I threw down my fastest ever lap time of 39 seconds. Not winning any races with that, but definitely pleased with the progress.