i went swimming today! i first went to the alumni pool (the older one), and it's in the stata center. there's a pretty nice fitness center there, with machines and weights and stuff, so that's a consideration if i ever want to use the equipment there. however, the pool is superduper tiny! much smaller than i envisioned -- think kid's swimming lessons.
so i went to the zcenter and went into the bohemoth of an athletics facility.
it was great, i was looking forward to it all day.
i did a total of about 40-45 in the pool, somewhere between continuous and near-continuous. i did some freestyle laps, and then alternated with kicking-only butterfly (i secretly call it the 'mermaid' style of swimming), breaststroke, and more freestyle. i still dont like backstroke, and i think the reason why is because my ears get submerged in the water. eww. i'm probably the only person in the world who doesnt like backstroke! after a bit in the 'learning pool' (smaller and warmer), i did 8 laps in the big, sparkling, refreshing pool. it's a good transition; the warm water is definitely easier to acclimate to, but once you're sweating and already in motion, then it's good to move to cooler water.
i checked my pulse after a bout and my rate was 22 x 6 = 132 bpm.
let's see, according to target heart rate, my max heart rate ~ 200. and the fat burning zone is 60%-70%, which translates to 120 - 140 bpm. perfect!
when i run, i'm usually around 160, which would be 80%. which is good cardio. i suppose for the best fat-burning workout, it's being active for moderate intensity for a looong time, rather than higher intensity for a shorter time. so perhaps alternating swimming with running would be a good strategy for now. i also want to do interval training, which is probably easiest at the gym. just bring a jumping rope to the weights area.
i realised that when swimming, it becomes easier to just swim at whatever pace and then keep moving forward, rather than saying 'i will swim 10 laps now' and count down ever so slowly. it's better not to think about it too much, to be too conscious of time.
i was thinking that it might be a fun thing to train for a mini mini mini type of event, like a race or something. i'll read up on triatha newbie to see if there's a mini-triathlon in my near future...
so i went to the zcenter and went into the bohemoth of an athletics facility.
it was great, i was looking forward to it all day.
i did a total of about 40-45 in the pool, somewhere between continuous and near-continuous. i did some freestyle laps, and then alternated with kicking-only butterfly (i secretly call it the 'mermaid' style of swimming), breaststroke, and more freestyle. i still dont like backstroke, and i think the reason why is because my ears get submerged in the water. eww. i'm probably the only person in the world who doesnt like backstroke! after a bit in the 'learning pool' (smaller and warmer), i did 8 laps in the big, sparkling, refreshing pool. it's a good transition; the warm water is definitely easier to acclimate to, but once you're sweating and already in motion, then it's good to move to cooler water.
i checked my pulse after a bout and my rate was 22 x 6 = 132 bpm.
let's see, according to target heart rate, my max heart rate ~ 200. and the fat burning zone is 60%-70%, which translates to 120 - 140 bpm. perfect!
when i run, i'm usually around 160, which would be 80%. which is good cardio. i suppose for the best fat-burning workout, it's being active for moderate intensity for a looong time, rather than higher intensity for a shorter time. so perhaps alternating swimming with running would be a good strategy for now. i also want to do interval training, which is probably easiest at the gym. just bring a jumping rope to the weights area.
i realised that when swimming, it becomes easier to just swim at whatever pace and then keep moving forward, rather than saying 'i will swim 10 laps now' and count down ever so slowly. it's better not to think about it too much, to be too conscious of time.
i was thinking that it might be a fun thing to train for a mini mini mini type of event, like a race or something. i'll read up on triatha newbie to see if there's a mini-triathlon in my near future...
posted by christine at 8:47 PM
1 Comments:
there's a benefit to training at higher intensity as well. it's good for your heart, you'll get faster, and you might just raise up your anaerobic threshold.
another thing that's just been shown to be beneficial for females is weightlifting. no joke... one of the skinniest girls in my class is now lifting. you should give it a try.
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