DrND swim lesson, a breakthrough?

SWIM 1hr lesson, maybe 500-600 yards? More? Probably more on the order of 700-800.

My concerns going into this morning included the discomfort I'm feeling in my left shoulder in extension, and the feeling that I'm going so slow.

First off the shoulder. It's not so much pain but more of an "I'm aware" of something I feel when the left arm is fully forward in extension and starting the catch. Turns out I'm sweeping my left arm out too far, it's drifting out with a big elbow bend. It's happening because the hand is pausing in front of me, giving the hand/arm time to drift out. The drill fix for this is continuous motion, don't stop moving. Every time I pause, I need to kick or get restarted somehow, he pointed out how much this happens over 2.4 miles and how much energy it takes.

This was harder than expected! It felt windmill-ish, like I had many many extra strokes, and I was short of breath. One thing at a time here...I counted my strokes and it was exactly that same! I would have bet $ otherwise! As for the breathing, he thinks (no doubt rightly) that I'm not stomach breathing. I'm rib breathing. Some discussion about how I swallow air in fast sprint sets has him thinking I might be upper throat breathing then! But that's another problem. I need to think (but not over think) "stomach or diaphragm" breathing, still get a nice HOOOP of air but not the HIC that I usually do? Hard to explain, but when I practice it I can feel a difference.

Doing that drill was amazing -- aside from the lack of breath -- I could finally feel the figure-8-ish roll side to side, the feeling of getting my weight to shift such that it works with my arms to propel me! I only feel it for brief bursts though.

Second, my right arm is swinging wide over the water. So the fix drill is high elbow fingertip drag. Ah, this settled my weight on my side and helped that figure-8 feeling even more.

Next up, fist drill. Don't worry about stroke count, in fact add more strokes. Don't kick to compensate. Oooh, out of breath, but it requires good rotation in order to work and it really forces the issue. I've always heard the fist drill as a way to learn to catch water, not as a way to encourage rotation! New to me!

In my final 100's I was feeling more and more of that synchony, the figure-8, the roll side-to-side-to-side fluidity I'm so unfamiliar with. He liked it, said keep doing it! So even if I feel it only 30% of the time right now, that'll get better!

Off to work, so I can get out early. Because I have a 4.5K loco later today?! Should I subtract out this morning's yardage?! Think about it. Better yet, make the call later today. And rewrite the 4.5K loco plan to incorporate the new drills.