Long awaited update

Sorry for the lack of updates kids!  Honestly, there hasn't been too much of anything exciting going on with the swimming.  I've been practicing, both with my coach and on my own, and working hard in the gym.  Lately I have focused on weight training in the hopes of building strength.  While my coach and I are making good progress with fixing up my stroke technique, adding muscle mass will really help with perfecting the details and reducing resistance.  I recently purchased a fantastic new book: Swimming Anatomy by Ian Mcleod.  If you're looking to efficiently build strength and power for your swimming, it's an absolute must-read.  The book is divided into a number of sections (arms, back, legs, full body, etc.) with a number of exercises that will target very specific muscle groups and the stroke/part of stroke that the particular muscles drive.  Each exercise is detailed in a step-by-step format and fully illustrated to help with the proper execution of the movement - as well as to reduce the risk of injury.  All swimmers should take a look at this book, there's something for every athlete - from beginner to elite.

I'm getting a lot stronger and much more confident in my strokes.  I will definitely be ready for a Masters team this spring, if not sooner.  For anyone following my breaststroke kick woes - it's still in the reconstruction phase.  We had to break it down to fix it up, and it's been a long road to rebuilding.  Good news is we tweaked a little bit of my freestyle pull and I was able to get exponentially more power.

I hope all of you fabulous readers had a wonderful holiday!  I'll try to update more regularly...   
promise :)