Swimming with Paddles

Here is the latest belly picture. I'm now 29 weeks along which means I'm fully into the third trimester! Yay!

I have been having a really hard time sleeping lately. I really love sleeping on my side, but when I do, I wake up several times with sore hips, back and/or ribs. It's not really fun. My doctor has suggested sleeping on my back with a pillow under one side. I really don't feel as comfortable doing this, but it has helped. I haven't been nearly as sore when I wake up in the mornings if I can manage to do this.

If I am still a little sore when I wake up, swimming usually will fix that. I didn't swim on Monday because of my doctor's appointment, but I did go on Wednesday.

I did my usual warmup and workout, but this time I decided to push it a little on my 500 and see how long it would take me. To my great suprise and excitement, I was able to finish it (10 laps) in 9:52! I know that's not spectacular, but that's with belly drag and everything. :) It also wasn't all out, and I was so happy to be able to keep my laps under a minute. I felt really strong and like I could pull really hard.

After that set, I did another set of 500 yards with the pull buoy and paddles. I took it pretty easy and I did it in 9:48.

I've been trying to use my paddles a lot lately, and since I'm not really doing any speed work, I think it's helping. It improves my strength and technique, which in turn helps improve my speed. Sweetness!

Here's a little video of Elle demonstrating how to use the paddles. Notice how obvious it is when she's not doing it right. :) That's how it is in the water too - you can really tell when you're doing it right or not, and I love it! I also love how fast it makes me (see above time differences), and I think that's got to be helping my speed mentally.

Any other success stories or suggestions with using paddles?