Same old results
I have been pretty focused on my running for a few months now and I am having fun with it. You can't beat enjoying yourself doing something you like. As the marathon is put to bed I have post marathon this week about 16-17 miles on the legs and 3 days biking about 30 min each day. I'm looking to go back to the pool in Jan. I know my feet/ankles whatever are tight as I can use a pool buoy kicking and go backwards while trying to go forward. So I'm a middle of the pack swimmer. I really don't want to just go back to the pool jump in and do my same old drills with the same old outcome in my out season that produces my same old times per race. I need a change. I need something. I can't get it into my head to do the follow the black line dance for months for the same ol same ol.
So what do you got ? I'm not feeling this as you can tell.
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We then worked on catching drills, rolling drills, and catching over and over!!
It's slowly came together and I improved 12 sec per 100 over this past year. Still have some work todo but it truly is all technique with swimming.
DM - I am a just of the back of the pack swimmer. Not too far back.
SC - be careful with that plan - they say hat is how you get hurt
CN - as COO of the JOS -we will need better numbers from you!
I tried a bit of 1 on 1 coaching, and it did help (film and the whole bit), but what helped me more was doing some group swimming with a local masters group. I think the reasons were twofold. First, there was ongoing coaching. Not fancy lessons, per se, but just quick things like "hey why don't you try xyz...". And second, of course, there's just the whole group swim dynamic.
I have not found self-drilling to be very helpful because there's no feedback. But I may be an outlier there.
Well it did not work that way at all. It turned into " same old results ".
Now I understand my own attitude with this as I didn't realize why I was so turned off by swimming as in July. Even though I won a 2nd place medal for a 1/2 mile race, most likely by virtue of being oldest guy in my class.. ha ha..
I need some real deal coaching with follow up lessons and hop into a masters group 1 or 2 times a week. And as Matt said in Dave T post of 106 IM to 100 IM , you really need to turn yourself inside out but you can do it if you try. I have been using my energies for the run with an awesome PR in the marathon in Philly. Now I need to decide if I want to give up some of my time to do the dance with that black line on the bottom of the pool.
EN ... you all rock ! Thx, D
I also suggest video. It may help you connect the dots between technique tips, and actual execution. Failing that, maybe watching some underwater vids of guys like Phelps (or, if it works better for you, girls like Natalie Coughlin
). I'm sure you can find some on YouTube. Keep an eye on their stroke form, especially towards the end of the stroke. Fast or slow, one thing they all have in common is that the stroke is a very deliberate, long motion.
Swimming rewards smoothness. Resist the urge to hack at the water. Focus on streamlining, and most importantly, keeping the body on a level plane. You don't need to kick much to do so, but you definitely need to kick from the hips and not the knees. A lot of times I'll see people at the Y dragging their bodies through the water at an angle, like an LST instead of a PT boat. An angled body acts much the same way as that flat LST bow does to slow you down, and make you work MUCH harder than you should have to.
Hope this helps. I'm still recovering mentally from years of swimming -- I probably didn't go in a pool more than 5 times in 20yrs after I quit the sport!! Feels good to be back though.