Improving Swim Form and Swim Fitness – Input Requested
A question for the EN fishes about addressing both swim technique and swim fitness without one impacting the other….But first, a bit of background. My swim T-pace is right around 1:42 per 100scy. I finished the swim in my last wetsuit legal IM in a 1:16:xx and I finished Kona in 1:27:xx. My #1 focus area this Outseason is to improve my swim, or at the very least - just suck less. I’m calling this my “10/15 plan” (cut a minimum of 10 minutes off my Ironman swim in 2015). I have started working with a swim specific coach and we have identified 3 areas of focus. Yes, I have more, but these were the worst of the worst.
1> Kick from the hips – apparently I was bending my knees like I was trying to kick a soccer ball.
2> Breathing a bit late in my stroke causing me to adjust my body position to compensate.
3> Dropping my left elbow as I start my catch
I’ve already seen some of my best ever 100 and 200 times when I really focus on these areas, but it’s not yet natural so I quickly start to fall back into my old form as fatigue sets in. For sure it will take time and repetition to incorporate to the point where it becomes natural. In addition to this technique work the other area of focus that i know i need to address is swim endurance related, meaning my times fall off dramatically when I get above 2500yds in one session. That tells me in addition to technique work, I also need to work in longer workouts in the neighborhood of 4000yds or above to address my swimming related muscular/aerobic endurance. However, my question is how do I go long to work on swim endurance without getting back in to bad habits as fatigue starts to set in? Or, Is it better to work on form for a period of time and then switch focus to fitness? Or do I do specific swims focusing primarily on form and then others just for endurance where I just do the best I can to keep my form intact.
Currently I'm swimming Tuesday and Friday mornings with a local Masters Team. I also swim one other day during the week and then either satuday or sunday morning. This is giving me about 10-12k yds per week. I’m very interested in any suggestions on how to fine tune my plan to best address the form and endurance aspects of the swim over the next several months. Thanks!
Comments
One of the best yet controversial coaches ever.... Talking to a swim group.... couple of nuggets and entertainment..
tons of stuff on youtube
swimsmooth is very good too
Mark - your #1 job for the next 4-6 months is to reset your neural-muscular pathways for swimming, focusing on those three things that have been identified for *you* as limiters to being able to go faster. They are all common mistakes. Other people make different common mistakes.
Volume, and trying to keep up with swimmers in a masters group will NOT help you in that quest. Your prime directive should be: STOP SWIMMING WHEN YOUR FORM STARTS TO BREAK DOWN. You note you are able to sense the difference when you are doing things right; when you feel things start to go wrong, stop and take a rest. You may only be able to do 25 yds at a time. There is NO POINT in trying to work hard using the wrong technique. Also, be willing to slow your stroke down until you feel you are doing it right. Increase your turnover and interval distances only as you are able to keep the proper technique going.
Only after - who knows, maybe 3 months of technique rather than fitness focused swimming, should you start trying again to work on speed, and lastly, volume. You are already fit, strong, coordinated, and willing to work, so you know that, once you've got the new technique wired into your brain and muscles, it shouldn't take too long to get up to speed, so to speak.
If you feel you should be doing "more swimming" during this phase, I suppose a lot of kicking (from the hip!) wouldn't hurt anything. Try it without a kickboard, and/or with some drills.
Mark,
Everything Al said is dead-on accurate. When I wanted to improve my swim (i.e., go from 1:12 to 1:00 in the IM), a very good coach told me to quit Masters, break down and really learn each part of my faulty stroke, drill until you truly learn and can identify good vs. bad form, and don't allow your form to return to bad (i.e., when form starts to fall apart, stop the interval and rest). It's not a quick fix, because if there were a swim "easy button," most of the field would be sub-1:05 (sub-:45 in Choo
). It took me 6-9 months for it to take hold, and I've gone :59-1:02 in three of my last four IMs. So, if it can work for this uncoordinated, adult-onset swimmer, it'll be easy for you.
An analogy that sunk in with me: because swim speed is 80% hydrodynamics, it's similar to the bike. Just force x the ability to move through the medium (water or air). If you want to ride your knobby-tired MTB to a 5:30 IM split, you raise your FTP to 825 and ride 700 miles per week. Of course, if you rode in the aerobars on a Shiv instead, you could probably do it with a 250 FTP on 150 miles per week. Same with swimming. You could probably get pretty damn fast by swimming bad form 12 hours and 25,000y per week. But the ROI is horrendous, as you can better use that time and TSS on the 90% of the race (B&R). Training great swim form on 3-4 hrs/wk is far superior.
Based on your times, I suspect you have opportunity to improve other areas in addition to the 3 your swim coach identified. Pick a couple of the great resources Tim mentions (Total Immersion, Swim Smooth, Sheila's book and Coach R's e-book are great), drill every aspect of the stroke until muscle memory knows good vs. evil, and try to get your form as close to a Shiv as possible. The power and volume can be added later, probably in 6-8 weeks.
Best of luck. Glad I'm not in your AG. Oh wait . . . never mind.
Mike
Great input, everyone! Thank you so much.
@Tim - I've heard of Tower 26 but have not seen any of their videos. I have Sheila's book and i've even done some of her workouts but I don't think i have followed her guidance diligently enough to see any meaningful improvement. I saw the Brett Sutton video when it was making the rounds on Slowtwitch a month or 2 ago. It's entertaining, but i really do think there is something about the 3 R's. After watching the video i really started noticing how many videos and instructors talk about rhythm.
@Paul - I'll PM you with my email address. Thanks!
@Al - Form first, then fitness makes a lot of sense. Based on your Mike, and Scott's advice it sounds like i'm better off swimming more frequently, but keeping sessions/intervals shorter in order to maintain my best possible form. That has me thinking 4-5 swims per week at around 2000-2500 per swim, and then 3 days/week of stretch cord exercises included in this years Outseason. I will also be doing 1 swim lesson every other week to ensure my form is actually looking like how i think it's looking and to ID new areas of improvement. Will continue to refine, but that's how i'm contemplating starting this process.
@Mike - I hear your story and it makes me feel like there is actually hope for me. To be an adult onset swimmer and be down in the 1 hour range for an IM swim is awesome! How long have you been swimming? Great analogy by the way. It is an ROI equation, but it's also an investment and a willingness to take a step (or several) back in order to make significant improvement. Personally, i've tried the brute force method and it's a path to mediocrity for me. That's why i need to try something different this year and make the investment toward long term improvement. Thanks!
@Scott - Thanks! Reinforces that the disciplined path will pay off even if there are short term set backs.
If you're offering the videos I would like to get ahold of them. I actually need to rework my whole body motions in the water if I'm ever going to compete again. I may not be able to correct my left side motor weirdness but I have to give it a try. And I don't have the money for a private coach when I'm paying for all sorts of therapies.
Thanks.
@Attila - Sounds great. Thanks!
@Paul - Thanks for the email!
Rich Edit: Link deleted
Thanks, Attila. These video's are really good.