Chris, I hesitate to reply here because I'm far from an expert on swimming, but I feel like we are working on a lot of the same things in our swimming lately. I just finished reading "swim speed secrets" as well some of the other sources Mike Roberts used. Looks like your stroke count is in the 68-70 range per minute. Is that an increase for you? The one thing I noticed in comparing to what Sheila Taormina emphasizes is the high elbow catch and that the elbow should be 1-4 inches below the surface. Yours seems to be a little lower than that. Maybe work on really getting that elbow high real early in the catch with the arm straight down. Also, at times your legs/feet get a bit outside that narrow tube we try to swim in. Just my 2 cents. I'm curious to see what the experts have to say.
That looks pretty darn good to me. No wonder your Strava swim times have gotten so fast. Like Tom said, the kick may get a little big at times, but not bad. Sometimes your tempo looks very fluid, but a few times you still appear to be gliding after you fully reach, meaning you have some more SPM to gain if you choose.
The other two things I would work on if that were my video?
Recovery is a little wide. Look at your L hand at the end of the push around 2:10. It's several inches wide of your hip. That's outside the tube. Simple thumb-drag drills are easy and effective.
Hand entry. You enter way out front, almost fully extended when you enter, slapping the water with your entire right arm. (2:32). I don't know if that slap alone slows you, but it's pretty much impossible to keep your elbow above the wrist when you slap the water with a straight, flat arm. Enter a bit earlier, pronate the shoulder with high elbow and set yourself up for a stronger catch/pull with both the hand and forearm. Here's Sheila's advice: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU9IprK_eJs
@Tom- I actually had my tempo trainer set to 63, so I would be consistent, however, in the first couple of laps I forgot it so that might be where your seeing the increased SPM. When I merged the videos together I didn't do it in order so I don't know when I was or wasn't wearing the tempo trainer. I've never seen myself swim before so this was a real eye opener. I agree with what you saw. In my minds eye, I swim much smoother
@Mike - When say thumb drag drills, I assume you mean dragging my thumbs on my hips before exiting during the push? I watched that Taormina video and I'll work on that drill. I think tightening the glutes doing the coin drill might get my feet a little closer together.
I also noticed that when I breathe some of the time I'm pulling my head a bit far out of the water and my hips sink a little at every breath. Need to work on one goggle out. At :48 I have some weird looking hand entry with my right thumb is facing the bottom of the pool? I think that goes along with what Mike saw...the slapping, then short gliding, like I'm doing the catch-up drill. I need to enter the water at more of an angle in an effort to begin the catch sooner.
Chris, thumb-drag or zipper drill: when pull hand reaches your hip, connect your thumb to your hip and drag it all the way up your side to your armpit, like zipping a zipper, then resume stroke with high elbow and proper entry with fingers (not thumb). This helps me eliminate wide-arm recovery and keep my final push close to my hip, inside the tube.
Posted By <a href='http://members.endurancenation.us/ActivityFeed/tabid/61/userid/4131/Default.aspx' class='af-profile-link'>Mike Roberts</a> on 10 May 2015 07:09 AM Chris, thumb-drag or zipper drill: when pull hand reaches your hip, connect your thumb to your hip and drag it all the way up your side to your armpit, like zipping a zipper, then resume stroke with high elbow and proper entry with fingers (not thumb). This helps me eliminate wide-arm recovery and keep my final push close to my hip, inside the tube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNXuaDA3uzs
Comments
That looks pretty darn good to me. No wonder your Strava swim times have gotten so fast. Like Tom said, the kick may get a little big at times, but not bad. Sometimes your tempo looks very fluid, but a few times you still appear to be gliding after you fully reach, meaning you have some more SPM to gain if you choose.
The other two things I would work on if that were my video?
Recovery is a little wide. Look at your L hand at the end of the push around 2:10. It's several inches wide of your hip. That's outside the tube. Simple thumb-drag drills are easy and effective.
Hand entry. You enter way out front, almost fully extended when you enter, slapping the water with your entire right arm. (2:32). I don't know if that slap alone slows you, but it's pretty much impossible to keep your elbow above the wrist when you slap the water with a straight, flat arm. Enter a bit earlier, pronate the shoulder with high elbow and set yourself up for a stronger catch/pull with both the hand and forearm. Here's Sheila's advice: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU9IprK_eJs
Thanks for sharing. Keep up the stellar work.
@Tom- I actually had my tempo trainer set to 63, so I would be consistent, however, in the first couple of laps I forgot it so that might be where your seeing the increased SPM. When I merged the videos together I didn't do it in order so I don't know when I was or wasn't wearing the tempo trainer. I've never seen myself swim before so this was a real eye opener. I agree with what you saw. In my minds eye, I swim much smoother
@Mike - When say thumb drag drills, I assume you mean dragging my thumbs on my hips before exiting during the push? I watched that Taormina video and I'll work on that drill. I think tightening the glutes doing the coin drill might get my feet a little closer together.
I also noticed that when I breathe some of the time I'm pulling my head a bit far out of the water and my hips sink a little at every breath. Need to work on one goggle out. At :48 I have some weird looking hand entry with my right thumb is facing the bottom of the pool? I think that goes along with what Mike saw...the slapping, then short gliding, like I'm doing the catch-up drill. I need to enter the water at more of an angle in an effort to begin the catch sooner.
Got it. Thanks again.
Thanks Tom!
Thanks for posting this. I learned from watching it and listening to others provide feedback.