Another Post on "How I Improved my IM Swim from 88 minutes to 72 minutes"
This should be read in conjunction with this post http://members.endurancenation.us/F...fault.aspx by Mike Roberts — which is the best thing I have read on improving IM swimming.
My motivation for trying to improve my swim was that 88 minutes is a long time to be swimming, as well as the fact that I was always quite tired after swim training and racing. I am an adult onset swimmer and I learned to swim when I took up tris about 10 years ago. I obviously didn't learn much as my swimming hasn't really changed since I originally learnt. I used to adopt the EN 'no swim in the OS' approach and just start to swim 14 weeks from my first race which is a HIM. 10 weeks later, is my A race, IM Australia. After that, it is back to the OS again.
This season I did the run durability hack that has at first 1 swim session a week, and then later in the OS, 2 swims a week. I figured that if I was going to swim in the OS I would get some one on one coaching to work on my technique. Because I struggle to turn an idea in my head into a physical movement, I decided to only concentrate on the catch and pull — this is to minimise the things I have to concentrate on when swimming. I also decided I would use a buoy every time I swam, again to minimise the moving parts for me to concentrate on, and also the 2 races I do every year are in the ocean and are guaranteed as wetsuit swims.
I had 8 30 minute lessons which, for my part, were extremely successful. Until this point in time, I had never really understood the purpose of swim drills. Also, for the first time ever, my lats and chest were feeling the impact of swimming — suggesting that these were the muscles that were doing the swimming for the first time!
By the end of the OS, I had swam almost 72 kms and thought I had grooved the catch and pull pretty well. For the HIM preparation, I followed the intermediate HIM plan with a few additions. For example, warm up was always 500 m with paddles. I use the smallest paddles to help me keep the palm of my hand vertical, also I thought it was swim specific resistance training. I also added some volume after the designated swim session was over. I also added when I felt like it a 2000 m session as a 4th swim. I had an excellent HIM swim which was 32 mins — compared to my normal 42 min swim. However, it must have been short as I had the same time as peeps who usually swim around 36 mins. The HIM swim program added almost 88 kms to the OS.
The IM swim preparation used the intermediate IM swim sessions, always adding the optional work, including my 2 km additional swims from the HIM. In these sessions I would warm up as normal with paddles, then just swim 1500 m at a solid pace working on catch and pull. Often I would move the second swim session from the intermediate plan to Wednesday and do the 2 km swim on Tuesday as I have difficulty in back to back hard swim sessions. I also often added a second 2 km swim to Thursday. The IM 10 week swim preparation was 100 km for a 12 month total of 260 kms.
The conditions for the swim in IM Australia were terrible. The swim is mainly in a marina in the mouth of a river that has a weir to protect the marina from the ocean waves. It was cold (below 18 degrees C), rough, very muddy and the water was quite fresh (as in not salty). The open ocean was quite noticeably salty when climbing over the weir. The reason for these conditions was that the weeks before the race it rained so much there were flood alerts all up and down the coast. We were lucky we were able to race given the conditions in the weeks preceding. Even with these conditions, I felt quite good during the swim after I had got used to the cold.
I should point out that I was 4.5 kgs lighter this year, and I also had a new wetsuit (De Soto T1) so some of the improvement from 88 mins to 72 mins might not be related to my improved technique.
My biggest take-away from my experience is that you need at least some muscle strength and endurance before you can usefully make any changes in your swimming technique. I believe this to be the case as without these prerequisites there is no constant technique that is repeating and thus able to be incrementally modified. This may be because I am an OF and not swimming in the winter may disproportionately impact on OFs. This is a point Al Truscott and I have discussed from time to time.
So, if any peeps out there are in my league as a swimmer as I was more than 12 months ago, I strongly suggest you swim as often as you feel like/can, and get some coaching to improve your technique.
I will be looking at Mike's post this winter to build on my improvement from last year.
Comments, questions, thoughts would be appreciated.
Comments
I'm in the swim lesson phase. Has helped a ton but it's a long term project. With no big races for a while, it's easier to concentrate on making the right changes than getting faster for a race.
Real happy for you. Swim times are frustrating for those of us who are a bit slower. It's so common to just 'accept' the mediocrity. Kudo's to you for continuing to work on busting through those plateaus!
Peter,
Congrats on the great leap forward. 1:12 is legit, especially in your AG. You can probably still attack the swim from both the mechanics and form fronts, so keep up the great work. Looking forward to seeing further progress.
Mike
@ Chris — thanks. As I note in the post, (and just like the bike and run) anyone can improve their swimming by swimming hard and often, with appropriate attention to improving your form.
@ Mike — thanks for the encouragement. Even though I swam all year round, I was still improving my pace in the last 10 weeks of the IM build despite that is when Coach Rich has us mainly putting far under whatever fast we have. This suggests to me that I haven't exhausted my potential improvement from my approach. As you would know from your swim thread, I will be working to increase my spm this winter.
@ Paul — I was the same as you with my left hand side hardly making any contribution to propulsion, and as a consequence I would snake my way forward up the lane increasing the distance swam.