The I Suck At Swimming - OS Swim Technique Hints
Okay,
For those who havent been with us for over a year, I am still relatively new at this whole tri thing. I have never been a swimmer, ever, and started swimming in October of 2007 for the first time. Somehow, I went from swimming 2 laps to doing CDA in 2009. Swim time was 1:25, at a very easy pace for myself. Things have improved a lot over time, and Im finishing somewhere in the top quarter of swimmers in the shorter races. Basically, I am at a point where technique is everything to me. With not ever having a coach or clinic, I wanted to start a thread for the basic technique questions. So here is my first:
1. How much do you guys kick? For me, I never really kick. Its more a combined motion with my shoulder turn. I stay pretty balanced on the surface, and I kick just enough to keep me legs up. Feels good to me, but then I see people in the pool splashing up a storm with there legs.
Thanks for your help guys, I look forward to making some progress.
GV
Comments
I took a Total Immersion swimming clinic a year ago, and there was one drill that they did that was really telling to me about the kick.
You pushed off the wall with your arms pointed straight forward, in a stretched-out, face down position, and didn't do anything. Glide for a few seconds, and then your feet start to drift downwards.
Next, you do the same thing, but after you've glided (glid?) for a few seconds, you start kicking, super-gently, just enough to not let your feet drift down from the surface. It was amazing how little you need to kick to keep your balance, when you've got your upper body doing the right things.
Their takeaway: for triathlon, kicking should be the least possible amount to keep your feet at the surface. Balance and body position are everything for this. Once you've got that, you've got what you need for a kick. Our swims are just too long (and we've still got those other two legs to do) to worry about developing a propulsive kick.
I believe that the same basic idea is in the EN swim e-book, but I'll confess, I haven't looked at it since I was last in a pool, and it's been close to 6 months on that front...
Mike
I'm a not great swimmer aspiring to better things. In the latest round of swimming lessons, I have been working on kick a bit. I think starting out as a triathlete swimmer, with lots of people telling me I don't really need to kick, made me a lazy kicker. I''ve been having fun playing around with kicks of different beats and trying to make my kick a little deeper. I'm getting the impression that being able to control and modify my kick is valuable -- and that I will become a slightly less lazy triathlon kicker.
So let's say you are gliding on your left side...your right arm is coming forward...as your right arm comes forward into the water and down, your right foot kicks back and the left foot kicks forward all at the same time as you snap your hips and shoulders.
Try the two beat...ah ONE and Ah TWO
Kia Kaha
Great answers. Im thinking doing the kicking part right after reading your reponses. Some days I get in the pool and I try kicking it up, and I get tired after a couple of lengths. So Im glad to hear similar comments. Okay, lets keep this going. Next question:
1. When your hands enter the water, in which directions are your palms facing. Right now, my palms face outward. For example, my right palm faces the right wall as it enters. I imagine there is a beach ball in my palm, and I am trying to scoop it out to the side. I also aim for the corner of the lane when the hand enters the water. I used to aim straight ahead, but outside observers said it looks like Im crossing over the midline and heading slightly left and right with each stroke. How about you guys?
This guy's The Man, and he points his hands straight ahead at the start.
Here's an Ian Thorpe video. We can't swim as fast as him, but he sure looks perfect, doesn't he?
What is crazy about Phelp's swim stroke is how "clean" his hands enter the water - no bubbles at all during the entry and catch phase of his stroke... Compared to 90% of other swimmers out there who create a washing machine ahead of them as they start their stroke.
Like Mike mentioned, I also attended a TI swim camp in my first year of triathlon'ing (I needed all the help I could get since I couldn't swim 25meters at that point). The total immersion way teaches "the less bubbles/tubulence you are making as you swim, the more efficient you are" (ie, you're energy is being used to generate propulsion as opposed to plain "tubulence"). When you're at the pool, take note of how "quiet" you can swim.
here's a good video from TI - note how "quiet" these folks are swimming: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DBCv87nSPE&feature=player_embedded
I've had 4 coaching sessions since I started swimming last Nov - last time I swam was when I was 10 and wasn't freestyle - coach has me focusing on my kick with the rationale that a strong kick is very important so you don't have to kick-much in a Tri, i.e. develop a stronger, more conditioned kicking action - doen't matter what 'beat' it is if the individual kick is weak. Mebbe 'counter-intuitive', train the kick so you don't have to use it much!
Coach is an ex-GB international triathlete so happy to buy-in. With a non-wetsuit IM in November I also feel its a good investment.
Update - an hour or so later - received my new swim plan (after lesson yesterday) - NO kicking drills for a while! (yippee!) - guess I've reached an ROI of sorts for a while................ My kick action does feel a lot stronger now and can consistently kick at an even pace whereas before it was impossible & very random.
swimming is the only place where we encourage lazy!
P
I have no problem with that part Patrick! It funny, i'm a Clydesdale (well, thats not the funny part) and a fairly stong swimmer. The swim portion of my races is the only part where I feel I am as equal to anyone else out there. Swimming is almost all based on technique. The better your technique, the easier (efficiently) you can go faster.
Here's an alternative "lazy" way to mimic the boost that wet suits give us, rather than using a pull buoy. For the past 1.5 years, I've been doing about half of each swim session with one of those DeSoto Speed Tubes - a calf length neoprene suit which is like a long pair of "jammers". With it, I still have to kick to keep my legs up, but not as hard as if I had no Speed Tube on. Lets me train for a wet suit swim in an 81F degree pool, without overheating in a real wet suit, or getting odd stares from the real swimmers.
Good stuff here. Had to let this one thread drop a bit since I was busy this week with other activities. I appreciate all the input. Next question:
Where is the barrel that I am supposed to crawl over?
I imagine a barrel from my lower ribs to my pelvis. I'm thinking, "I'm swimming downhill" - hips up, shoulders/chest pressed down. I hope to end up horizontal.
Greg- I'm soooooo glad you asked this question. I simply have never been able to understand or work with that barrel image everyone talks about.
Al- your response made me start to think that perhaps my problem is I'm visualizing a normal whisky size barrel and maybe I should be thinking about something a little smaller?
Jed