It’s been fun following the Fall swim threads (especially the recent MBE post by Hydrosloth) and getting so many different perspectives. However, one strange thing happened as time went on. After reading one thread where the discussion had turned to the minutiae of “technique” and a poster was saying how a drill was supposed to give you the “feel” of angling your torso at precisely 38.5 deg. to allow for recovery of the fancy-Latin-word-for-upper-part-of-your-arm.....my head exploded.
Pretty nasty. Brains everywhere. The cat is still trying to lick them out of the carpet.
I envision this to be the state of beginner/intermediate triathlon at the moment: well-meaning athletes popping onto the forums for some tips and just spontaneously disintegrating, just “PFFFT”-ing like the climactic scene from Kingsman: the Secret Service.
“Disintegration” is actually a great term to describe the overthink that goes into a lot of triathlon swim instruction: “if I just do A) with my elbows, and B) with my forearm, and C) with my core—I don’t even know what a core is—and XYZ) with my feet, I’ll get to T1 faster and having conserved energy.”
Well, no. By treating the body as a collection of parts, instead of a single organism, we compromise what actually needs to be developed to get the athlete to T1 fast and fresh.
Take rhythm, for example. Rhythm is essential in events as brief as a 100m dash. How important is it then for multisport events lasting minimum the better part of an hour? The literal disintegration of swimming workouts interferes with the development of a swimming rhythm that needs to carry over to bike and run in the form of less fatigued muscles and more energy. It instead leads to tired athletes coming out of the water knackered because they put all their muscular energy into trying to hold a technique that was developed from someone’s sensibilities of what swimming SHOULD look like rather than what gets you to the finish line of a Triathlon the fastest.
This is not a knock on the discussions between coaches on threads. I’ve got a dog-eared copy of Swimming Fastest on my bedroom bookshelf, and nerding out about this stuff is fun as hell. The problem is that there’s no line drawn between the coaching conjecture and immediate, “actionable” (or whatever go-getter entrepreneurship term applies) ideas that someone looking to improve their TRIATHLON—-not triathlon SWIMMING but TRIATHLON—-can implement swiftly and effectively. The result: “PFFFFT!!!”
That’s essentially MBEs message, and Sutton’s, and Filliols: stop overthinking, keep these basics in mind, and it’ll work out. Not only that, but accumulating “pretty good” reps in the pool are what will actually allow the brain and body to progress towards “very good,” then “excellent,” then, perhaps, “masterful.”
Also, your head won’t explode, and your spouse won’t have to tell you to clean your brains off the cat and out of the carpet.
Pretty nasty. Brains everywhere. The cat is still trying to lick them out of the carpet.
I envision this to be the state of beginner/intermediate triathlon at the moment: well-meaning athletes popping onto the forums for some tips and just spontaneously disintegrating, just “PFFFT”-ing like the climactic scene from Kingsman: the Secret Service.
“Disintegration” is actually a great term to describe the overthink that goes into a lot of triathlon swim instruction: “if I just do A) with my elbows, and B) with my forearm, and C) with my core—I don’t even know what a core is—and XYZ) with my feet, I’ll get to T1 faster and having conserved energy.”
Well, no. By treating the body as a collection of parts, instead of a single organism, we compromise what actually needs to be developed to get the athlete to T1 fast and fresh.
Take rhythm, for example. Rhythm is essential in events as brief as a 100m dash. How important is it then for multisport events lasting minimum the better part of an hour? The literal disintegration of swimming workouts interferes with the development of a swimming rhythm that needs to carry over to bike and run in the form of less fatigued muscles and more energy. It instead leads to tired athletes coming out of the water knackered because they put all their muscular energy into trying to hold a technique that was developed from someone’s sensibilities of what swimming SHOULD look like rather than what gets you to the finish line of a Triathlon the fastest.
This is not a knock on the discussions between coaches on threads. I’ve got a dog-eared copy of Swimming Fastest on my bedroom bookshelf, and nerding out about this stuff is fun as hell. The problem is that there’s no line drawn between the coaching conjecture and immediate, “actionable” (or whatever go-getter entrepreneurship term applies) ideas that someone looking to improve their TRIATHLON—-not triathlon SWIMMING but TRIATHLON—-can implement swiftly and effectively. The result: “PFFFFT!!!”
That’s essentially MBEs message, and Sutton’s, and Filliols: stop overthinking, keep these basics in mind, and it’ll work out. Not only that, but accumulating “pretty good” reps in the pool are what will actually allow the brain and body to progress towards “very good,” then “excellent,” then, perhaps, “masterful.”
Also, your head won’t explode, and your spouse won’t have to tell you to clean your brains off the cat and out of the carpet.
Last edited by:
NateChampness: Nov 2, 17 14:11