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Tarpon Challenge - Week 2
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 Here's Week 2's workouts.

This week we feature a workout from our first "guest coach," our own Jordan Rapp, aka Rappstar. I erred toward choosing coaches that I thought had something to say to adult onset swimmers. Jordan qualifies, because he's a strong second pack pro swimmer off a background in... lacrosse. and rowing. To me, someone who can swim a non-wetsuit Ironman swim in 54 or 55 minutes, heading toward 52 or 53min (and Jordan is probably in that category at the moment) off a no-swim background has something particularly vital to say to those taking up swimming late.

Again, this challenge is for those who're swimming between 1:12 and 1:30 for an Ironman and would like to reduce that down 6 to 15 minutes. It's a 10-week challenge. Workouts and explanations here every monday morning for the next 10 weeks.

There is no need to join this challenge, formally, as this is going to become a staple series on Slowtwitch, along with the Guppy Challenge, to be commenced at any time, now, next week, next month, or next year. However, for those if you who want to join, here's a link to a challenge just created and you may feel free to do so. It's backdated to last monday. If you are starting the challenge this week, that is, a week late, just join in now and start logging workouts. Here are the 2 weeks' workouts to date.

http://www.slowtwitch.com/..._challenge_week1.pdf
http://www.slowtwitch.com/..._challenge_week2.pdf

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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"Since band-only basically forces good swimming (or you drown), it's a great prelude to some hard swimming with paddles."

If one knows how to do "good swimming", which the above presumes, why are bands necessary?



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"Go yell at an M&M"
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [klehner] [ In reply to ]
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i can't speak for jordan, but nobody knows good technique without learning it and you learn by doing, failing, doing, failing. you don't know good swimming when you first put the bands on. you learn it pretty quickly, so that you don't drown.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Slowman wrote:
i can't speak for jordan, but nobody knows good technique without learning it and you learn by doing, failing, doing, failing. you don't know good swimming when you first put the bands on. you learn it pretty quickly, so that you don't drown.

That's my point: you fail, but how do you change it? Most triathletes seem to think "kick harder," but that certainly won't work with bands.

Learning is more than "don't do that." Determining the correct alternative is not always intuitive.

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"Go yell at an M&M"
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [klehner] [ In reply to ]
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"Most triathletes seem to think "kick harder," but that certainly won't work with bands."

i think that's the point of bands. i do think there's an intermediate step: pull buoy with bands. you might wonder whether the pull buoy defeats the purpose, but there are 2 axes here, and if the pull buoy inoculates you from the value of the band in the long axis, it doesn't inoculate you from the tendency to splay your legs when breathing because you bend at the waist instead of engaging in body roll, and articulating only at the neck.

as to that second good reason for bands, in my own experience this drill is a way to supercharge a motor learning exercise. i can tell you all you want about how to block somebody's jab in the ring, but nothing trumps the teaching experience of getting hit a number of times.


Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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I'm just wrapping up the guppy challenge, and I look forward to starting this one.

As for other strokes, I can fake backstroke, I can fake breaststroke, but butterfly is an utter disaster. Should I really devote time to becoming more proficient in this stroke? Or should I substitute for another stroke for purposes of this season, and spend some time learning in the winter?

As for the bands - I can't wait. One arm swimming, kicking without fins or a kickboard, etc. all scared me, and they were ugly and difficult when I first incorporated them into my routine. Now, though, those sets are completed with ease, and my stroke is better for the effort. Bring on the band.


Chris Harris
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Loving these workouts. I have already begun to notice a difference....that being said: I will drown this week with those bands :) can't wait.
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Slowman wrote:
"Most triathletes seem to think "kick harder," but that certainly won't work with bands."

i think that's the point of bands. i do think there's an intermediate step: pull buoy with bands. you might wonder whether the pull buoy defeats the purpose, but there are 2 axes here, and if the pull buoy inoculates you from the value of the band in the long axis, it doesn't inoculate you from the tendency to splay your legs when breathing because you bend at the waist instead of engaging in body roll, and articulating only at the neck.


This is so true for me. I've been working on it thanks to erikmulk's and jonnyo's advice and video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg-GB2_lPyI. Exactly like you said. I'm still having trouble keeping my legs in sync and up, even with a buoy. It has really highlighted dead spots in my stroke. Trying to speed up my cadence is a wip.

Thanks again for doing this, Dan.


Edit: fix spelling

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Loud pawls save lives
Last edited by: BionicMan: Jun 9, 14 11:07
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [Shaman] [ In reply to ]
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my advice, if you're really not a waterborn species, and you've never swum with bands and no pull buoy, either be in the shallow lane or be ready to pull that band off in a hurry if need be. it's a shock when you first try it. if you've got a buoy between your legs not so strident. but, no buoy, with ankle bands, that's a rough go.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Dan was confused by my nomenclature, so to clarify:

everything offset by a curly brack { is part of the same set

I use this to demarcate so I can offer more specific details

So:
2x{12x50
{500
{100

is the same as 2 x (12x50 + 500 + 100)

But I like to give each item it's own line so I can be more specific about what's to do for each while still - to me anyway - clearly indicating the work block, i.e., "12x50"

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [klehner] [ In reply to ]
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Because knowing how to do it when you think about it and being forced into a situation where you MUST repeat it over and over are two different things.

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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You write out workouts like a coder in C# or C++ or something! LOL

Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [fe_dad] [ In reply to ]
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fe_dad wrote:
I'm just wrapping up the guppy challenge, and I look forward to starting this one.

As for other strokes, I can fake backstroke, I can fake breaststroke, but butterfly is an utter disaster. Should I really devote time to becoming more proficient in this stroke? Or should I substitute for another stroke for purposes of this season, and spend some time learning in the winter?

As for the bands - I can't wait. One arm swimming, kicking without fins or a kickboard, etc. all scared me, and they were ugly and difficult when I first incorporated them into my routine. Now, though, those sets are completed with ease, and my stroke is better for the effort. Bring on the band.

I was a freestyler / butterflyer in college, and still am as a recently returned Masters swimmer (although a lot slower than I used to be!!).

I think what fly really gets you is, when you get good at it, a feeling of "flow" through the water. I rarely do full stroke fly in practice, maybe 100 to 150m total in a practice. Mostly if I'm doing a fly set I'll do one arm fly, alternating arms either by 25 or every 3rd stroke. The point is to feel that smooth dolphin motion throughout the stroke. It is really hard to do that if you do an excessive amount of full stroke, it simply cannot be maintained with really good form for that long.

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Are these workouts archived anywhere besides the forum? I was checking out the training section of slowtwitch, and didn't see them there. I'd love to have them in a place where I didn't have to search the forum to dig them up, as I'm planning on returning to them again and again.
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [darkwave] [ In reply to ]
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we're going to transfer them to a spot that always has them available for all comers. but as of now they're only available on the forum.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Week one buried me...can't wait for this week, not
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [blueraider_mike] [ In reply to ]
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week-1 should have buried you. it was designed to bury you. because - and i say this in love - you've been a pussy for lo these years. week-1 was intended to ready you for some bigger volume, probably more than you've been doing. this is 10 weeks to make you fast. if at that time you want to throttle back a little, okay, you'll have made the jump. but you'll also find life in the water a lot easier, and 3000 yard workouts not that much.

you're really not doing anything hard now. you're just doing a lot of yards. these workouts are not going to make you work all that hard, except in spots. that's because i don't want you to be out of energy for your land based workouts. but after a few weeks, one we've gotten you to swim a bit more technically well, then we'll speed things up and you'll find, i hope, some real speed benefits.

but these first 3 or 4 weeks are going to be a little bit of a shock to your system, like doing a lot of 9 mile runs in place of the 6 mile runs you had been doing.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Great workouts! I think the doing 1 time a week rubber band work will be huge.
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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did workout 2 today, and it took me way out of my comfort zone. First, I NEVER do butterfly, and second, 2x(12x50) with ankle bands, ouch.
Unfortunately, time constraints kept me from going much beyond that, but these workouts are (have been) a great change of pace from my normal routine.
Hopefully this puts me on the path to breaking 1:10 at IMLT

--------------------------------------------
TEAM F3 Undurance
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [Multisportsdad] [ In reply to ]
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my advice: if it's an IM set and butterfly just stops you cold, then this is free-back-breast-free. as for ankle bands, if you can't do them at all, then go with the pull buoy and ankle bands.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Wow, the band was a sobering experience.

I forgot to cut up a tube at home before going to the pool this morning, so I just ripped off the hemmed part of a neoprene swim cap I never use that was in my locker- worked perfectly. I've tried swimming with no kick a few times before, just as a goof, but it was with no band, and thus not that tough. Today was different. I'd power through the first 25 meters, but halfway through the way back, my legs would sink beyond repair and I'd have to stop and stand up. SO... I alternated 50 with the band and 50 with the band and pull buoy, which made things more manageable (I have to admit that I took a rest for five seconds after the first 25 of the band-only sets, though.)

One thing I've noticed, both with returning to the single-arm stroke sets and now with the band, is that my stroke feels much more cyclical when I do my regular swimming cool-down set afterwards. By that, I mean I feel like I'm not deadening out when I extend, expecially on my left side, where I've been told I'm prone to doing that.

I really look forward to my swim workouts these days, and I'm REALLY looking forward to how things turn out after eight more weeks of this. Thanks again.

(OH- and, are my legs/feet supposed to fishtail wildly when my feet are strapped together with no pull buoy? In normal circumstances, of course not, I should be nice and straight, but with the band they are just out of control.)
Last edited by: watty77: Jun 11, 14 17:32
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [watty77] [ In reply to ]
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"are my legs/feet supposed to fishtail wildly when my feet are strapped together with no pull buoy?"

no. but i'm glad they do. that gives us something easy to fix. if you had a pull buoy in there, with banded ankles, my guess is you'd still fishtail, you'd just be doing so with your feet on the surface. this happens because you're bending at the waist when you breathe instead of rolling your body around its long axis (like log rolling) and articulating your neck only and not your waist. swim banded until you don't fishtail. that alone will make you go faster, and this is free speed. that's what's great about swimming faster. most of it is free speed, rather than speed you get only after making substantial physiological gains (which has its limits).


Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Wow, I actually sort of thought it just came with the territory and I was doing alright, haha. Good to hear there should be some improvements down the line, though!

Just to clarify- when you say to swim banded until I stop fishtailing, is that for main sets in these Tarpon workouts? For example, I'm doing workout 3 tomorrow, so should I be banded and buoyed for the warmup and anything that's just regular swimming and not a drill? (For workout 3, it looks like that would be sets 1 and 4)
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [watty77] [ In reply to ]
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i think you should be banded only during sets that ask for this. if an implement is not mentioned in the description of the set, don't use it.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Tarpon Challenge - Week 2 [watty77] [ In reply to ]
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These ankle band sets make me feel like a toddler attempting to walk for the first time. I am good for the first 25 yards and then when I get to about yard 35 my feet really start to sink. What I have realized is: once I breathe, I have trouble returning to good body position without my feet to help. I had to alternate between band/pull buoy and band in order to survive the workout today.

The pull buoy/paddles really throws me off.
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