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Well, consider me the converted. Over 4 months my swim speed per 100 yards has improved by nearly 25%. My former tempo pace is now my cool-down pace!
The interesting thing is that I did this by focusing nearly exclusively on "technique." Lots of help from 3 different masters swim coaches.
Bilateral breathing now feels like second nature. Never thought I would say that, even as recently as one month ago.
I did mostly balance drills. Then slowly incorporated the swim stroke while keeping the same body position. This was like relearning how to walk. You are so used to the old way of doing it that it takes the utmost concentration to dial in the new way.
Most of these swims were short and there was little endurance/speed work. My endurance seems no better than 4 months ago. So in my little one-person experiment, the technique focus alone made me faster.
Thanks to all the good swimmers on ST who post solicited or unsolicited technique tips. There are lots of us out there who quietly read these posts and then try them in the pool.
Oleander
Last edited by:
Oleander: Mar 20, 06 20:58
what specific stuff have you done? I suck at swimming, and I have found a little bit of sucess ftom using the TI DVD to help my technique. It still feels like quite the uphill battle, though....
Infidel.
"The strong will take it from the weak and the smart will take it from the strong." A quote from my old coach, "Smitty."
DougStern
Cool, good for you!
maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD
I've had similar success with working on technique. I swim 2x/wk on average. 1 technique workout and 1 muscle endurance workout so that I get a good mix of form and near race speed work. I also thing that some of the upper body strength training I've been doing is also paying big dividends in the water.
2 years ago when I started doing this I could barely swim 500 meters. My first sprint was a 500m pool swim that took me about 10.5 minutes. Now two years later I'm training for a 1/2IM and can now do that same 500m in about 8.5 minutes and my mile time is down to just over 30 minutes. Like you my pace that was once my "race speed" is now the pace I use on easy sets. I also feel like I still have a lot of room for improvement and feel like I get faster in the water every week.
While I may never be the fastest swimmer in the pool/lake I actually enjoy going for a swim now. In fact I now like swimming better than running and feel like my run is now my hardest leg instead of the swim.
Fighting gravity on a daily basis
What I have discovered is that if I consistently swim x3 a week, I get better and better. (Master swim classes) If I skip a couple workouts or a week, I regress pretty quickly.
[reply]what specific stuff have you done? I suck at swimming, and I have found a little bit of sucess ftom using the TI DVD to help my technique. It still feels like quite the uphill battle, though....[/reply]
I definitely learned TI and used TI drills. What is interesting is this: I starting learning TI one year ago, in a LARGE GROUP setting where I got almost no individual attention. I also viewed a TI DVD. For months I THOUGHT I was doing everything correctly, but my swim times were very slow. The reality is that I was NOT doing the TI correctly. In the past 4 months I had to (re)learn the correct technique. The only thing that helped me do so was (a) individual attention from coaches; (b) doing lots of balance drills, over and over and over.
The problem with trying to learn from a DVD is you never really know if you are correctly performing in the water the technique you just saw on the DVD. You may think you are, but... The only thing that helped me was the individual coaching. You can sign up for a class that provides individual coaching. Or, if you are lucky (like me) you will find a masters swim team that has coaches that are competent at TI and that are really dedicated to helping beginners to learn it.
And yes at times (maybe most times) it WILL feel like an uphill battle. That is why I am still surprised that I actually had any success. I was going on faith. Improvement happens in fits and starts, and then for a while it will seem like you are just on a plateau not improving. But keep at it and it will get better!
Oleander