It's easy to say this on paper. How does one do that in the pool?

Is this to say for the one arm pull you should be flat on the water, not on one side?

I just started swimming again two weeks ago after a long break so this challenge comes at a great time

One problem I have is that for whatever reason my mind tells me just to stop and take a break after the second length (33m pool). Maybe I feel I'm getting short in breath at that point or something but I'm really not certain why this is. After about 30 secs I'm fine to go again and the same thing happens. Does this happen to anyone else or is it just weird? I'm hoping it'll go with more practice

You'll return to flat briefly after you breathe. When you initiate the pull the non-pulling shoulder should drop down. When this happens your hips/body will start to open up and give you leverage in your pull. Try this out of the water. With hands above your head, form the catch and pull straight down like you normally would. Do nothing with your hips. Compare that to the power you feel if you rotate your hips open (on the pulling side) while you pull down...pretty big difference.

Go about 1 minute in on this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgb2Li5AH7M

Thorpe is doing the catch-up drill but its similar to the one arm drill in that one arm is always out front. Notice how he rotates back and forth. He starts out flat, then as the pull commences, his body/hips open up to give him room and leverage for his pull.

Can I ask what your time was BEFORE last year's Challenge? My last Ironmans were in '95 and '97 (I do only short course now) and I did 1:30 in each. I currently do 45+ for 1500m OWS with no wetsuit.

I haven't swam since April. During workout 2 I got cramps in my foot. I do not kick much. why am I getting cramps in my foot.

Was first IM
But based on results of other people I have raced with before at other distances I would guess I saved 10 mins.

But i also swam it *super* easy - so hard to calibrate totally

Ha! Because you don't kick much. :) I sometimes get cramps in the arch of my foot if I'm doing a lot of kicking with fins. I also get leg cramps if I've done a bike or run workout earlier in the day.

Finished #2 today. I also will be in the Tarpon group. Last year I did an OW event and finished in 1:14 (it was a tad short, but not much). I cycled through the Guppy workouts a few times as my prep and shocked how comfortable I felt that day. BUT that was a year ago, and I've been dry since.
I noticed something both Monday and today. Once I hit about a mile, something just clicks and I feel like I could cruise forever. I was doing the 8x200, and at about #4 I just got super chill. Maybe you swim downhill after the halfway point? Does this mean I'm a dude that needs a long warm up? I was getting 20 second rest, so maybe I was going too easy?

I need a good warmup too. My masters coach gives us 10 minutes to piddle paddle before we do a lead up set to the main set. Sometimes the lead up set feels harder than the main set (because there’s usually kicking involved on an interval). We’re close to 1000 +/- by the time we hit the main set. After that, we’re warmed up and ready to hit the main set.

Is more of a "feel" of high elbow catch supposed to be another result of this?

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#OldMenTriHarder
#SwimBikeRunLikeABadger
#SwimBikeRunLikeAngels

I have the same issues. Always seems that after 50 - 100 yards, start to get out of breath, but regain it back in a 200 - 300 yards. I always thought it was the heart rate going from 50 to 150 and after a few minutes finally waking up. But maybe it's just the buildup of current in the pool finally getting to the point of pushing you :-p

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#OldMenTriHarder
#SwimBikeRunLikeABadger
#SwimBikeRunLikeAngels

This will seem like a stupid question but...when are you exhaling? This sounds like something with your breathing and most common cause is not exhaling between breaths ie when your face is in the water

You get cramps in your foot primarily because you are holding your foot in a flexed position.

Still warming up to guppy after my time out of the pool. I'm following the structure so day 1 did the 6 x 50, 6 x 100 and today did that and 3 x 150.

I have a question about the one-arm pulls. I find that when I turn my head to breathe and then turn back, my body is in a different place in the water (lower down) and then it has to reset to where it normally is when I swim. I feel this more acutely when breathing/pulling on the right but it's there on the left too. I don't feel it when swimming with both arms.

Am I doing something wrong? What? How do I fix it?

Hoping to sort out some video in the next week or two.

i'll be publishing on this over the weekend. the point of drills like this, and banded ankles, is not what you might think at face value. when i have you swim these 1-arm pulls, it's not to strengthen your pull, or to concentrate on your hand's course through the water. nothing like that. my aim is to expose a disconnection between your pull, your breathing, your kicking. a very good swimmer will perform one arm drills without losing any momentum in the water. adult onset swimmers stall in the water when doing these.

what i'm trying to expose is that stall. now, look, maybe i misinterpret this, but when i read very good swimmers talk about "hip driven freestyle" as opposed to "shoulder driven freestyle" what i *think* i'm reading about hip-driven is a kicking pattern strategically employed to carry your momentum forward in between your pulls. this keeps your momentum from coming to a halt in between your pulls.

this is what i'm hoping to get to with these 1-arm pulls. remember, my interest is not in the had you're pulling with. it's with the other hand. the one near the surface, straight in front of you. if you need to scull with that hand that means you've lost your forward momentum and you're looking for some way to keep going. when you can do these drills without sculling, that means you've found a way to keep your momentum in between pulls.

when you band your ankles, again, my issue here is not to try to work on arm propulsion or any propulsion. it's to expose that leg splay you do when you kick, and you do that leg splay because you jackknife or twist at the waist when you breathe, and you splay your legs to keep your balance. when you band your ankles together this exposes that stroke flaw. you'll start fishtailing. by all means, put a pull buoy between your legs to keep your legs afloat. this isn't the inquisition. the idea is not to pull your joints out of their sockets until you confess. when you band your ankles and discover that you fishtail, you'll have learned something about how you swim. your job is simply to make a change that stops that fishtailing.

so, you have 2 "jobs" in these two drills: in the 1-arm drill your job is to perform that drill with your off hand still, immobile, and near the surface. your job with banded ankles (that drill is upcoming) is to swim without fishtailing.

if you have a hard time performing either or both of these drills the way i describe, then you should rejoice! it's like getting the labwork back and finding out that you have a particular disease. much better to know the disease instead of trudging along year after year knowing there's something very wrong with you and not knowing what to do about it. now we know your swim disease, and it makes it much easier now to solve it.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Hey Dan, I would like to provide some input on the banded ankles for your challenge. I found the three hole band really helped me last year (which reminds, me, I need to pull it out)......but the way I found it MOST helpful was to actually put two holes at knee level, meaning I could kick a bit without legs splaying apart and fish tailing. Here is where I am going with it. The kick provides a stable platform to pull from. Imagine a golfer trying to tee off standing on a swivel table, vs feet anchored on solid ground. I even tried the three hole bank at knee level with fins on with a 2 beat kick that was simply a more firm anchor. This reminds, me that I need to put the three hole band back inside my swim kit. It really helped my streamline past my chest/thoracic spine. I also found trying to swim with the three hole band at knee level catch up with only a 2 beat kick did wonders for timing my breathing.

i don't have any quarrel with that. i just bought a TYR ankle buoy online today and i'm going to buy a couple more, just to check them out, and see what it is i like the best from among all the options.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Okay that makes sense. I have to kick more during the drills just to keep going! Looking forward to the reading.

If I missed it I apologize, what does "on your leave " mean when we do the ladders?

let's say you're a pretty good swimmer. not great. better than average. much better than average as you get older! you might "leave" on the 1:30, that is to say, if you swim 10 x 100 yards on that base you might come in on each of these in 1:18, or 1:23, or 1:26. in each case you'll "leave" on the 1:30, so, you'll leave at 1:30 into the set, 3:00, 4:30, 6:00 and so on. this entire set will take exactly 15 minutes. so far so good?

on a ladder, and let's say your ladder is 400 yards, 300 yards, a 200 and then a 100. you'd "leave" in 6 minutes for the 400, in 4:30 for the 300, in 3 minutes for the 200. so, if you start your watch and 00, you'll swim your 400, rest, and leave for your 300 at 6 minutes. after you finish your 300 you'll leave for your 200 at 10:30 into the set. you'll leave for your 100 13:30 into the set and you'll finish in 15 minutes.

if your leave interval is the 2 minutes, then it's all based on 2 minutes for every 100.

does that make sense?

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

So, our "leave " is at our discretion depending on how much rest we want/need?

Not exactly. You set your leave at the beginning of the workout. Your rest will depend on how much time is left before your next leave. If you're on a 2:00 base/leave and you come in at 1:45 for a 100 you have 15 seconds before you go again. If you come in at 1:55 you have 5 seconds before you go again.

Ready for week 2. Is there a downside to doing more than 300 yards of the drill each day? Or just stick to the plan? I assume no paddles here?

looks like you got 'er sorted. there is no downside to doing more drill yards that i can think of. go forth!

i'm interested to continue to know from you all what you find easy/hard about each drill. and if you make progress and what progress you make.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman