Cody Beals wrote:
devashish_paul wrote:
OK that's more like it (the Chattanooga +potential Kona trajectory). At least if nothing else maybe we can get Ashley Horner demoted to second page so you will have done some community service :-) In terms of swim more often/swim harder/swim with a group. I have one more question via a comment for you.
In biking you and almost all on ST obsessively focus on shaving every newton of aerodynamic retarding force. We're all into the aerodynamics so with that's I'll lead into the swim:
If there were an ST contest for contorting your body into the shape of a torpedo, Phelps would win it. But getting in this position is not as simple as getting fit in the wind tunnel. The top swimmers have the malleability in the entire body to hold the torpedo shape through their entire stroke. But to do that, the only way is to morph your body swimming more and holding the streamline all the time.
I think our first instinct in a pack swim when we are gapped is to pull harder. But if we were drafting on a bike, we'd try to get as small as possible at the same time. When swimming hard, often in a group you get to practice being a hydrodynamic torpedo and the body shape can literally change in time with more practice, almost like someone who does yoga all the time and can hold the poses for longer in more duress than a person who shoes up 2x per week.
So since you are the aero king among ST pros, how much is this mindset influencing your swimming.
On the flip side, I think Lionel is just trying to pull harder and use more of his available engine in the water.
I wrote out a longer reply but lost it TWICE due to a glitch. Here's an abbreviated version.
This is some next level stuff right here. I'm surprised by how little attention seems to be payed to drag and hydrodynamics, both with respect to technique and other details. For example, I see quite a few pros who don't bother shaving their arms for non-wetsuit swims.
I've admittedly been guilty of neglecting this front. I was racing in a worn out old swim skin for years before recently upgrading to a new one. The improvement was quite noticeable and probably accounted for some of my recent swimming progress. I would never dream of running slow tires, for example, so I'm not sure why this oversight seemed acceptable...
My impression is that swimming is the least mature of the three disciplines. It's the discipline with the greatest discrepancy between elite triathletes and elite single sport athletes. The best tri swimmers have long been impressively quick, but the level of tri swimming in general is clearly on the rise. I've had to make progress just to hold steady relative to the field over the course of my five year career. Most of that progress has been won through sustaining higher swim training load. Those gains will eventually plateau and I'll be more motivated to revisit stroke analysis as a potential means to eke out a little more progress.
The same goes for beards and mustaches, all elite swimmers shave their face, as well as the rest of their bodies, before a big meet. :)
"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."