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Can I compensate for flawed swim stroke? (Open Water Gods Q)
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I ever-so-slightly come across my centre-line with my left arm on entry. This seems to be the reason I swim in an arc in open water and end up veering to the right.

So assuming that this flaw cannot be fixed in a week (time available until my first A-race of the season), should I compensate for this by swimming to the left of the markers/buoys? (Similar to the RH golfer who always slices and so aims left of the fairway to hit the cut grass.)

The course will be rectangular with LH turns, so I reason that starting on the inside at the start line, swimming to the left of the buoy so my stroke brings me back directly to the buoy, and repeating the same for the 2nd buoy and swim finish chute should see me swim in the most direct possible route.

Or am I over-complicating things......?
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Re: Can I compensate for flawed swim stroke? (Open Water Gods Q) [Oz Tri-Guy] [ In reply to ]
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Do you breathe on both sides or just one side? If just one side, it could help straighten your swim line to learn to breathe bi-laterally. You may be able to learn this in a week, but that depends on a lot of factors. Hard to say for sure without seeing you swim.

Also may want to try to find some straighter-swimming folks to draft off of.

Good luck in your race next weekend!

AliciaP

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Last edited by: aliciap: Jan 5, 04 19:37
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Re: Can I compensate for flawed swim stroke? (Open Water Gods Q) [aliciap] [ In reply to ]
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Breathe on my LH side. I can breathe on both, but it is just more comfortable on that one. Thanks for the advice - am hoping to do enough to hang onto the feet of some of the quicker guys, and then smoke them on the bike and run!!!
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Re: Can I compensate for flawed swim stroke? (Open Water Gods Q) [Oz Tri-Guy] [ In reply to ]
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If you aim to the left, then won't you be swimming a longer distance? Better approach, (I think) is to line up on the left side of the start, and just make sure you sight the bouys regularly and stay to the left of the crowd. That should keep you going straight. You may need to breathe on the right as well to see where you are. Not every stroke, but try a 2-2-2-2-3-3-2-2-2-2-3-3... pattern, so that every sixth stroke you breathe on the right, and the rest of the time you breathe on the left where you are most comfortable.
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Re: Can I compensate for flawed swim stroke? (Open Water Gods Q) [jasonk] [ In reply to ]
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Agreeing with Jason here. Going to total bilateral breathing when you haven't before is likely going to slow you down a bit in the short term unless your stroke is dead symmetrical (which isn't terribly common) You've been using muscles in one way, breathing 'off' side is going to suddenly have you using them slightly differently.

Short term, I'd go with that sort of mostly dominant side breathing, with the odd off side sighting breaths, and then work on the bilateral breathing for long term.
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Re: Can I compensate for flawed swim stroke? (Open Water Gods Q) [Oz Tri-Guy] [ In reply to ]
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I was veering to the right for a different reason. I was dropping my right elbow and was getting more pull with my left arm. Maybe concentrating on higher elbows during the pull would help straighten you out some.

I'm still a newbie to swimming so take it for what it's worth.

jaretj

(Everyone is gifted. Some open the package sooner.)
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Re: Can I compensate for flawed swim stroke? (Open Water Gods Q) [jaretj] [ In reply to ]
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Was simply suggesting you make an effort to breathe on the non-dominant side when possible, rather than go whole hog bi-lateral breathing every 3rd stroke. I apologize to all if this was the impression I gave. I wasn't even sure I was on the right track w/ the one-sided breathing issue. This minor adjustment of breathing occasionally on the non-dominant side could really help. I think the others would agree, but can only speak for myself with all my ex-swimmer biases. :)

Often, a stroke is uneven as a result of one-sided breathing, and the dropping shoulder may self-correct after some time spent working on bi-lateral breathing over time. Or maybe not, but it's worth a shot.

Have a really great time in your tri this weekend!

AliciaP

__________________________
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Yes, I too am on Facebook. And LinkedIn. And Twitter. Which begs the question - do I exist in the physical world? Do I?
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Re: Can I compensate for flawed swim stroke? (Open Water Gods Q) [Oz Tri-Guy] [ In reply to ]
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Hard to tell what the problem is by not being able to look at your stroke, but often times swimmers can develop that "crossover" by letting their head move back and forth as they stroke and rotate the hips. Try to keep your head as still as possible (looking down), while continuing to rotate the hips. Usually as your head goes, so goes your stroke alignment.

Kevin
www.triswimcoach.com
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