go ahead and post them.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

OK thanks Dan. Here we go....
History:
Got into triathlons 4 years ago as I could not swim and needed my club was offering swim lessons as part of their intro to triathlon course.
Prior to triathlon could not swim more than 50 m without needing to stop. Failed a 200 m swim test for my kids where I had 5 mins to do it in!
Injured my femur (fracture requiring major surgery) which put me out of action for a year.
Now swimming consistently 3 times a week, averaging 11-12K a week and back racing triathlons. Have 3 70.3's lined up for next season (no IM's, don't think my femur will hack it).
Started off at around 1:50/100 LCM, said to myself that I would be super happy if I ever swam an individual 100 at <1:40.
CSS pace is down to around 1:32-1:33/100 LCM.
I am not a natural swimmer, I worked bloody hard to get to where I am today and have been fortunate to have good coaches along the way, when I fractured my femur I thought this was an ideal time to make my major weakness a strength.
I get a regular video assessment every 3 months by my coach.
This is my most recent, after a warm up etc, this 100m was done in about 1:26 at about 7.5 RPE.
I only like to focus on 1-2 things at a time, otherwise I can't process it all. Key things we looked at were hand position during the the catch and pull as well as body position, trying to get my hips up and elevate my kick a little more.
I really want to crack that 1:28-1:30 for my CSS pace and continue to shave seconds off it.....(I don't test my CSS very often, more on what our squad is doing in each lane).
Fire away.......

the good part is that you've made a tremendous leap in the few years you've been swimming. amazing progress. but you know that already.

the only 2 things i'd say are:

1. if you're feet were a little higher, where you feel your feet breaking the pool surface, i wouldn't mind that;

2. you're hands are scribing an arc. a half circle. i'd rather they spend less time pushing down and more time pulling back. look at my favorite video of this (grant hackett) or anyone else of that ilk, and look how much of their pull is straight back rather than making that half circle.

most adult onset swimmers have: heads too high; feet too low (those 2 things go together); and this makes it hard to pull back rather than down in the front half of your pull. in order to pull back you'll eventually have to bend at the elbow. where and when, and how, that's sort of the trick to fast swimming. not that i have it mastered by any means. it's called by many names: jesus, buddha, high elbow anchor, high elbow catch, early vertical forearm, eywa. go forth, my son, and prosper.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Funnily enough Dan, I was going to link Grant Hackett's video and then I saw you mentioned it. It's great at showing what a perfect early vertical forearm should be. For a lot of people it's not about tweaking their current stroke, but really it's a fundamental change to how they swim and I guess that's why a lot of people don't get the EVF sorted. I'm not a coach and not very good at detailing how to fix flaws in your stroke, but getting your catch sorted will help enormously. There are a couple of drills out there that will help. I think one of the problems is, it can feel like you're initiating the catch quick early, but often you're not. Biomechanically it should feel very different, like your arm is working as 2 seperate units, the forearm is seperate, rather than the arm just working as one. Check the drill below. Do that drill, switch to slow freestyle, with PB or fins and watch your arms, try and keep the elbow near the surface, it will probably feel horrible and inefficient. Get used to that feeling and of the forearm working separately and go from there. Try and work hard at forcing your lead arm to stay high as well, it will drop naturally, don't let it. As Dan pointed out, your legs are dropping. Swim downhill. Like you are trying to swim freestyle to the bottom of the pool and like someone is pressing on your chest. Even if you exaggerate it at first, that's OK, you'll feel your feet pop to the surface. You might be swimming like a retard at this point, but you're on your way to fixing your body position. It's then a matter of tinkering around with this. Putting aside speed and efficency and just focus on getting the legs higher in the water. Like the EVF stuff, it will feel horrible and inefficent, but will get better and more nautral. Work on those 2.

Was that done at Claremont with Paul?






Grant Hackett

Thanks Dan, that is awesome advice.
Any tips on drills etc to get the legs higher? I am not sure how I compare when I have a wetsuit on in the open water, often I find my head position a little forward looking in the pool, otherwise I have a habit of smashing into the person in front of me! I think I need to either lead more or drop back more and focus on a better head position to help the butt and legs elevate.
Re the Catch.....I finally feel like I am just clicking with what I need to do and working on things, funny how with swimming it can take some things ages to really just click (I think being an adult learning to swim does not help).
I am really pleased with how far I have come but know I can continue to get better, just the law of diminishing returns potentially but I still feel like I could get down into the mid 1:20s probably with more tweaks etc.
Really appreciate the advice.

Thanks for this and the links, will have a good look through them today.
Yes-am lucky enough to swim at Claremont with Paul-are you local or know the squad etc??
I am really enjoying my swimming, but find I get overwhelmed at trying to change to many things at once, hence why I tend to do a formal assessment every 3 months or so, pick a few key things to work on and then try and lock those in, then repeat the process. Looks like I still have some "low hanging fruit" I can work on which is nice.
At least I don't feel like I look like the typical triathlete frog in a blender swim type anymore!
Cheers.

Yeah I'm in Perth too. Freestyle is very technical, it can be a bit overawing trying to listen to someone identifying all the flaws with your stroke.

I reckon you work on those 2 aspects, body position and evf and you'll be flying. It will take time, but if you persist you will reap the benefits. A lot of people get frustrated and give up. Commit to working on your swim, especially your catch, it might mean you swim like shit for a while and it feels like shit when you swim, but stick at it. Most don't. You've got the makings of a good stroke. And 1.32 CSS isn't bad. Where do you normally place in the swim.

Thanks, generally place in the top 10-20% or so of the swim so am happy with that but always keen to improve. A big gap from front pack to second/back of second pack usually, some uber swimmers out there!
Never thought I would get to where I am today so always have to remember to be happy with that, but always want to get better if I can!

Check your head

I know, I cringe when I see it in still frame like that!!
Still, it gives me something to focus on improving and I am sure it must be a worth a few more seconds per 100m off my CSS pace as well.
Will be trying it out during tomorrows session,
Cheers.

It looks like you have a case of crossover during your entry on your left arm, hard to tell if it's there on the right or at all with the angle that the video is taken at. Just be aware of hand placement while you are swimming and extending your arm straight out from your shoulder and not crossing your centre line.

Work on finishing your stroke. When you're standing on deck with your arms hanging at your side, run your thumb nail along your leg at it's natural resting position a bunch of times. When you are swimming be sure to finish your stroke back there.

Like Slowman and a couple others mentioned, it's a good idea to work on that early vertical forearm. That half circle isn't just going to slow you down you're actually going to risk injuring your shoulders if you start increasing mileage or just over time. The arm when held straight out is acting like a lever and you're increasing the stress on your shoulder needlessly.

Thanks for all the feedback. Was nice to jump into the pool and work on things this morning.
Was super happy to knock out an 800m PB in the middle of todays set (11:46 in a 50m LC pool, after a tough 2.4 km set prior to that), it takes time to lock these changes in but I am a slave to the gradual progression rule when it comes to swimming with hopefully the few odd jumps in performance as we go along.
Onwards and upwards from here, thanks again for all the advice.

Hey,

Would you guys mind taking a look at mine as well?

Swim history: (All SCY)
~3 years ago, first time in water, starting with the 0to1650.
Frustrated with the water, pretty inconsistent swims (maybe twice weekly, with monthly gaps).
Past year, started swimming more consistently, but low volume (3-4x week;; typical main set of 10-15x100, arriving at mid 1:20s, leaving at 1:40s).
Last month, began higher volume stuff following tower26 podcasts (3x 4-5k yards/week).
Initial jump in volume was rough (arriving at mid 1:30s with 30-60sec rest during fourth 1000, broken into 100s), but same workout getting noticeably faster.

Video was taken today, after an initial 4x250 as part of a main set:
First part is a under and above water 100 followed by a short front static.



Thanks

Flip turns would save you about two seconds per 100.

What did swim smooth day about your video?

Do you believe your arm should be at 120 degrees?

Yes, am definitely working on those!
Progress is admittedly slow, and thought it best to not have a digital recording.
Any thoughts on stroke, body positions? Other things to be conscious of?

Guys take a look and let me know what I'm missing. I know I should be much faster in the pool based on what I do on the bike/run.

Background:
-10+ years in triathlon mid pack swimmer who is started to get more serious about the swim portion the last couple of years
-Swim 2-3X per week getting in 8-9k. Two of the workouts are with a tri-group
-Typical sendoff is 1:40 to 1:35 SCY
-HIM 33min & IM 1:08 - i want to get below 30 mins for a half

Video is from a swim spa I grabbed a couple different angles to identify hitches in my stroke.



I want to get to the next level and swim is where I can make the biggest gains. Thanks for the feedback and tips.

I've continued to work very hard on improving my catch, and improve my body position. I still suffer from sinky legs, and prefer to swim with the buoy doing a lot of pulling, but for the past 3 weeks I've made a big effort to do more swimming without the buoy to see if I can improve my position.

I'm somewhere in the low 1:31-1:32 for a 20x100 with 10 second rest pulling. This does not translate a all to open water (I'm swimming the 1.2 miles in the 35-37min range) and that is where I want to improve. All advice is welcomed.




You can see a bit of where I'm coming from here:

I just looked at the last video, but looks like you are straight arm pulling, starting the pull too deep, not releasing the air trapped on your hand, and kicking too wide(up and down) with your toes pointed down..

There is more, but just pick one or two things that may be related and work on them for awhile. Trying to do too many things at once just confuses the body and brain, and nothing gets accomplished...

I don't have a front-view on this video, but from that angle yeah, I can see my arm is deep in the water. I'll see if I can focus on not going so deep. I think this may have been my way to try and not drop that elbow in the catch, if I go deeper, I can keep that elbow in-line with my wrist, but I guess this is not as powerful as a shallower pull.

Regarding my kick: it's useless. It takes me about 2:10 to kick a 100, I could probably kick it in 2:00, but I would have to be kicking all out. I've been doing side kicking this week, and I find that I love the position I get right after side kicking a 50. For the next 50 yards I feel really high in the water, and my kick feels efficient. Of course after the 50 it goes away very quickly.

So in that pic it looks like you are overreaching with your left hand and it is twisting you from the hips back, affecting your kick. And just for a visual from that pic, you elbow should be as close to the surface of the water as possible, see where yours is??

And kicking 2 minutes for a 100 is not really that bad, means you are getting some good propulsion. For comparison, Dan who started this thread, can kick 2 minutes for a 50. Good news for you two guys that wetsuits fix all of that and make the kick pretty irrelevant. Not to say you should not be able to swim well in a pool though, it all will transfer to race day in some fashion, so keep at it...

Hy guys,

Since any help is valuable, I would be glad with any recommendation!

Background: 33yrs, never went to a swim class in my childhood. I Swam 3-4 months back in 13'. Went back to swim class february last year. Last 70.3 in april was 34'. I think I'm able to swim now at 1'50-1'52/100m with a wetsuit. From where I came, it´s ok, but since I have to get better by myself (coachless), lets see some footage:

What I think: hips sinking, left hand entry poor, taking too long to start the catch.
Please note this: I can't swim like this for 30'. In this footage I was doing some 100s.

What was your pace in those videos?

Well, hard to tell, but acording to GC, second video was something like 1:32/100m and third one 1:41/100m. The first one was slower.

you do a lot of things right. you don't fishtail, your legs don't splay when you breathe, you've got a great catch and extend. your head position is pretty good. there isn't that much reason why you shouldn't be swimming faster. i would suggest the following:

1. i think i'd like to see your feet a little higher in the water.
2. while your head position is pretty good, if it was a little lower - if the water hit you more on the crown of the head instead of the forehead, and your breathing was a little more behind you rather than to the side of you, i think that would help you keep your feet higher, and help you get your hands more square to the water you're pulling.
3. i don't see why you aren't pulling more water. you look to me to have enough strength to specifically focus on this. beyond the two minor points i just listed, i would focus on how to grab the most water you can with the most arm surface you can apply to the task, pulling straight back. in other words, visualize your arm, from the elbow to the fingertip, square to the water - getting it square to the water as soon as you can - and then pulling straight back (rather than to the side, or down, or angled down). straight back.

and that's it. i'm out. i just gave you all the wisdom i'm qualified to give, and i had this off to those better equipped than i.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman