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What was your swimming AHA moment?
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Or multiple moments

I came across this article from a ST post while searching around:

http://www.feelforthewater.com/...uld-feel-to-you.html


And this was a huge breakthrough moment for me. Turns out I've been exerting a stupid amount of force pushing down on the water on hand entry, needlessly straining my shoulders/arms AND pushing my body in the wrong direction!


After this correction, I easily swam faster and which significantly less strain on the arms.


Would love to hear what breakthrough moments folks have had while trying to improve their swim!
Last edited by: qintegral: Aug 17, 18 11:14
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Re: What was your swimming AHA moment? [qintegral] [ In reply to ]
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had one yesturday. turnover and increasing your stroke rate. always thought long, smooth strokes but never gave much thought to getting your stroke in front of you quickly. we'll see how it goes over the next few weeks.
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Re: What was your swimming AHA moment? [qintegral] [ In reply to ]
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Same one for me. Just focusing on the catch. Can’t say I have a really high elbow yet but I’m getting my fingers pointing down and therefore gaining a stronger pull.
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Re: What was your swimming AHA moment? [qintegral] [ In reply to ]
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When I just decided to ride and run ;)

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Re: What was your swimming AHA moment? [qintegral] [ In reply to ]
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By far my biggest a-ha moment:

Deciding to NOT overthink swimming anymore, and to put my #1,2,3 focus on swimming hard, and a lot more than I was.

All those technical recommendations are helpful, but only in the context of building swim volume and intensity. If you are a AOS swimmer with little/no swim background, no amount of technique focus will save you if you're swimming 1x/wk (or less). Heck, I can't even get better with <4x/wk.

I'll also add that ALL of my speed gains came after taking hard workouts and volume to the next level. Only THEN did the technique come along with it. It was never the reverse, like gaining some better/improved technical skill that translated to instantly faster pool speeds for same effort. I went from 2:20/100 to sub 1:30/100 for distance over several years, quite gradually, and it was always this way.

I'll also advise to NOT look for the quick-fix or believe in them, even if your pool time suddenly drops 5sec/100. It's more than likely because you were fully rested or just went harder for that length. As can be proven in your next triathlon in the near future where your race swim time will almost certainly NOT reflect that sudden boost in speed that you discovered by that small technical change.
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Re: What was your swimming AHA moment? [qintegral] [ In reply to ]
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Never had one. I'm AOS and have improved incrementally over the years (11 now) but still suck compared to a real swimmer. Last weekend in a sprint tri I was #6 coming out of the water out of 48 in my wave but that just meant I am better than other AOS of similar age, not that I know what I'm doing.
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Re: What was your swimming AHA moment? [qintegral] [ In reply to ]
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swimming 25k per week

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Re: What was your swimming AHA moment? [qintegral] [ In reply to ]
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qintegral wrote:
Would love to hear what breakthrough moments folks have had while trying to improve their swim!

There were many. But a few below:

First, many many years ago, there was the realization that swim technique REALLY REALLY matters. I had swum very solidly (5-6x week) with a super fast masters team for a few years and churned out a lot of yards and was super fit (and was super fit running and biking as well). But my swimming got only a little bit better. Then, in the span of only a few weeks, I started making some technique changes which resulted in HUGE improvements in swim speed because I was able to greatly reduce my drag and also improved my pull mechanics. (I made the technique changes based on some one-on-one swim coach help.)

Another realization was regarding joint proprioceptors. These are sensors in all of our joints that give us indications as to where our limbs and body is in space based on joint positions.

However, in the water, they can give profoundly faulty information because of "frame-of-reference" problems. You think you are doing X, but external video clearly shows you are doing Y (even though it still feels that you are doing X). Most of us have had that experience. The question for me was, why?

Figuring out that 'why' (and how to correct for it) then further accelerated my swim learning and my swim speed.

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