Okay, so I don’t so much need a ‘critique’ as I know my stroke is awful - (around 40min half ironman, around 1:35 for max 100scm, 3:40 for max 200scm, hard cruise pace in the pool seems to be around 2:00 per 100scm). However, reading all the recent threads about swimming more volume, swimming with a band, etc… I’m about to start down the long road towards becoming a better swimmer. I started swimming last September and have made some progress - when I started I really didn’t think I’d ever get to the point of making it through a 1.9km swim, so part of me is pleased. Anyway, I know there’s about a million things wrong with my stroke, but I want to know what is the first thing the Slow Twitch swim experts think I should work on improving. (Further background - I have been swimming with a Tri squad twice a week around 2.5km a session, getting a bit of basic coaching, and then maybe 1 more session on my own of around 1.5km, so averaging between 5-7km per week, in 2-3 swims. That will be upped to over 10km per week in 5-6 sessions per week as I start my swim focus). Having read the posts about ‘just working on kicking for a few sessions to improve body position’ I’ve done a couple of those, and my body is now way more horizontal in the water than it was before - however, having watched my video I seem to be swimming horizontally but completely beneath the water, and then bending in half to breath which can’t be good! Tips appreciated, but not too many as I need to focus on things one at a time if they’re actually going to happen!
I am having a hard time with it because the speed seems off. Are you replaying this at a high speed?
As a general note, it looks like your hands are slipping through the water, rather than grabbing onto the water. I see that in a lot of triathletes.
You and I are carbon copies in pace and similar strokes only I sink just a tad more than you…I am not an expert but since you do the same as me a couple of things
- you scissor kick when you breath, watch your legs spread our from the back view…creating drag
- from the front view it looks like your hands are putting on the breaks, like your hand enter and palms go slightly up…creating more drag
Trust me even with the stroke you have now you can do an IM swim, I am living proof of that…so its not a question of if, its just how long.
For you, swim more. Swim harder.
I’m no expert so take it for what it is worth. Looks like you are dropping your elbows and putting on the brakes with your hands.
Few things that I notice just watching it through once. First, don’t let yourself bury your head. If you watch, there are times where your head is fully submerged by a few inches. If it helps your body position, be okay with looking a little forward, but it looks like you may be thinking too much about keeping your eyes down that you’re letting it carry your entire head down. Also, the thing with your arms. Don’t let your elbow drop. If anything, keep your elbow high so that you are able to get more out of your pull. The key to a high elbow doesn’t start at your elbow, but an internal rotation from the shoulder. The whole “high elbow vs. straight arm” can always ruffle feathers, but if you pause right at 0:07 in the video, you can see that your straight arm stroke, as opposed to a high elbow, is just creating lift in the water (as can be seen by the bubbles that form a perfect vertical column as your hand slides through the water).
From a swim coach’s perspective looking into triathlons, I think you should keep your focus on your arms. I was always more of a upper body swimmer as it is, but too much legs leaves them feeling sluggish going into a bike/run. Keep them consistent, but don’t overwork them. Keep your legs consistent for body position’s sake. Get your power from your arms.
I’m no expert so take it for what it is worth. Looks like you are dropping your elbows and putting on the brakes with your hands.
+1
Right around 5sec. on the vid, you can see the left elbow drop as the catch starts.
On the plus side, good head position.
Thanks for the comments guys. Will try and focus on the head position and keeping the elbow up this week and revised myself next weekend. Thank you.
You dont catch the water. Bend your elbow and try to, at all times, keep the every joint higher than the one “outside” of it. Fingers lower than wrist, wrist lower than elbow, elbow lower than shoulder. Work on EVF.Your head position is too low imo. I think you need to tighten up your core and make your kick smaller.
Work on these 2 points and you will improve. Also, I dont see any exhalation under water.
Okay, so I don’t so much need a ‘critique’ as I know my stroke is awful - (around 40min half ironman, around 1:35 for max 100scm, 3:40 for max 200scm, hard cruise pace in the pool seems to be around 2:00 per 100scm). However, reading all the recent threads about swimming more volume, swimming with a band, etc… I’m about to start down the long road towards becoming a better swimmer. I started swimming last September and have made some progress - when I started I really didn’t think I’d ever get to the point of making it through a 1.9km swim, so part of me is pleased. Anyway, I know there’s about a million things wrong with my stroke, but I want to know what is the first thing the Slow Twitch swim experts think I should work on improving. (Further background - I have been swimming with a Tri squad twice a week around 2.5km a session, getting a bit of basic coaching, and then maybe 1 more session on my own of around 1.5km, so averaging between 5-7km per week, in 2-3 swims. That will be upped to over 10km per week in 5-6 sessions per week as I start my swim focus). Having read the posts about ‘just working on kicking for a few sessions to improve body position’ I’ve done a couple of those, and my body is now way more horizontal in the water than it was before - however, having watched my video I seem to be swimming horizontally but completely beneath the water, and then bending in half to breath which can’t be good! Tips appreciated, but not too many as I need to focus on things one at a time if they’re actually going to happen!
I’d say your main issue is conditioning. Your max 100m is 1:35 then it drops off to 1:50/100 pace for 200m. That’s a huge drop, even my my own fat and out of shape standards. I agree that there are some stroke issues, but other than being conscious of reaching “over the barrel”, the rest of it will probably come naturally with more swimming.
And looking at the video again, I agree with the poster above that something does seem off on the playback speed.
I have a slightly different take on your stroke.
First things first, do you want to be a swimmer or do you want to be a good Triathlon swimmer?. The reason I ask is because pool swimming is different than Tri swimming. For a start, unless you live in the southern states, you almost always race in a wetsuit. But you practice in a swimsuit. Two different body positions and two different strokes.
Yours is not a bad stroke, it could do with a little more power and you lose contact with the water early toward the end of a stroke. My only real comment (other than swim a lot and get more muscle) is that because you are deep in the water your arms enter the water early in the stroke and then you extend your arm forward. If you look on the front view in the video, you will see this happening very early. The result is that you are presenting a full shoulder and arm against the water and then extending your arm forward. If you look closely at a good stroke that does not happen. You are literally stopping yourself in the water with this technique. However you do it, you need to enter the water further into the stroke, this lessens the amount of drag and is a little easier, along with giving you a longer opportunity for breath. Almost any swimming video will show how late their arm entry is compared to yours.
You were breathing alternatively, hope you don’t do that in a race, because that robs you of air and that slows you down. You already only have a tiny window of time to breathe in, because you’re so deep in the water. Judging by your video, you breathe about once every 3m (or yards) , thats 34 breathes per hundred and if you take 1:40’ish to do a hundred at the pace you are going in the video thats only about twenty breathes a minute. Check out how many times you breathe running or riding at race speed.
The last part is about Triathlon swimming. And I am at odds with the pure swimmers on here. Swim how you race. If you can’t swim in a lake with a wetsuit, get a long john or jammer 5mm neoprene suit and practice with that, it will change your position in the water considerably. Pull buoys, much as I like them, are not the same, but they are better than nothing. Your kick will always be lousy, you have no flexibility and you almost certainly never will. Kick small and point your toes (you don’t do that). 80% of your speed comes from the stroke, you can waste a lot of energy (you will need later) doing a bad kick.