Well, I’m throwing myself to the lion’s den here… but please take a peek and tell me what I might be doing wrong with my swim here…
I think I’m not rotating my hips enough (read: at all) and staying too flat in the water. I’m over 2:00/100, and I have to stop for a breather (:15-:30) every 100. In the race pictured, I also had cramping obliques when I started the run, even though I’ve not had them on bricks with much harder/longer bike segments.
The lower half of your body looks pretty low in the water. Can’t tell, but are you bending your knees a lot when you kick? To me, it looks as though your kick might be throwing you off. I could be completely wrong though.
“I think I’m not rotating my hips enough” that might be the case. Your right arm looks nice and extended. It looks like your left hand is dragging across the water. This could be caused by being too flat and without enough rotation. You might be sitting too low in the water. Your head might also be a little low in the water.
When I started competitive swimming at the age of 8 my coach insisted on a dry back when practising freestyle/ crawl! He said: “do whatever you can to lift your back far enough out of the water to keep it dry!” It might not really stay dry, but this imagination on a dry back helped to get an idea on how to do it right. So why not try it with a dry back?
PS - Forgot to mention that I am still doing it today and it works!
Thanks, burgerdp for posting the pic. How’d you do that??
It was a 500m serpentine pool swim in a 50M pool. Took me just under 12:00 with 1/2 the lengths done breaststroke.
I was kindof hoping that as slow as I am my faults might be obvious to those who know what to look for, even in a static, above water shot. There seems to be some difference of opinion… one reply says my lower body too low, another my head too low. They can’t both be too low, can they???
I was wondering about the lack of hip rotation because the pic seems to show me twisting at the waist (flat hips, rotated shoulders), and my obliques were KILLING ME on the run. They’ve never done that, but that was the first time I ran after a swim.
BTW, this was my first ever sprint tri - 1:26:34 for 500m/11mi/5K …
It’s very hard to tell from a static shot, particularly this shot which shows one arm recovering (it looks nice) and the other arm extended (it looks nice too). But - there is no actual swimming going on in this photo!
Actually, this shot doesn’t look too bad. I would not have pegged you for a 2:00/100 swimmer. Your shoulder roll is within acceptible limits. But what is going on under the water is what matters. If you are really swimming as slow as you say, there is something going on with your stroke under water which is not shown in this photo.
One thing that jumps out is how far under water your back and hips are. While it may not be acheivable for you, keep in mind that really fast swimmers are basically dry from the shoulders to below the buttocks so keeping your back and butt as high in the water as you can should be a goal. The more level you are, the less drag you have.
One thing I should add is that it’s only been in the last week or two that I figured out what a “catch” is and started focusing on it (only been “swimming” crawl since October). Part of my problem is likely there, as when I get it right, my arms tire easily (not used to actually gripping and pulling water) and when I get it wrong, I get no thrust.
Any suggestions on drills that will help me get my back “dry” ??
I agree with STP. That’s why I’m wondering about the kick. I don’t know if it’s true, but I’m imagining big kicks with knees bent way too much. I see triathletes at my pool doing this a lot. (I identify the triathletes by the large amount of gear they manage to have on the side of the pool, plus the Livestrong bracelet.) Their feet make make a splash on the surface, but there is a lot going on with their legs underwater, almost like they’re trying to making a bicycle motion with them.
Another simple thing is, are you keeping your fingers together? Sometimes people relax their hands and all the water slides between your fingers, slowing you down. I find it helpful to think about always feeling the pressure of the water on my palm.
Any suggestions on drills that will help me get my back “dry” ??
Just try it out. Next time you go swimming, “simply” and ONLY focus on your back and that it stays out of the water. Try it with a harder kick and a strong underwater stroke.
Hmmm… My kick really is terrible, when I kick. if I do kick drills with a board, I go almost nowhere. But when I’m swimming I usually barely kick at all.
Doesn’t mean I’m not doing it so poorly it’s messing me up. Just that I usually try to let my legs come along for the ride (keeping them streamlined) and kick only a little. I’ll have to check on the knee-bending thing next time.
Oh, and the open-fingers problem is part of what I just fixed the other day in my “catch” … I’m sure it hasn’t completely sunk in yet.
This is one of those things I can do but I’m not exactly sure how to explain it.
You need to make your body rigid enough to rotate lengthwise around your center of bouyancy then you can force your hips up. The less balanced you are in the water the harder this is to do. I think a lot of beginners are just kind of floating from the shoulders down and not doing anything to position the lower body. You do need to use your core in swimming to position your entire body.
If your kick doesn’t take you anywhere, then forget about the kick. In this case you should use your legs only to balance out your body - more or less by pulling your legs behind you with minor movements. Hold them as streight (hardly any knee - angle - movement) as possible underneath the waterline and don’t let them go down - keep them up! In your case that should be all you do with your legs.
But this also means that you will have to move forward and lift your body out of the water mainly with your armstroke. Your armstroke will have to substitute your missing legpower.
I finally got back in the pool today (family issues…) and tried a few things…
I paid attention and noticed my back seems “dry” or at least I seem to feel the waterline just at the back curve of my ribs. My knees are not bending in the kick, at least not more than just a little bit. In fact, they’re kindof stiff.
Here’s the main thing I noticed: I’m prematurely dropping my leading arm when I breathe, because - guess why? - I’m lifting my head. I worked on looking at my armpit when I breathe and keeping the top of my head down, and that seems to help. When I do one-arm drills, I almost “porpoise” my head out of the water and back down when I’m not paying attention… When I am paying attention (oddly enough on my left - bad - side) I can keep it pretty smooth.
So I need to work on that head-lifting thing. Suggestions on specific drills, please?
