Went out on a limb an ask the lifeguard a college swimmer about my technique and she said I did not stretch out my arm far enough before placing it in water. I was just putting it in 1/2 way out then extending it further out under the water. She said to place my hand in the water so I can catch as much water as possible and then pull back. I had already done a 5x100yd best was 1:29.
I said I can’t believe swimmer can break 1:20 even. So that began the whole teaching lesson.
So I did a practice 100yd not time and she said I looked better already. I then did my next 100yd in 1:23. Completely shocked me. She Said I flew on the 1st 50yd then died on the 75yd and then finished strong. I guess so. Funny thing is I did not feel anymore tired than my 1:29.
Maybe 1:20 is attainable in the next 1 month.
I know what you mean. Breakthroughs are fun and why we work so hard. Your goal is (today) 1:20 Mine, after 8 years of consistent swimming is sub 60 (off the wall, all out effort). As you know the faster you get - the longer it takes to hit new breakthroughs and the smaller they are. Darn. It is what it is.
Next thing you know - you’ll be going easy 80 seconds and 70 will be your next “impossible” goal.
Enjoy the journey! 
I go out of my way to flirt with college aged swimmers too. You should get her number and sign up for private lessons.
To answer the question: My arm is ~90-95% extended before it enters the water.
Just watch the master at about 1:10 for clarification. http://youtu.be/db5fw3eo44w
Don’t place your hand, throw your arm to the extent it will go, that’s what works for me anyway. Swimming sure is a life-long learning process, but then again so is biking and running. Happy Laps!
That’s not the master.
This guy is the master.
Now, now. We’ll have none of that Tri. I’m a wack and will ask anyone for live advice if I know they are way better than me.
1:10 is way impossible from this view. 1:23 does still blows my mind. I have times where I try to mentally force my watch to be under 1:25 and I look, bummer another 1:33.
Now how does this work? Should I expect to be in the 1:20s for my 100yds after w/u? Awesome if its true.
Next question is what are my expections for th 0.9mi OLY distance in 8 months if I keep at it this hard. Would love to be under 22:00. Present best is 28:xx for 1500yd.
Any reasonable monthly gains. Say 10sec/500yd per month?
Thanks for the advise.
Sure is and I hope I live long and healthy so I can keep doing Tri’s.
Next question is what are my expections for th 0.9mi OLY distance in 8 months if I keep at it this hard. Would love to be under 22:00. Present best is 28:xx for 1500yd.
Just trying to be a voice of reason here, so take this with a grain of salt:
If you look over the results of the Finger Lakes Tri that you and I did, you’ll find that only 5 people went under 23 minutes. So, to translate your question, you basically are asking if you could feasibly place in the top 5 of that race or roughly an 30 sec per 100 drop in swim pace during a race.
The answer is yes.
However, the amount of work you would have to do would be great. You would need to increase your yardage. You would need to improve your technique (which is what you are tying to do based on the threads you’ve started). I’d recommend joining a team and/ or working with a coach. ST is good but nothing compared to having someone in the water or on deck giving you real-time feedback (assuming they have a clue about swimming). Dedicate the effort and you’ll see results. If you are only in the water for 3 days a week swimming less than 2500 yards per session, I’d say that your improvement gains won’t be as hoped.
Now, now. We’ll have none of that Tri. I’m a wack and will ask anyone for live advice if I know they are way better than me.
1:10 is way impossible from this view. 1:23 does still blows my mind. I have times where I try to mentally force my watch to be under 1:25 and I look, bummer another 1:33.
Now how does this work? Should I expect to be in the 1:20s for my 100yds after w/u? Awesome if its true.
Next question is what are my expections for th 0.9mi OLY distance in 8 months if I keep at it this hard. Would love to be under 22:00. Present best is 28:xx for 1500yd.
Any reasonable monthly gains. Say 10sec/500yd per month?
Thanks for the advise.
sorry to report,
Your gains will not be linear. I swim sub 22 but have worked like crazy. You CAN get there. but it will take awhile and, you’ll have to decide if the investment is worth it.
Thanks for your real look at my situation. Your a man of reason. So likely 25-26:00 is more like it.
Yeah 3rd buoy letting loose did not help those times at all. I almost broke 30:00
awesome, watching that final and I was in heart rate z2. i just freaking love the olympics.
That’s not the master.
This guy is the master.
there is a lot of confusion on here about what “good technique” means. i often see people who are 1:30+/100 scy claim they have good technique because their legs don’t drop. but there is much more to it than that. this is one example. you watch the phelps video, and it really shows you how narrow he gets his shoulders. most likely in your case you were not making a good extension (be it before or after hand entry) and that really slows you down. a great way to test this is just pushing off the wall–see how much further you go when you really streamline tight vs a lazy superman push-off. as you swim more with good form, you will be able to stay narrow and streamlined better through better flexibility and other subtle changes to you pulling anatomy. best of luck.
Don’t place your hand, throw your arm to the extent it will go, that’s what works for me anyway. Swimming sure is a life-long learning process, but then again so is biking and running. Happy Laps!
That’s good advice. Although I would say you want to “drive” your hand into the water more so than "throw " it but the concept is the same.
If I recall, Total Immersion has you place your hand into the water nearer to your head, and then extend it out from there. The theory is that you want to be as long in the water as you can be (keel length), and when your hand is above the water (in front of your head) and reaching out, you are shorter…only foot to top of head.
I don’t have enough experience to know which is the better practice, but that’s what I recall from that system.
Ahhhh, swim porn on a Friday night.
I’ve watched those TI videos and have the book. I would think that pushing your hand through the water has got to be adding drag and resistance regardless if it is like a keel of a boat. It’s another object in the water, and worse, in front of you, not along your body, so I’m not sure that I want to stay ascribing to that theory.
Watch Ian Thorp swim. His hand enters near his head. He does alright
Ian’s right arm goes in way ahead of his head and his left some what earlier entry but not near head. I don’t like that he gets to wear some full body suit that probably cuts any resistance to nill.
And that resistance has to be balanced against the effect throwing your arm out straight has on your shoulder and the flow into the rest of your stroke. Thorpe, Sun-Yang, hackett, they all had best analysis and bio-mechanics so they are doing something right.