I am on vacation for most of the summer and can only get to my computer two days a week. I keep checking in to see how you are all doing.There is not much action on the swimming front.
You are about half way through your season. Are your swim times getting faster? Does your new wetsuit fit and was it worth the high price? Have you been drafting instead of fighting in the open water? When was the last time you were videotaped?
Sometimes a little reminder goes a long way. Do a body check the next time you swim. How is your head position? Where do you look when you take a breathe? Is your shoulder leading the recovery or is it your hand? Are you still working on increasing toe and ankle flexibility so that you have an uninterrupted flow line from finger tips to end of toes? Are your hips leading your stroke or are your driving to the bottom of the lake?
It is easy to get caught up in training and competition. When was the last time you took your significant other out for a great meal, movie or play?
Have you had a conversation with a non-triathlete and talked about something other than the lastest tri equipment and training strategy?
Enjoy your summer, play hard, go the beach and enjoy the sun.
Wow, thanks - timely post. I need to definitely talk about something else other than triathlon related things. Just ordered a new wet suit (Orca Pflex) to combat some recurrent wetsuit hickies and I haven’t been videotaped in ages. But, my times are better than ever and each swim (4 races so far this year) has been better than the last.
My swimming is going well. Maintaining about 15km a week. We here in Michigan have been blessed with warm temperatures, so my last three races were non-wetsuit races.
These guys, http://www.lanegainer.com/halo/, were at a couple races with their HALO Swim Training System. It looked interesting. Have you seen it? Any thougts?
I made my own bench and have stretch cords attached to a wall. I always use a metronome for pace work. I like the idea of reinforcing the high elbow catch and maintaining it throwout the stroke.
Enjoy the rest of your summer. By the way, we have five people from Michigan coming to Curacao in January.
Did some video taping this morning. I didn’t really get much of a chance to look at the tape before I went to work, but did notice I’ve got to go a bit wider with my left hand on entry.
And I still do have one of the ugliest functional freestyles out there.
My wife an I are planning a two week bike trip in Vermont near Lake Champlain. My daughter goes to horseback riding camp just outside of Lake Placid. She has to be there on the day of the Ironman race. I usually drive her up there and pull off to the side of the road to watch the bikers go by. This year my son will drive her. He is off to graduate school at U of Texas in Austin. The house will be quiet!
I am on vacation for most of the summer and can only get to my computer two days a week. I keep checking in to see how you are all doing.There is not much action on the swimming front.
You are about half way through your season. Are your swim times getting faster? Does your new wetsuit fit and was it worth the high price? Have you been drafting instead of fighting in the open water? When was the last time you were videotaped?
Sometimes a little reminder goes a long way. Do a body check the next time you swim. How is your head position? Where do you look when you take a breathe? Is your shoulder leading the recovery or is it your hand? Are you still working on increasing toe and ankle flexibility so that you have an uninterrupted flow line from finger tips to end of toes? Are your hips leading your stroke or are your driving to the bottom of the lake?
It is easy to get caught up in training and competition. When was the last time you took your significant other out for a great meal, movie or play?
Have you had a conversation with a non-triathlete and talked about something other than the lastest tri equipment and training strategy?
Enjoy your summer, play hard, go the beach and enjoy the sun.
DougStern
My swim times are holding pretty much where they’ve been, and the opportunity cost of lowering them is too high (top 3% at Eagleman, top 1% at a local sprint). My wetsuit is ~15 years old (bought used), fits like a glove (not too sure how fast the surface is any more, however), and is possibly the best investment I’ve made in triathlon gear. I’ve had nobody to draft off of in my two races, but did manage to get pounded at the start in the sprint triathlon.
I try to think about my body position every time I’m in the water; especially at the end of intervals and sets where I try to ensure that I’m completing my stroke and not slipping water on the pull.
My SO and I went to see War of the Worlds a couple of weeks ago, but that doesn’t count as a great movie. I cook, so every dinner is a great meal
I suspect it ties into breathing and shoulder roll somewhat since it seems most noticable when I’m breathing right side. Will have to go back and look at the tape where I’m breathing every three, as well as the backstroke footage to see if it seems flingy-related (I’m slightly flingy) or if it’s originating more in my shoulders/lats.
At one time, I had a major, major crossover problem going on with freestyle and had managed to get a nice wide catch worked out after a good amount of work on it. I don’t want any bad habits sneaking back in.
It was also interesting to see just how little kick I looked like I was doing even though I’m actually a decent kicker.
When you take another look at your video notice how your hand comes out of the water. Are you turning your palm outward or are you releasing it so that your palm turns in slightly. The closer you can get your hand to your body on recover the less reactive it will be.
Better than last year but I still refer to it as sinking.
Started tri last year at a friends suggestion. I quickly learned that I really couldn’t swim. Been taking a few lessons and am working on getting the stroke and breathing down. Right now I can do one or the other. The big problem seems to be swallowing the air, after a few lengths in the pool I get a puke feeling and need to let out a burp. How do I stop that and get the breathing to work?
Much better since the email way back when. Thx a lot. Went from very low vol. without motivation and consitency to decent weekly vol. with the masters & on my own now (actually it’s high for me and pushing 10k/week), still suck but not as badly and I don’t sink as much ;-). Starting to feel the water a bit and I’m having fun! Stay cool in NY this summer.
There a guy (I think he use to swim at a high level) at a local Uni who has built a swimming machine swim which can measure power output - Everdently he is going out to do a presentation to the Russian swiming federation. I know a few guys who are gong to be involved in tests with it - It will be interesting to here what they think of it.
I am guessing I would measure a minus watts figure which is why I mive backwards through the water!
Do some one arm swims so that stroke technique is not such a big issue. Breathe on your favorite side at first then do the same on the other side. When you feel more comfortable with your breathing go back to regular swimming.
Are you using the fulcrum paddles by Finis? If so take off the wrist band and leave only the finger band on. These paddles are great and will not hurt your shoulders. If there is an error in your stroke the paddles will fall off or turn sideways.
I only use fins when I plan to swim fast. They will put in a similar body position as when you have on a wetsuit.
I like to use my paddles in conjunction with the center snorkel. I usually do a swim to between 500 - 1,000 with them.
You can start with a set of 10X 50s kick to get used to the fins or even swim 10X 50s with some rest between repeats.
As your body gets used to the added resistance you can increase the yardage.
Remember - no garbage yardage with fins on. You put them on - move it!
Thank you for your posts, even a semi-poster gains alot from your commentary. Thank you.
''It is easy to get caught up in training and competition. When was the last time you took your significant other out for a great meal, movie or play? ‘’
Your insight into what is really important is also very much appreciated. It is amazing what a 2 month old son can teach you about the important things in life!
