Long story but a well-respected swim coach allowed me to join his masters swim this morning. He was cagey about providing any real coaching or advice (probably because I was let in for free) but he did tell me that my elbow is breaking/dropping right at the point of hand re-entry into the water causing my arm to slap on the surface, creating extra drag and not allowing my to maximize my catch.
What drills, workouts, skills can I practice to eliminate this problem?
It’s one of those things where there isn’t really a specific drill to address the issue. It’s more of a case of carefully monitoring that part of the stroke for breakdown.
The visualization that might be helpful for that part of the catch is to think of the line between your shoulder and your elbow as an axle, and you want your hand/wrist to be circling around that axle.
You will feel it in your arm when you’re getting it right- it deinitely requires more stength to do it correctly than if you’re dropping your elbows. Don’t try to force the speed while you’re working on this problem- it’s putting stress on your shoulders in a new way, and there’s an acclimation/build process that you need to go through to integrate higher elbows into your stroke.
One thing that can make dropped elbows more likely is breathing on a given stroke. Try doing some yardage breathing every three, and seeing how differently your arm placement feels when you’re breathing or not.
Doug Stern’s scooter drill
do a search for it or PM me if you can’t find info on it
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spinndog said the scooter drill - directions to that are here: http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=681536;search_string=scooter%20drill;#681536
How about fingertip drag? Keep your elbows up and let your fingertips drag lightly across the water. I really like that one.
Finger tip drag is a really good one. You could also over accentuate the high elbow by scraping your thumb against your ear on the way in. This will put your fingertips in right at the top of your head. There aint no way you can drop your elbow there 
Again…this is a just a drill and not the “real” way to swim. This seems to work a bit better (at least with little kids) if you are not wearing fins or are a weak kicker as you have to go pretty slow to do the fingertip drag effectively.
Sculling with your hands right out in front of you, at the highest point where you can apply a decent amount of pressure. You can note where you hand needs to be for the catch.
Single arm drills - with the other arm by the side, you notice if your catch is not effective.
Hi-elbow - drag your thumb from your hip to your shoulder (not the armpit the front of the shoulder), and maintain this elevated elbow position during hand entry.
Finger drag - again, just to remind you where your elbow is relative to your hand and back.
pp. 102-3. Shark fin progression drill.
spinndog said the scooter drill - directions to that are here: http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...oter%20drill;#681536
How about fingertip drag? Keep your elbows up and let your fingertips drag lightly across the water. I really like that one.
How does fingertip drill (or any of the other drills above that focus on recovery with a high elbow) help teach you to not drop your elbow for the underwater part of your stroke? I see that as two completely separate issues.
You could have low or high elbows on recovery, and still have a high elbow catch/pull. And really, unless you enter DOWN, as TI instructs, regardless of what happens above water you will still ultimately have your arm pointing nearly straight ahead streamlined, and that “resets” anything you did with a high elbow above the water anyway. Only from there is a high elbow related to the quality of your catch/pull, no? (controlling for gross erros above water that cause problems with roll, crossover, etc, etc).
How does fingertip drill (or any of the other drills above that focus on recovery with a high elbow) help teach you to not drop your elbow for the underwater part of your stroke? I see that as two completely separate issues.
You could have low or high elbows on recovery, and still have a high elbow catch/pull. And really, unless you enter DOWN, as TI instructs, regardless of what happens above water you will still ultimately have your arm pointing nearly straight ahead streamlined, and that “resets” anything you did with a high elbow above the water anyway. Only from there is a high elbow related to the quality of your catch/pull, no? (controlling for gross erros above water that cause problems with roll, crossover, etc, etc).
I understand what you’re asking, but I don’t know how to answer your question, so hopefully someone else can. sorry 
I’ve read this somewhere. Try imagining the entire pool filled with 55 gallon drums, and you are trying to crawl over them. Reach out with your recovery arm, and pull each barrel behind you. It works for me.
How does fingertip drill (or any of the other drills above that focus on recovery with a high elbow) help teach you to not drop your elbow for the underwater part of your stroke? I see that as two completely separate issues.
You could have low or high elbows on recovery, and still have a high elbow catch/pull. And really, unless you enter DOWN, as TI instructs, regardless of what happens above water you will still ultimately have your arm pointing nearly straight ahead streamlined, and that “resets” anything you did with a high elbow above the water anyway. Only from there is a high elbow related to the quality of your catch/pull, no? (controlling for gross erros above water that cause problems with roll, crossover, etc, etc).
I understand what you’re asking, but I don’t know how to answer your question, so hopefully someone else can. sorry
That’s OK, TC, as it wasn’t really a question, but rather more of a patronizing statement. 
BTW, I swam lots of fingertip drill today, just cuz, and I do have to say that I don’t like it. My shoulders were pooped after that!
The thing fingertip drag ends up doing is forcing you to recover from the shoulder insread of leading with the hand. If a couple hundred of fingertip drag drill bugs your shoulders, you aren’t recovering right when you swim full stroke.
The thing fingertip drag ends up doing is forcing you to recover from the shoulder insread of leading with the hand. If a couple hundred of fingertip drag drill bugs your shoulders, you aren’t recovering right when you swim full stroke.
My recovery looks right, but I suppose that doesn’t mean I’m using the right muscles to do it. I had twinges of pain in my “bad” shoulder all night. Full disclosure, I also swam some fist drill, which I rarely do (it’s an easy drill for me), and used a PB for awhile (another rare event).
Anyway, my original point was that I don’t see what the drill has to do with keeping a high elbow underwater.
I see your point. I think the aforementioned drills help by ensuring you are not leading with your hand (a common problem, especially when tired), then the forearm drops first before the elbow is high giving a weak catch. IF you are recovering properly (i.e. shrugging the shoulder, showing your armpit, relaxed forearm, fingers under elbow, etc.), this is minimized. Once in the water, then “timing” is main factor with hip rotation quickly as the hands enters and catches. Easy to type - not so easy to do (for me at least).