with the referral of tom d and brad kearns, i went into nyc and spent 1hr with doug stern. it was a 25m, private pool (warm too, thank god).
first thing he did was push down hard on my feet too demonstrate how inflexible they are (like i didn’t know that already). he suggested i have my wife stretch them regularly. he aslo pointed out my mortons nuroma (sp?) and suggested i cut out the inserts in my running shoes beneath my freakishly ong second toe.
then he put me in the water and watched me swim. he made an interesting, albeit obvious observation, that my left arm crosses the centerline on each breath to the right. that was causing all sorts of other troubles like my scissor kick. he also didn’t like that i look straight down at the lane line either. he thinks you should be able to watch your hand enter the water on each stroke.
he videotaped me to show me exactly how pathetic i really was. i never knew my hand crossed the centerline. he also wants me to change my 2 beat kick to a 6 beater, high elbow, etc.
anyway, he showed me a bunch of new drills (swimming next to the lane line and actually grabbing it with one arm and pulling with it the entire length) and sent me on my way.
i’ve been practicing and i actually feel a lot smoother. i can see my hand enter the water. the 6 beat kick still leaves me winded but i’m faster (i think). i also went to breathing every 3 to help make my stroke more symmetrical.
the session was worth the price tag although you could argue that 1, 1hr session isn’t nearly enough. if i lived in nyc, i would take one of his 6wk classes.
for reference, i’m a 36’ 1/2im swimmer, 1:15 full im.
Interesting stuff. I’m curious why he wants you to switch to a 6 beat kick. That’s what I do, and I want to go to a 2 beat! Can’t do it yet, though, as I instinctively kick a 6.
Did you notice any balance/position change from raising your head a little?
FWIW, a 36 min half IM swim isn’t pathetic, but rather pretty good. That would’ve put you better than average in your AG at the KKT last year, and about 1/3 from the top overall.
Coaches often get a athlete to increased their kick to help with stability and positioning. It can stop a lot of off direction rolling from poor stroke alignment.
Dont just soley stick with breathing every 3 strokes, mix it up and do hypoxic drills sets like 3,4,5,6,7,8 strokes and also 2 stroke and double up every three so you take 2 breathes on the 3rd. This helps with times when you want to crank it up, have to allow for waves in open water or miss a breathe etc.
That makes sense because when I try to 2-beat kick, I wobble all over the lane. And of course, my legs drop some unless I really lean on my armpits, but then I am so far underwater from that that it takes a huuuuge roll to get to air, etc., etc., etc.
Are hypoxic lengths to get you used to being without air (and therefore reduce the panic) or do they improve your capacity somehow? Or both? I’ve done a couple of 25s before without breathing (sprints) and I gotta say, this breathing stuff just messes everything up!
I use hypoxic sets to allow me to concentrate on my stroke without contstantly breathing, I do sets of up to 10 stokes per breathe and you can feel how much better it is to glide and its a good way to get used to holding stroke whilst out of breathe. It can be a bad thing used to often as it can slow your stroke down, to a point you loose speed.
Essentually all they do otherwise is to teach to to swim whilst holding your breathe which is useful in tri.
tri-espana answered the 6 beat question pretty well for me. i do feel like i’m riding slightly higher in the water and i’m not sure if that’s from the 6 beat kick or the forwarded head position. with the 2 beat klck i always felt like i was starting and stopping forward motion each stroke whereas with the 6 beat kick i feel like i have a more continious stroke.
I hope you are going to Curacao with Doug. I’ve gone five or six times. I can’t go this year because we are just plain way too busy and I got a paying job at another training camp leading rides and doing bike fits with Frankie Andreu.
Doug is awesome. If you live close to him I very, very highly recommend him. Heck, even if you don’t live close to him I recommend him!
i would love to go to his camp, but with a 19 week old daughter i think my wife would kill me. i refrenced your name when i contacted him - he spoke fondly of you.
“i always felt like i was starting and stopping forward motion each stroke whereas with the 6 beat kick i feel like i have a more continious stroke.”
Seems to me that depending on a 6 beat kick to maintain momentum will use a lot of energy (and O2) on a long swim. If it helps you get to where you have correct body position and a pull that provides thrust throughout the stroke and don’t need the 6 beat, then good. Otherwise, you’d better be a pretty good aerobic machine to keep that up for very long.
If you use the stroke to get your positioning better then once your stroke and glide is smoother and not wasting effort and water speed with poor position you can drop the kick again.
No smartass comments, I was really curious about the price.
Anyway, the head thing, I don’t like it. I’ve read his articles where he says this, I never agreed. Maglischo and every other book I’ve read don’t either. Also PvdH, Thorpe and Hackett don’t agree with that. I guess I’m in good company
Looking forward teaches you to use your upper torso to get your hips up, not your head. Advantages- you’re a bit more stable in choppy water because your head bobbing around has less effect moving your hips around, you get better general visibility, and you end up having a smoother stroke on sighting strokes.
If you get a chance to watch the world class open water swimmers, they normally have significantly higher head position in the water than world class pool swimmers.
I’m like an old dog and new tricks, having been taught since I was way too young to look slightly forward but not to the point of it effecting your position. But can see the sense, I just look forward and do a double breathe cycle in open water alternating which side a look which makes it easy to navigate.
