I’ve been pretending to be a swimmer for many years now and have managed to pretend my way into several 1:10-1:15 IM swims. I’ve also pretended my way into a chronic shoulder impingement syndrome that has lasted for years. Finally, through rotator cuff exercises, and swimming at low intensities, I’ve managed to become mostly pain free.
While I’m satisfied with my swim times (don’t much like swimming to begin with, not really desirous of doing the work to get much closer to a solid 1:00 swim), I’m curious about arm position at the beginning of my stroke.
The reason I’m asking is that I’ve always extended my arm so my shoulder mostly touches my cheek, but pretty much straight out just under the water’s surface reaching towards the far wall. I’ve been experimenting with different approaches, and if I enter/extend my arm so it points down at maybe 45 degrees towards the bottom and in front of me, I have no pain at all. It seems much less taxing on the shoulder joint than starting a stroke with my arm just under the surface, and I don’t seem to really be any slower (no faster either).
Have I been doing this all wrong all of these years? What is the most common approach to this? I’m thinking that if it keeps me pain free, even if it isn’t the best recommended approach, it might be the one for me, but I don’t want to screw something else up in the process.
Terry Laughlin advocates what you describe (45 angle) for most swimmers, especially those lacking ample flexibility. He himself uses this “technique” or angle.
i wouldn’t go as steep as 45 deg but always keep wrist below elbow below shoulder on the stroke. that’s the rule i teach folks. this way the pressure is spread out over teh wrist/elblow/shoulder as pressure is applied, instead of going straight to the shoulder.
Check out the total immersion site; there is a lot of video footage right there on the website. I found it to be very helpful particularly for people who are swimming 1 hour to 1:15 ish. For people who swim faster than that this technique may not be as beneficial----they get more into the head up swimming which totally messes my balance up.
I’m in the same boat, about 1:10-1:12 for my last 5 Ironman swims. Not to hijack the thread (apologies in advance), and I know this will be a tough question to answer, but do you think folks like us can get down to an hour on 3 trips to the pool a week at roughly 3600-4000 yards a trip? I’m just wondering if my “slowness” is more attributed to technique, or fitness, though likely it is some combination of both? I backed off a bit on my swim training this year and slipped from 1:10 to 1:12. Seemed like a decent trade off.
I believe I could get down very close to an hour if I concentrated on my swimming. I just don’t like it much, and I only swim to get to the bike. I’ll work my way up to 4000 meter sessions in mid June for a late July IMUSA. If I was willing to put in the work to develop my kick and my stroke, I’m sure I could get my time down to an hour. I’m just not willing. I also have seen folks who were the same/no better than me concentrate on their swim and get it down under an hour. I just don’t have the drive for the swim improvement. Shoulder pain free is my goal.
I’d rather learn to spin my legs a little faster and take off some time on the bike with fresher legs for the run. Plus, I love cycling, so I’m perfectly willing to do whats necessary on the bike.
I think I dislike swimming because I’m somewhat poor at it, at least relative to cycling and running. There is a sport for people like me, it’s called Duathlon. But I hate that first run even more than I hate swimming, even though I’m a pretty decent runner. Who knows, maybe subconciously it’s the finesse and challenge of swimming that makes me a triathlete?
Check out the total immersion site; there is a lot of video footage right there on the website. I found it to be very helpful particularly for people who are swimming 1 hour to 1:15 ish. .
3 trips to the pool at close to 4,000 yeards a trip? I think you can definitely get close to an hour. When I was training for IMUSA I was doing 2 swims each week at about 2,500 yards each trip and I swam 1:10, and my form isn’t very good either.
At the moment, I figure the majority of my problem is stroke. Not that I couldn’t spend more time in the pool, but without some stroke correction and analysis, the ROI for the extra time is minimal.