Total Immersion (Page 2)

OK, so on the original topic, before you dive into any particular "school" of swimming, check out a few, TI is one, SwimSmooth is another, there may be more, I'm with neither but from what I've seen and read I'd go with SwimSmooth.

Regardless of which you choose, what you should get is a structured approach which will help you identify where you may have a problem, and a language to express it here. 

As to what you may improve, you just said it, we don't have nearly enough info on what you do and what you've tried to help you on that, leave that for another thread.

I think that TI, Smooth Swim, Dr Whitten's method, etc have more in common than differences. Someone that is struggling will benefit from any of them.

I would also recommend posting a video and letting someone here look at your form.

I'm going to look into SwimSmooth tonight.  Thanks for the input.

Precisely what I'm after.  I want to learn how to self-identify issue so I can make adjustments as needed.  I also want to learn how to raise questions in a setting like this in a way that folks will understand.

Right... I'm not asking here, nor can I recall asking at any point, "what am I doing wrong here."  I know that without someone seeing me in action, no one can say to adjust this or that.  Once I figure a way to get some video of myself, I'll be in a better position to do such a thing.

Yeah, working on that one.  The only video equipment I have would be rendered useless under water.  There's also the issue of not knowing anyone to take the video.  lol

I think I'll ask someone who works there to hook me up the next time I hit the pool. 

I do have a halfway decent 720p camera I can use.  Once I get the vid, I'll YouTube it and post a link here.

Seriously, thanks to everyone for the input.  Please keep it coming.

First, I must admit I do not practice TI myself, but have read some materials and observed a few TI swimmers in the local pool.

I think TI is a great way to learn the basics of proper swimming. Also, if you would have been swimming for fun only, TI is the way to start.

But, we are all triathletes here, and I'm afraid TI would get you only so far in open water swimming. The youtube videos are really amazing, how efficient the TI masters get is truly amazing, but in the washing machine that is a triathlon beach start or water start, I don't think TI works very well. If you observe pro triathletes swimming in races, you would notice a very strong, lots of kicking and arm swinging style. They race like that because that is what works in this type of races.

TI is great to start off with, learn the basics and get you through your first races, feeling comfortable in the water. After that, if you're looking to improve your speed, do some interval training, improve kick, increase stroke rate (without shortening your stroke, of course) etc.

I've been using the TI method for a while but admit that I need a lot more work.  I did try and go to their website but it's looks like it's down. Does anyone know of a workshop in the WI/MN area?  

You're welcome. One more piece of advice: get help from every possible source especially when offered with no strings attached. In my journey from becoming a slow swimmer to a front-of-the-pack tri swimmer, over the years I picked the brains of at least 20 different highly effective coaches and fast swimmers. And I integrated all of the advice to figure out exactly HOW to learn to swim faster. It's not easy, but in hindsight there are a lot cheap and easy shortcuts that can you save you massive amounts of time. And that's what I do for my swim technique students: offer them the easy shortcuts that took me years to discover.

That could possibly work.  Do you know roughly what the cost is to do one of these?  I've watched the videos and utilized the relaxed stroke method but still could use help.  I average about 40 min to do a mile and need to get that down substantially.  The thing I do like is I'm not exhausted and I have plenty of legs left when exiting the water.  Now, If I can just get my legs to not drag while swimming I'll be doing great!  LOL

I went to my local library and checked out the book and DVD's for FREE!

I'm glad you brought this up. Total Immersion has never been discussed on triathlon forums before. It's obvious though, everyone will absolutely agree on the same perspective.

Seriously though; Terry Laughlin's ideas on swim training are so common in discussions and such a significant part of the body of knowledge it is almost mandatory to familiarize yourself with Total Immersion's doctrine even if you choose to eschew it. You should at least include it in your dossier of knowledge about the sport. It's worth understanding his approach.

Hey, can anyone recommend a good bike seat?

I guess I should forgo my training plan for a couple of months and go back to concentrating on those tiring drills .  I used it last year about this time for a few months and it really helped me.  Sounds like it did a really good job for you.  Any drills that specifically helped you out the most?

Sorry - hate to be a party pooper here, but no amount of drills on their own are going to be primarily responsible for getting you from 2:05 to 1:28, in several years, let alone 1 year.

The much more relevant data about that poster's very impressive improvement is the 10,000+yds per week with a lot of intervals, which makes such improvement possible (albeit still an impressive improvement.)