What I learend at my "first" swim coaching session .....

This as much for my benefit to help me remember things we went over as it is to benefit those other newb swimmers out there like me.

Today was my first ever one on one swim coaching session that I asked for at my local pool.  She has coached for years and directs the master's group as well as one on one work with many swimmers and triathletes.  So she seemed to be a good fit for me as well as being able to get to the pool at the usual times I'm there anyways.

I'm a back of the MOP or front of the BOP swimmer in my eyes (and loosely based on my swim resutls from races) and want to work on getting up into the thick of the race so I can then use my strengths of cycling and running to be in AG contention.  That is the goal.  The whole "train your weakness, race your strength" approach!

We met at the pool and talked for a few minutes about what I'd like to do.  Then she watched me for a simple typical 100.  I told her that for a fresh 100 I usually do okay ..... and I did a 1:36.  OOPS!  I'm usually in the high 1:40's, low 1:50's for my first 100 off the bat.  Guess it was the whole "someone's watching" mentality so I tried really hard to have a good stroke.

What she immediately noticed ....... and was alluded to in another thread ....... my stroke count per length is around 19 - 20.  She said at 6'-1" there is no way I should be that high and she would like to see me consistently in the 14 - 16 range.  She liked that I had bilateral breathing down fine and that I stayed high in the water.  But she did also notice that I cross my centerline on every stroke which causes me to very imperceptibly "S" through the water instead of going nice and straight.  This is one thing she said that is causing my stroke to be higher and makes me work harder to go forward.  Her focus for me for this session was to try and get me to feel streamlined and long in the water to get my stroke count down.

So we started wit a kick board single hand drill to get me to feel that way.  One hand flat on a small board and using the other to swim focusing on long strokes and keeping the other arm fully extended with the head pressed to it.  Then I came back 25 on the other side.  She immediatley saw a disparity in strength on sides.  My right arm has a nice high elbow recovery while my left tends to go way back and sweep around without the high elbow.  So she had me repeat the drill without the kickboard and try to focus more on the high elbow recovery and staying extended.

The progression from there was to do the same drill as a catch-up with stroke, 3 kicks, other side stroke, 3 kicks.  Then she went with a catch-up to the wrist - bring stroke arm forward and when the hand crosses the other's wrist, start that side.  Next she progressed to elbow with the same process.  And then finally to the head/typical swim.  Each time she emphasized that I need to stay wide and not cross over (which when I used the kickboard for the one hand's rest it immediately became apparent when I was crossing over and I had to adjust to get it to stay out).  With the last few drills I was consistently in the 16 per 25 range, which is where she would like to see me at the most, so in just a few drills I was well on the way!

Next she watched me do a 25 kick.  I told her that my kick sucked, but she wanted to see it.  Man it was slow ....... ugh!  She said my flexibility was not so much an issue as I could get the legs pointed but that I did not have the feet "flutter" that was needed - that my legs were stiff in their execution.  she had me come back on my back and try to work on the flutter and I think I did better with that.  She then had me use some "zoomer" fins (very short extension - about on inch) and go again with a board focusing on the "flutter" ... man it is much easier with fins!

The last thing she had me do was to go back and work on the high elbows by doing a "monkey" swim where I kept my head out of the water looking forward (think sighting open water) for half the pool and then swim regular.  The key was to keep the elbows really high each stroke.  By its nature you couldn't cross over in the drill with the head up, but it was tough to keep the elbows high on the recovery.  Definitely need some work there!

After that we talked about how I should approach the next few sessions.  She said not to worry about volume and focus on short but correct work.  She said one of her favorite workouts is to do 20 x 25 on :10 rest and maintain the same stroke count for the entire session.  She said even for her it is a really tough workout but is very rewarding.  What she would like for me is to stay long and streamlined in the water and take advantage of my vessel, keep my stroke count down and work on the high elbows and staying off the centerline.

A lot to process from only about a 1/2 hour of work!  We are going to meet again next week to review and update and work on other suggestions.  Hopefully it all pays off!