Fred D Mentor Group Part III (Page 108)

I am blessed with good flexibility and a pretty good kick (rest of my swim on the other hand...).  So i do not stretch per say but I frequently sit on my feet but just cause that's the way I like to sit. 

Thanks for the link.  I can't say my technique is "good", but I do try to kick from the hips like the soccer kick, but it's just my toes are pointed downwards and looks nothing like those pictures.

So if TJ says I need to sit on my feet and do more kick sets with fins...so be it.

My GF sits like that too.  She swam in HS...not that fast, but swam none the less.  She's no help to me though.  When she's not laughing, she just tells me to kick harder.

Yes, I was thinking of that link as well.

The soccer style description is actually throwing me off. I played quite a bit too.

Ha priceless

Off to Vegas today.  Going to have to drive through a few snowstorms to get there though.  Going to get in some strength training in but not so sure on the run.  It's raining pretty hard out there and I just don't do rain anymore after 10 years in Oregon.  Lame, I know.  If I do get the run in I am for sure not taking a dog cause they have to get into my truck later and ain't no way a wet dog is getting into my truck.  lol 

No coach at the pool this morning as the kids are off to a meet in Montreal so I had to make up a workout on the fly.  I came up with a completely random mish mash set that I rather enjoyed.

200 pull on 3:00 building by 50s
2 x 100 IM on 1:45
4 x 25 fast on :30

I went through that 3 times and the constant change made things go by really quickly.

That's it for training for me today.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Definitely.  I love running in sticky wet snow, as long as it is more snow than wet...

Nice.  I agree that having things mixed up makes it go fast.

As for kicking, I have zoomers, but every time I would kick with them it would knot up my calves something fierce.  If I tried running after kicking with fins it was a guaranteed calf sprain, so I am really very careful

Have been doing more dolphin kicks, as 'core' work    Fast friend of mine instructed me to keep my back straighter and really generate the kick from the hips.

Speaking of fly, any good butterfliers here?  I stumbled across a stroke improvement, I think, the other night.  I've always just brought my arms forward on the recovery through  the water.  Like out and around from my torso, bringing my arms out of the water up nearer to my shoulders.   I started pulling my hands smoothly out behind me to start the recovery and man, if that wasn't an eye opener.  I realized that the way I was doing it was working against the resistance in the water as my arms came through it, and just killing me.  Bringing my hands out down near my hips, it's a further distance to the stroke but much easier to do (except if you've just gone 100 on 1:20  :^).  Is this correct technique?  Is this a "duh, that's what we've all been doing" moment?

That's awesome, have fun with the packing and travelling!

Being capable of the dolphin kick in the first place would help as well! I'm not sure the coach quite understands how weak I am there. She did notice I wasn't going all the way back with the arm stroke, and it did make a difference in being able to do this.

Being able to watch the swim team going before us has been helpful on some things. They'll go through the motions in slo-mo, so I can really see the timing. Implementation has been another matter, but haven't been going for long.

I had a short set this morning aimed at fatiguing my core just a little bit before a one-on-one palates assessment session - it included a little bit of dolphin kicking on my back. I am good on my front, but for some reason on my back I cannot seem to maintain a constant elevation in the water - I either pop to the top or bang around on the bottom of the pool. Aquaman I am not. It is good core work though - for some reason dolphining on my back does seem to work my core quite a bit more than when on my front.

I cant even begin to tell you where my hands are during the recovery on my fly... they are all over the place. But I still do it whenever it is assigned. Not a big deal at the YMCA, but I can stop the whole pool deck to watch the show when I am at Auburn... I am just that good I guess.

I read about that as well...how swimmers or ballet dancers will be much more prone to rolling their ankles while running.

Definately not looking to get swimmers ankles...just don't want them to point straight to the bottom when swimming.

I broke my ankle and tore all the ligaments in high school, and for years had that problem.  I'd step off a step and completely dislocate my ankle and it would pop out and pop back in.  I'd carry on.  Ortho recommended reconstruction to avoid arthritis later (this was back mid 80's).  Basically take tendon from further up and reconstruct one of the peroneals.   Fixed the problem, but as a result that ankle is not very flexible, and I seem to run into more resulting injuries on that side than anything else.

No real point to the above... just sharing 

Just a heads up for the folks using Strava - they added some new power features for premium accounts:

http://blog.strava.com/new-premium-feature-advanced-power-training-analysis-5436/

That's awesome!

Same here. We don't get much snow; it's too dry. But I love running in the snow.

Another drive-by posting from Michael...  We have just two kids tonight -- my parents are taking the three youngest (that's still a strange thing for me to say...going from 3 to 5 suddenly has still not sunk in) and I'm taking advantage of a few free moments.

I can't hope to catch up with you all, but I am hoping that we will have something like a semi-normal routine in our house by Jan. 1.  Hopefully I can check in more regularly after that.  I do miss checking in with you all!

Although I had hardly trained and got sick earlier in the week, I did manage to run a half marathon last Saturday.  It was at the beach, and while the race was certainly fun (1:24:45 -- not bad for an old guy who hadn't trained!) the real joy was that the new children really seemed to enjoy themselves and to be part of the family.  There are many rocks ahead in the road, but it was nice to see them relaxed and having fun.  Kids are amazing.

Here's wishing a wonderful holidays to you all.  I hope to be more like semi-regular (rather than rare and irregular) after the New Year.