Beth and Yanti's New Manatees - FULL! :-) (Page 14)

Um, hi.  I've been MIA.  I get the emails saying there is an update, but I haven't checked in in quite some time.

I'm making it a goal to go through and read what's there, then I'll post something besides the 'letting you know i'm alive' post...

Cheers!

(i have a cold...bleh)

Hi Peggy!  So sorry to hear you are under the weather - feel better soon!

Thanks for checking in, it was good to *see* you

Thanks Yanti and Suzie. It does make sense as I realized, after reading your replies, that I am usually running with my fingers tight and closed. Also, I tend to keep my shoulders high - and maybe it is too high.

Suzie,

What strength exercises can you recommend?

TIA.

The best strength exercise I can suggest is pull-ups....lots of them. 

Otherwise, any combination of the chest, shoulder, and back resistive weight exercises would be sufficient.  The key is to work higher reps (15-20 reps) and lighter weight (50-70% 1RM) in the sets completed.  The number of sets can be from 3-5.   The count is 2-1-2. 

Corewise, many of the resistive exercises you chose can be performed on a stability ball.

Here's a link to the :perform better" file on stability balls:

http://www.performbetter.com/catalog/assets/Exercisesheets/PDF/StabilityBall.pdf

You could also add in medicine ball and kettle bell work to work the core more.  Links:

http://www.performbetter.com/catalog/assets/Exercisesheets/PDF/MedBall%20Handout.pdf

http://www.performbetter.com/catalog/matriarch/MultiPiecePage.asp_Q_PageID_E_180_A_PageName_E_KettlebellExercises

 Hope this helps.

 Suzie

Thanks, this definitely helps.

Yanti - Awesome swim!  you know how much I love purple!

Suzie - thank you for the awesome tips!

I have to brag share with my fellow Manatees

I ran my fastest 3 miles ever in my life tonight after werk!!!!!

ps

Erin you may be right

And I just have to share: my husband who NEVER takes time off of work took the day off to go skiing (as a chaperone for a school group). He has been in such a good mood tonight. He has been sitting here next to me on the couch, and he found the karaoke section on our comcast ondemand. He has been singing for about 15 minutes. The boy can't sing. And he knows it. And the only time I've ever seen him karaoke is at his company Christmas party/hangover inducing obligation. He's plain old sober right now. And tone deaf. And so, so cute.

Question for the Swimming gurus.......What's your opinion on zoomer flippers and how they should be used? 

I have a set of zoomers and I probably rely upon them too much.  It tends to make it easier to swim for longer.  Especially with kick drills. If I use them too much, will it affect my form or is it okay to rely on them more now as I gain fitness and strength? 

In the past, I've trained with them and then a couple of weeks before a race, I stop using them so that I will prepared to go without them on race day.....

Any advice is appreciated!   

Well my swim yesterday consisted on 40 minutes of drills, then a 40 minute (almost all out) ride. I think I did a very hard ride out of frustration with my swim. I was having problems with side drills. I would go off course and bump into the wall or center divider. I don't know how the pool stayed so full because I thought I sucked in all the water when I tried to gentely roll my head to breath. I didn't quit though, I just kept going.

To cap things off, I think I pinched a nerve right above my right trap, just mid way on my neck. I was turning my head and doing a gentle masage when it just snapped! I felt a sudden burn and I could not move my neck. I had to stop working and just go to bed. I feel better today, but I have a knot that still hurts. Any suggestions on how to treat this?

Regards...J

Hi Nathalie,

Fins are good, but shouldn't be used all the time.  I'm a fan of limiting the fins occasionally on kicking sets and they can also be used in drill sets.

I don't like to use them in swim sets, as it gives me a false sense of speed and it doesn't help reinforce the feel of the whole stroke.

As you build your base and your technique improves,  you will get faster

Is your swim plan distance or time based?

IMHO, in the beginning - the distance is not as important as the technique, you want to feel comfortable that you can swim the distance w

I am really not an expert, but I will share my opinion:

Swimming accessories are a great tool to work and improve various aspects of the body form and motions during swim. Similar to drills, they are designed to emphasize part of the form that later on, should be repeated without them. In my opinion, zoomers help with teaching your legs the right form of flatter kick. One side effect is that you move faster through the water while using them. The idea is that once swimming without them, your legs will follow the same pattern as with them - thus, you'll kick better.

I faced a similar issue with pull buoy. After a lower back injury, I could not kick, therefore, my legs would always sink. The pull buoy came handy and I started using it - as otherwise, I could not swim. That meant that I never had to kick at all. The pull buoy kept my legs close to the water surface. I kept swimming with it even after I recovered - as it was just more convenient and I felt that I swam faster. It took me a while to "learn" how to swim without it. Granted, I was faster with the pull buoy and I liked it and swimming without it slowed me down big time. Also, I felt that my lungs were working harder to provide the extra oxygen my engaged legs (and core) required. It was a tough period, but recently, I am about to swim at the same pace in which I swam with the pull buoy.

So, to answer your question I'd say: use them for (kicking) drills and swim without them during the main set.

I hope that this makes sense.

Ouch!  that hurts Joel!  I'm sure Suzie or Susan will have some good tips on this one!

Sorry to hear your swim was so frustrating  

I like to mix swim sets in with my drills to maximize the swim and to make it more enjoyable.

What I think is most effective in workouts is to do some drill sets and then some swim sets.  The value in this is that you can apply what you are trying improve in the drill into the actual stroke.  I find that it works better than just doing straight sets of drills and then trying to apply the technique at a completely different time.

It may sound like a strange analogy, but it's a little like learning music - you practice scales and other type of technique 'exercises' as well as learning songs -

as you learn a new skill, you incorporate it into the music you are playing or singing - it's frustrating as h3ll to begin with because it's new and it doesn't feel 'right'

so, you practice the skill again and then you incorporate it into the song - it feels a little better (or sometimes not )

repeat the process until you are making beautiful music

I'll do some research and reach out to some folks and post some good workouts that have a nice balance of drills and swim sets

which part of the stroke do you find the most difficult/frustrating?

I like that analogy! Just a short note here: I am swimming with a masters program for about 6 months now, with an experienced coach. According to him, it will take me 4 years to put it all together. The first time when I heard that I felt really bad. But then I decided that I should pick one of these two options:

1) Quit.

2) Suck it up while trying to prove the coach wrong (and that it took "only" 3.5 years ).

I decided on the 2nd option...

thanks Ronen

I thought it sort of worked

the 2nd option, definitely the better option!

A couple of additional thoughts on the fins

I reached out to a couple of true swim guru's on the site for some input on this topic.

I got some feedback from barqhead (Pam) - who is a super swim star and has provided great input to many of us here at BT

She advises using the fins for drills only.

This helps to have the propulsion to properly perform the drill.  All other sets should be without them. 

If doing kick sets with a board, she suggests could alternating fin use as in odds with fins, evens without. That way you can mimic the feel of kicking with fins when kicking without them

I also wanted to follow up on Ronen's comment regarding how long it takes to master the swim - it is a great point.

It's so easy when starting to learn how to swim to become frustrated with how long it is taking.  It's a complicated thing to learn, especially as an adult.

I've taught adults and children, and it's just easier when you are a kid - having said that

I think the reason that it's more difficult for adults, is not because it's truly more difficult to learn, but that as adults we have expectations of mastering the stroke quickly that children don't.

If you think about all the levels of swimming lessons for kids - starting with tadpoles and moving on up - it takes years

Even expert swimmers do drills to keep their skills fine tuned and their technique strong, and even expert swimmers don't always have perfect form.

The goal is continous improvement, not to master the skill overnight (although that would be nice)

My best advice - be patient with yourself, take it one lap at a time and celebrate the victories along the way

This really applies to all the disciplines in my mind - take running for example

Although there may not be as many 'moving parts' that need to be put together to run, there is strategy, form, pacing, base building, etc that you need to learn in order to become a strong runner - for some (like me ), that can be as difficult and frustrating as learning to swim

Same with biking

So it's really all about slow, smart, steady training to improve in any area

Hi Bethie Love! Thanks so much for answering a bunch of questions and giving great swim/training advice as always ... I couldn't have said it better myself, so I'm glad you did

Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear that.

I'll defer to the chiro and physio gurus here, but for sure one thing that will likely help (and definitely won't hurt) is ice. Bag of frozen peas with a cloth in between, or a Ziploc baggie full of ice with a cloth in between, you get the idea. Ice up to 20 min, 3 times a day. It will help relieve pain by numbing the area and also acting as an anti-inflammatory, which will help the body to heal itself, too.

Advil is very helpful, if you are able to take it, both for the analgesic (pain-relieving) and anti-inflammatory properties.