Asphalt Junkies CLOSED AND GETTING OUR FIX (Page 156)

I've noticed something during my 1-armed swimming pergatory.  When I keep my bad arm down at my side and swim with the other arm, I am unable to generate any lift when I breath.  I happen to be without my left arm, so I'm swimming with my right arm.  I am also breathing to the right.

One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is something that is instinctive and that's why it's a universal mistake and so hard to correct....when you turn your head to the right to breath, your left arm is extended in front...most people start that left arm stroke too soon in an attempt to use it to generate lift for their breathing.  Not only does the pull start too soon, but the catch phase is wasted by generating lift.

Alternate both sides, but put one arm at your side and swim 200.  You can't cheat to get lift with your breath so it should help you to begin to break the habit of lifting to breath.  Hope that works.

I do a lot of one arm drills.  One of the things my coach is having me work on during the drill is the following:

• Right arm is doing the work
• Left arm is extended forward and remains in that position
• Roll to right when right arm is down to side, just before right arm exits water
• Take a breath as right arm begins to exit water
• Turn face back into water just before right hand enters water
• Body will rotate to left as right hand extends forward, past left hand

Yep, one-arm drills and catch-up drills are very important for learning the timing of the stroke.

I find that doing one-arm drills with the off arm extended in front still gives me the ability to use it to generate lift for the breath by virtue of being able to bend at the wrist and elbow to create lift from my forward momentum.  Doing it with the off arm at the side gives that last little bit of help that I find to be useful.

Jeff this is exactly what is happening when I breathe to the left. I started bilateral breathing so I have no problems breathing from the right side as I can keep my arm extended and I don't pull too early. My balance to the right is good and I am comfortable so I can breath easy to that side. However I have noticed that I am doing exactly what you are saying when breathing to the left. I have been consciously trying to keep my right arm extended longer and not pull too early but I think I am not as comfortable yet and I am still working on attaining my balance on the left side. However I am determined to stick with it as breathing bilaterally has really helped straighten me out and I rotate much better to left now. Sounds like this could help.

I think she has me extend the non-working arm overhead so I can make sure I am reaching really far ahead.

She makes me do another ugly drill with both arms at my sides.  I'm kicking the whole time.  The idea is to keep my head looking straight down and roll my body to the side and get my shoulder facing the ceiling out of the water.  When I need to take a breath, I simply turn my head to the side when my shoulder is out of the water and then look back at the bottom of the pool before the rest of my body turns.  It's sooooo hard!

Dirk absolutely no disrespect to you guys at all. The people from LIPA and all the power companies that have come here to help have been absolutely awesome and the people here are very appreciative of their efforts. Without their dedication and hard work we would still be in the dark.

The fustration is with LIPA's mgmt. This used to be a publicly traded utility called LILCO and the state stepped in and made them a power authority maybe 10 years ago or more. They have always been poorly run, mismanaged and never prepared. Granted this storm was unprecedented and people did understand the severity of the outages and knew they were going to be without power for a while. I think mostly everyone understood that.

The biggest problem everyone is having with these guys is that they haven't communicated at all with the public. They've just ignored everyone. Even the town supervisors and the county executives on LI gave up dealing with the LIPA executives and pretty much jumped in and did there jobs for them. They literally had to force these guys to turn power back on in some places. It's been 14 days and there are still 56,000 people on LI still without power. That coupled with the fact that we pay the highest rates in the country have set people off. That is why people are so upset here and you can't blame them.

But as far as the people working to restore the power here I can't tell you how much we all appreciate their efforts. It's been an unbelievable task to get things back to normal. They are at 97% restored here on LI hopefully they get those last 3% up and running as soon as they can.

Matt I am having exactly the same issue. I have been just trying to keep my arm extended and not pull too soon. I know easier said then done because I always feel like I am going to sink which then forces me to kind of rush through the stroke which does not allow you to get a good breath on the left side. I was thinking it was just one of those things that would take time, practice and patience but if there is a shortcut I'm all ears!

I'm sorry.  I'm not taking the time to read up on today's posts.  My mind is reflecting on some of the old days in my life.  Days when I was part of a brotherhood that many people don't understand and simply cannot understand unless you have been part of a brotherhood such as I have been.

Last night I lost a brother.  One whom I have never met.  Yet one I have shared a special bond through a path chosen by both of us, if only for a short time each.  We both have fought battles, separately,  that many have fearfully run from as they escaped the with only their lives and maybe a few possessions.  I have seen horrors that can only be understood by military combat personnel and their peers.  I have seen some things that have caused me great mental and psychological struggles over the years. 

We were both firefighters!  We shared a common bond that cannot be understood unless you have slipped into the turnout, donned SCBA, grabbed and line and raced into a building that others are racing out of.

I am struggling to find the reason for something so senseless.  I could understand this man losing his life for the sake of another, I would have done the same not so long ago.  It might have been understandable if it were an elderly person or child  trapped in a home.  But it's not the case!  It was a grass fire!   A lousy, stinking grass fire.  One that would have damaged only a field of dormant grass and a few trees.

Still his sacrifice was for the sake of others.  Whether it seemed noble or not, he was giving of himself.  And this time it cost him dearly.  But not only him.  He leaves behind a wife and two children, ages 3 and 1 years old.  These are the lives that will be smashed by grief. 

I also know what his brothers will feel.  Their loss and guilt will be plentiful and I can only share in a very small portion what they will be struggling with.

Rest easy Asst Chief/Engineer Mark Haudenschild

Dirk I can't agree more with what everyone has already said. I'm very sorry to hear about Mark. My thought and prayers with his family and friends.

Brenda I am also very sorry to hear about what happended to your dog. Glad to see you checking in though.

Karl I like the new picture as well.

Dirk, that was very well said.  Prayers go out to his family and friends.

I'm glad to read all this swimming talk.  I am relatively clueless about the finer details of swimming, as I really have been content to be a front MOP swimmer on next to no swim training.  I know I'm giving back some time, but I just think running is such an overwhelming weakness I spend my time and energy on that discipline to the detriment of swimming.  My plan was to do some swimming this winter, so I may try to get to the pool at least twice a week for a while.

My hockey experiment is over.   As much as I LOVE the physical nature of the game, the young guys league is just too much for this old man, and I can't retire to an old man's league quite yet!  It also puts me into social situations I just don't want to be a part of, and my tendinitis is starting to flare a bit and I know it will come on in full swing if I keep playing.  Three strikes and I'm out.  And I guess in the end I get more juice out of tri training and competing now anyway.  Life is about changes.  So my mojo is low, but I'll regain it and get back on the tri stick.

I am going for a bike fitting tomorrow at FitWerx in Peabody.  The guy who lent me his honking tri bike last summer is a fitter there, so he's hooking me up.   They have some deals on bikes so hopefully I can get the finance committee to come around.  Not going so well in that department yet!

So sorry Brenda!!!

Thanks for the avatar comments.  Not much to work with on my end...lol  That was my 1st tri, thus the reason for posting it....

Brenda, I skipped right over your post somehow.  So sorry.  Pets are such a blessing.

You bob up and down in the water because you are lifting part of your body out of the water.  You are neutrally buoyant when the amount of weight above the water equals the amount of lift created by your body's buoyancy underwater.  That usually works out to be a few cubic inches of our body above water...  You lift half your head up, or your shoulders, and you now have a lot more weight above the water and you sink.  Then you are all under water and begin to rise.

What you want to do is conceptually very easy.  You want to stop the bounce.  But it's easier said than done.  You must keep your head in the water with just the face exposed.  Matt, I would try the one-arm swimming the way I described, off arm down at your side the whole time.  You could still bob if you try, but it's a lot harder to do it unconsciously. 

Try something first.  Kick a lap on your back with your arms at your side.  As you do this, your head will be in the water with your face out of the water.  Close your eyes for a few seconds at a time as you do and concentrate on what it feels like.  You can feel the water against the edges of your face.  You can turn your head 45 degrees to the right, then the left, and you will be putting 1 eye in to the water on that side.  Focus on that feeling and remember it.  That's the feeling you want to recapture as you are on your front and turning for a breath.

I echo everyone's sentiments about the firefighter Dirk.  Such a sad end to a brave life.  I'm sure that God had bigger plans for him, although it's difficult to see at this point.

Brenda, my heart goes out to you.  I think I already said, but my wife and I just applied to adopt a lab.  Just the idea of losing a fuzzy family member is heart breaking.  You're on the prayer list as well.

Swimming is difficult.  I will be better at offering advice as far as the swimming is concerned as I am getting back at it now myself.  I finally got in the pool again a couple times last week.  It's a struggle right now, but I'm glad I am back in the pool now instead of skipping it until the end of January like I did last year.  I'm not doing masters this fall, but will starting the spring.  It's a tough sport for sure and so technique oriented!  Right now I am working on constant flip-turns.  I don't have the lung capacity to continue it.  I breathe all of my air out and almost die on every turn.  I think I just have to get used to it.

Sorry, completely skipped over this question Jeff.  My apologies; I didn't mean to ignore it.

I quit the team because I decided that if I was going to race for something, it was going to be a cause that benefitted people/things that would really appreciate the help.  I am going to ride more races/bike rides for a cause this year and raise money.  I liked the team in the sense that it was a great support system, but I get that from you guys already.  Racing for Wattie Ink only benefits his company.  It doesn't bring awareness to a certain cause, besides the great sport of triathlon itself.  I hope that doesn't sound negative or give the team a bad rep. because in of itself, it's a great thing.  I hope this helps.

Jeff that is so true. What you are saying is exactly the same problem I am having. I messed around at the pool today with this paying very close attention to what I was doing when I was breathing to the right and to left. It's as simple as you are saying I am just not keeping my head down.

It's less of a problem for me to the right because since I started swimming I have been breathing to the right so I have spent more time practicing this. I rotate better to the right and am more comfortable. Plus my head is staying in the water more often when I turn to the side and breath. I am not rushing through my stroke to stay balanced.

Now that is not the case when I breathe to the left. I can see now that my head is coming up which is causing my legs to drop. I then rush through the stroke and pull to fast because I feel like I am sinking. It's a vicious cycle. So you are absolutely correct and yes the solution is very simple but so hard to consistently put into practice. I'll be back at the pool tomorrow and will continue to work on this.

It was easier when I didn't care how I swam and just kept touching the other end of the pool!

Update on my friends that were in the hit-and-run:

One of them does not need her wheelchair anymore!  Yay!  The other girl is still in her wheelchair but doing better.

Tracy thanks for updating us and this is great news. I'm happy to hear that they are both making good progress.

So with all this swim talk I saw this article last night from the USAT weekly newsletter and it covers a lot of the stuff we have been talking about lately.

http://www.usatriathlon.org/about-multisport/multisport-zone/multisport-lab/articles/focal-points-to-supercharge-swim-part-1-111312.aspx