New Year New You...reopened for late comers (Page 17)

wow that's some work load, ease back in you remember you have worked long shifts. The south of Britain has been hammered by flooding over recent weeks, worse for over 200 years.

So tomorrow I am with British Triathlon Coaches for the day, looking at the best way to teach front crawl. Should be good, 10 other coaches from clubs in the area to share thoughts and ideas, will feedback tomorrow evening.

sounds good David, you better get back in that pool!

yes all good now, well apart from the long suffering back injury! That's great progress, well done, once the basics are mastered it's all about just changing small things and tweaking the stroke, you must be delighted!

Hey Neil thanks for the tips. I managed to find a Sunday morning group with a coach so I'm very excited. Went this morning and got a lot from it. The coach focused on the things he wants me to work on;

- my pull finishes too quickly (I am taking 34 strokes per 25m) so I need to fully extend out the tricep.
- relaxing and streamlining; legs sinking so kick needs to be a little stronger
- head position; not straight down but 60 degrees
- run my thumb up my side on the recovery to get the elbow up.

Lots to think about of course but a good tip was to only think about one element for three or four strokes and then think about a different element until muscle memory kicks in.

It was very intimidating because at times there were 4 swimmers per lane but I managed to get through it.

We were lucky to have the coach's brother Greg Streppel in the pool at the same time. Greg was the 1994 World Champion 25km Marathon swim in Rome......the guy takes 13 strokes to swim 25m.......truly a treat to watch him swim.

Hey Neil, its great that you put our there that Ironman UK 2016 is your goal.......by doing this you take away the disappointment of short term injuries because your long term goal is still attainable.

Its funny but my goal end of this season is an Olympic Tri, next season 2015 is a half iron so funnily enough 2016 its also full ironman! Wouldn't it be cool to come back to my homeland and compete in my first Ironman with you!!!

Hi folks. I learnt a great deal today and picked up some very useful material. The course was taken by Adam who is head coach at swimsmooth so really knows his stuff. I'll spend some time over the next few days sharing some of the highlights with you, already changed my session plan for my beginner that I am coaching tomorrow night. I also met some fellow coaches from not too far away from home and we are going to meet regularly to share ideas and experiences which will good. Annie from swimsmooth was also there helping, here's a link to a good article from her on kicking. Amazingly Ian Thorpe, multi Olympic Champion, who has huge feet only generates 10-15% propulsion from kicking, as I said before, upper body is where its at!

http://www.feelforthewater.com/2013/08/annies-tips-for-your-kick.ht...

wow now there's a great thought Rob, I would love that!

Brilliant news sounds like you had a great session, and from what you have been told its just really basic, common and easy fixable things to work on. We spoke a lot today about head position and agreed that looking straight down is not the best, it can lead to pulling the shoulders down too, causing strains and limiting the stroke, plus the head has to turn a greater distance to breathe. 60 % sounds a good position. Yes the pull finishing too early is a common fault and easy to sort, here's something I picked up today on catch and pull http://www.swimsmooth.com/catch.html

The thumb up the side is a great drill for high elbows, commonly known as the zip up drill as it is like using a zipper up the side of your body. Finger trails drill is another one for high elbows too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf3MG6FXkzw

Good advice about focussing on one thing at a time otherwise you'll be overwhelmed. I had a swimmer last week who told me she was struggling with her breathing as she was really focussing on it as well as a catch up drill. I asked if she thought about breathing when she was walking, or at work, or home or eating etc, she said no and I told her to do the same in the water and hey presto she sorted it!

I love watching elite swimmers, they make it look so effortless but don't make the mistake of comparing yourself!! Good work Rob, keep me posted

Take a look at this swimmer (Harry Wiltshire), especially the left arm, he is a GB elite triathlete, massive arm swinger, really ragged stroke but quick, gives us all hope!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDsBTpygrks

that's insane......how does he do this? Notice he breathes every 2 strokes because it looks like he puts a huge amount of effort into the stroke. As you say, hope for us all!

I just read this element from your post;

"You should pull through like you're describing an ‘S-Pull shape' under the body.

thumb first
There are few things worse for your shoulders than thumb first hand entry.

INCORRECT. In centuries past, swimmers were taught to enter into the water thumb-first, then press out, sweep back in, and then finally back out as their hands swept past their thighs. This would make an S-shape. It was believed this technique would increase the length of your stroke as you were moving your hand on a longer pull-pathway under the body than if you pulled straight through. However, the benefits of doing this have since been disproved - it does not offer any advantage in propulsion versus a straight pull (see below), in fact it is slower"

.......this has me really confused because the coach today was getting us to do this and said it was the right technique. I guess there is no mutually recognized perfect technique.

Therein lies the issue Rob, different federations teach different methods, I tend to follow swimsmooth as they are geared up to support triathlon. Thumb first feels a bit uncomfortable, try standing and stretching your arms out in front of you with your thumbs pointing down, see how it feels. I do think the straight pull is a good technique, pushing back in one smooth movement does generate more power, trying pulling your arms through the water and again feel the difference between both methods.

Rob, just make sure your coach nows your objective: triathlon, not swimming by itself.

I have read in several web sites that for a tri, you should be more dependant on your stroke than in your kick (more so than in a just swimming race) since you will be depending on your legs more for the other two sports. I have read and also heard that your swimming stroke count should be higer for a tri in order to achieve this. It makes sense as to not get your legs tired before you even start using them to ride and run.

Neil, maybe you could share some thoughts in the matter.

I cannot remember exactly where I read the information, but the "S" formation is actually bad for your shoulders. Not just the muscles, but also the joint area. The end result is wanting to have the shoulder work in as much of a "natural" position as possible; this will help eliminate any additional stress within that area. btw: the reason for the "S" method was in theory that you would get a more efficient pull and glide by pulling the water that is closer to the body; kind of dealing with aerodynamics of wind going around an object (water being the wind).

1 major point about this whole thing is that you also don't want to have completely straight arms either. By having your arms slightly bent at the elbows, you end up creating the "S" naturally (to some extent).

Hope I can explain in enough detail.
"S" stroke takes a straight arm (once entered and extended in front). As you pull, you will be slightly pulling water outward to get to about your shoulder. You will then pull straight down and about to your shoulder. You will then start pulling your hand towards your body (inward) and pull your hand along the front of your body. All of this is while you are keeping your body straight (not rotating back-n-forth)

Straight stroke starts with your arm straight (just like the "S" stroke). As you pull, you will bend end up bending your elbow and your hand makes a straight path just within your shoulder line. Your body will then start to rotate once your hand get to about the chest area; this rotation will give you more power because you are causing a "counter resistance" to your pull. As your arm reaches your waist area, you elbow is naturally in a position to come out of the water and give you the clearance for your recovery to start.

The end result is that your hand is doing an "S" to your body cause your body is rotating, but you don't want to "exaggerate" the "S" and end up with shoulder joint problems ;-)

Edited by [email protected] 2014-02-17 3:19 PM

I agree with you about using less kick for longer distances. Neil has mentioned something like 90% upper body and 10% kick. The kick with long distance is used to help keep your feet up and provide some counter to your stroke. However, a person's wetsuit will most likely handle the keeping your feet up anyways ;-)

Questions for the experts,

I went for a run/walk routine over the weekend and below are my results:

RUN
35m 51s 4.44 kms 8m 04s /KM
Running Index 30 - need to improve!
AHR 155 (85%)
MAX HR 186 (102% ?!)

I have a few questions:

-For those using polar, how accurate is the running index?
-How do you calculate your Max HR, obviously I can't be running at 102% capacity (I am 37 yo)
-Is it OK to be that high in the HR in any case, at some point I was going with all my effort just to keep jogging (but at a slow pace) but I know that my body is still getting used to running.

I did the routine as follows:
10 mins brisk warmup walk
3 min jogging
90 sec walk
5 min jog
2.5 min walk
3 min jog
1.5 min walk
5 min jog
5 min cooldown walk

I'm back in business =)

Saturday, my youngest son had wrestling league finals. He started the season at 120 lbs, wrestled duals at 126 lbs, got a concussion, recovered in time for league finals at the 132 lbs weight class at the Junior Varsity level. He got 1st place. He is officially the 2013-2014 JV League Champion for 132's. =)

Sunday, him and I went to the pool. Knowing that swim season is going to start really soon, I took him to the pool to get back into the water. We had an easy workout with a whole lot of drilling on his technique. After I drilled him, we had a workout with kicking, swimming, and fun with water polo. I didn't log distance for the workout, but we did a number of sets with 30 second rest, then the next set was the same thing, but 20 seconds rest. For example, swim 25yds butterfly and 25yds freestyle, rest 30 seconds, swim 25yds butterfly and 25yrds freestyle, rest 30 seconds. We did that for each stroke and then repeated with 20 seconds rest.

IT WAS GREAT TO GET BACK INTO THE POOL!!! Fish outta water =(

Today, I'm heading to the gym after dinner. Feels great getting back into a routine with no more cakes for a while... =)

I'm not familiar with any heart rate monitors; I don't use one.
A basic calculation for Max Heart Rate is 220 - age. In your case, it will be 183. http://www.calculatorpro.com/calculator/max-heart-rate-calculator/
There are other calculators out there with different formulas. Some are more accurate than others.

BTW: really good workout. I'm not much of a runner. I am really good with swim and bicycle.

Just saw the video. Reminds me of how Janet Evans swims. One arm bent and the other completely straight (windmill style).

Edited by [email protected] 2014-02-17 8:10 PM

Rob, this is EXCELLENT!!!
Glad you are staying focused on improving. 34 strokes per 25m, you now have something to gauge your progress. As soon as you break 30 strokes, you'll see that 25 will come easy =)

Great job... Keep it up =)

Went to the gym last night and finally think I figured out where my problem is with my running (joking). I was on the leg press. I was using one leg at a time (explain later) and found that I could only lift 190 lbs per leg (max). Because I'm heavier than 190 lbs, no wonder I get tired so fast when running. (jk)

Serious Note:
I find that it's beneficial to use the leg press with one leg at a time. When using both legs, you end up using your dominate leg more when lifting higher weights. This doesn't give your legs "equal" lifting and causes your legs to pump on your bicycle differently and can cause an uneven stroke. To help balance your cycling stroke, it is recommended that each leg be given "equal" weight lifting opportunity by lifting one leg at a time.

Yes agreed and posted a bit on this in the past. Propulsion is mainly from the upper body through a good efficient stroke, legs are needed for the bike and run, a simple and gently flutter kick is sufficient, a wetsuit gives buoyancy in open water.

Firstly that's a good routine to develop the running, gradually decreasing the walking time (sure you knew that already). 220 minus your age is a rough guide, the true value is influenced by genetics, fitness levels, body makeup etc etc and can be determined in a lab. I would expect a high heart rate a first as you are building your fitness, this should change as you get fitter. Are you familiar with aerobic an anaerobic training zones, let me know? I'm not familiar with polar running index, I don't use a HRM that much and if I do its on my garmin device.
Neil

wow pass on my congratulations to 'the champ' that's awesome! Good swimming buddy.