Nov 15-Dec 15 "Swim Speed Secrets" Book Club (Page 3)

Got my copy in the mail today

I am going to be out for the count for a while with some foot surgery. I have no idea when I will be back in the water, actually swimming but it will be way before running that is for sure. SO....

I am going to lurk here and learn some swimmy stuff for when I get back in the water. I just ordered the book and I am going to look into swim cord workouts. I can sure do those without using my feet.

I am looking forward to learning a bunch of stuff from you all, and Sheila!

Sorry to hear about your foot but you are right, swim cords are a great alternative if you are in that situation.

Thanks. it is all good. I am getting an old injury fixed so short term pain should replace long term chronic pain. I just found that I could get a NOOK copy from the Barnes and Noble web site. so... I did. I'll start reading tonight. I'll have to get a workout book, too. But that can wait a day or so

Nice job with the cords :)

That's some very solid improvement too! 

I like the idea of everyone getting some kind of baseline for a medium distance, like a 400 or 500, to use as a benchmark.  Even if people aren't going to do the SSW per se, I hope we can all get some sort of baseline to measure improvement.

Has anyone in this group done the Swim Smooth CSS test? Yanti, told me about it, and I had to do it a couple of times, but I think I finally got it down :)  That might be a good number to have too/instead.

Much joy seeing everyone report back in

A few things--really important to watch the online videos for the drills (including tubing/swim cords work).

Those of you with a solid swim base or more advanced swimmers may want to look at and try the "roided-out" version of the SS workouts in my blog (training log). I don't often do the press-outs because my pool here has a slanted rather than 90-degree edge, though. It's also 2ft deep, so some of the sculling isn't possible either.

2 feet??  I bet you can still pull off a flip turn in that.  

I forgot to bring my workout with me to the pool this morning so I did a 500m TT after my warmup as suggested by someone above.  Managed to squeek out a 6:36 for 1:19/100m.  That's about what I thought I could manage.

I've gotten through the first chapter or two of the book and am hoping to get through a bunch more over the weekend.

I haven't used CSS, but do have a sense of where pacing should be for various things.

Dale, do you only use the CSS for the long swims? This is kind of like FTP and T-pace and should be used to help figure out most all of your pacing.

Woo-hoo!  It's the first official day of the SSS BC :)

Are you ready to get your swim on? <----please read with your best monster-truck rally voice

We have structured the past book clubs by breaking the book down roughly into fourths and asking people to do a section each week.  I think this works well to keep the conversation focused and to allow enough time for everyone to get to the same place and be a part of the discussions.  If you'd like to read ahead, please do, but let's try to pace ourselves with the discussion.

We haven't had workouts be a part of the discussion before either, but I think it would be good to have the workouts start a week after today.  This will give people time to get to the pool, get a baseline for their current swim speed, and get through the first few chapters of the book.  Does that sound OK to the group?

I know we have a handful in this group who haven't been to the pool in a while, and another handful who have been swimming >4x/week, so it's shaping up to be a fun group with varied levels of experience.  I'm pumped :)

Could everyone introduce yourself to the group, tell us a bit about your swim history, where your swim is now (if you know), and anything else you think might be pertinent for the group?

I'm Elesa, and though I grew up with a pool and spent a lot of time around water, I was never on a swim team or had any kind of formal swim lessons. I did work as a beach lifeguard (age 20) for a summer, so I was able to get myself through those tests, and could swim reasonably well, but only for shortish distances.  I started training for tris last fall and going to the pool was a bit of a shock.  I was gassed after a 100.  I putzed around with swimming for a few months but stuff didn't click for me until I did a swim focus (about 8 weeks) last spring, 5-6x/week in the pool, and got up to ~3000yds/swim.  However, A LOT of that was with a pull buoy.  I got my fastest hundred down to 1:20, but my 1500 TT pace was a 1:38. 

OWS has proved to be challenging :) Both of my Olys were 1:40/100yds, and my HIM was 1:48/100yds (though I had a bad neck thing here), though I honestly didn't continue my swimming with any consistency over the summer.   I was lucky to get 2x/week, and most weeks it was a half-hearted single OWS.

The wetsuit helps my body position TREMENDOUSLY.  When I put on a wetsuit for the first time, I tried some laps in the pool (day before my first sprint, lol) and didn't believe my watch when I was doing 1:17s at what felt like my 1:40 pace.  I was literally laughing out loud looking at my watch at the gutter.

I have been back in the pool now regularly for the last five weeks.  I read SSS at the beginning of that and I feel like it has almost been revolutionary for me.  The pictures are so, so helpful.  I am a visual learner and this book just clicks!  I am excited to start the workouts. 

My weaknesses in the water continue to be body position, technique and endurance (reat d: everything). I struggle with keeping my legs up and out of the way.  My best hundred is still stuck around 1:20, but my endurance is already better than last spring, as my most recent 1500 TT was a 1:34/100 avg.  Slowly gaining on it.

I would also love to be a swimmer that doesn't feel wed to the wetsuit.  There are a number of races that I find myself looking at, but don't feel I can pull the trigger because they aren't going to be wetsuit legal.  So one of my goals for this year is to get over that. 

Oh, and I don't flip turn, but I feel like I should :)

<cough cough Mike>

I'm Mike, lifelong runner and the epitome of the "adult-onset swimmer".  I knew how to swim to play in the pool and do a couple of laps maybe, but that was it.  I started this tri stuff back in 2010.  I've had real difficulty keeping my legs from sinking.  I have no kick to speak of.  I try to physically overpower the water, with pretty lousy results.  I had been totally self-coached except for a brief stint in Masters.

I've had two breakthroughs in swimming.  Once in the spring of last year, where due to a back injury I was pretty much limited to swimming as my only exercise for a couple of months.  I mastered bi-lateral breathing and was starting to make some speed gains, then tweaked my neck and shoulder.  The second was this past spring after I joined our Masters group.  I was doing 4K meter workouts with the group and again was getting some gains, but that neck issue re-appeared.  I managed to get through my tri season and then shut it down.  Best 100y time is about 1:30, cruise pace is around 1:55 (well, was).

So, I need to almost start over, and would like to do it in a semi-coached manner.  Once I get some basics down (and be able to rotate by body instead of my neck to breathe so we don't have this issue again), I'll re-join Masters and get my beat down.

This book interests me because of its front-focused approach, which I think is going to be in my wheelhouse given my kick weakness.  I know I need to work on it so my legs at least get the hell out of the way, though. 

I haven't been in the pool since the beginning of September and probably won't start until next week at the earliest, starting with some drills and some strength work.

Same here.

I'm Arend and I also grew up around water, pools, ocean and lakes.  I was on a swim team from around age 12 until I was 21.  Open water is my happy place.

Swimming is obviously my strongest leg and as such I don't train it a whole lot - 2x / week is pretty typical.  Last winter I did a lot of those swims with the local swim team kids so I got the most that I could out of those 2x.  I plan on doing the same thing again this winter.  

I did two HIM swims this summer, 28 mins at Mont Tremblant and 30 in Miami.  Not much swimming prior to Miami due to a sore shoulder that bugged me for most of August and September.  I did a 500m TT in the pool this morning in 6:36 for a 1:19/100m pace.  When I was in good swim shape last winter I managed a 20:00 1500m at a masters meet for a 1:20/100 pace.  No way I could have come close to that this morning.

I have one big flaw in my swim and that is that my kick stinks.  When we do kick sets, the kids destroy me, when we do pull sets, I can stay ahead of most of them.  Pull buoys and wetsuits help me a lot - I go against the grain that wetsuits don't help stronger swimmers much.

My name is Matt.  I've played in water for most of my life, but didn't start actual swimming until I started training for tri's 4 years ago.  My PR for 1500m (Olympic distance is my focus) is 24:11 without counting my current assisted 22 min swim.  

I have a recent swim workout (this morning actually) that shows where I'm at now.  

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/404414540

I've been swimming ~2 times a week, but I'm trying to get 3 in, which is what I normally get in during tri season.

As I try to get as fast as I can in everything, I'm always looking for new training methods to try.  I have some fast swimmers in my area, and as much as I love picking them up on the bike, I'd rather get out of the water with them and cruise away.  I'm not sure what to improve on specifically other than the fact that I am slower than my competitors who get out of the water in 20-21 mins.  I look forward to seeing what this book provides.

Originally posted by dtoce

Originally posted by brigby1 Dale, do you only use the CSS for the long swims? This is kind of like FTP and T-pace and should be used to help figure out most all of your pacing.

Ben I note the CSS and try to get to the point of being able to hold that pace for my training during the long swims. Since I believe in multipace training for all sports, I don't use it when doing faster sets, b/c since it is more important to work on lowering resistance in the water with good mechanics, I don't do as much for the engine with fast swimming. Pacing...what pacing? I just try move through the water in the most efficient way and find my balance without sinking to the bottom of the pool or dragging myself through the water. I'm too busy talking to myself to think about pacing...

Some of the things said in there should make the book a good read for you.

I'm Ben. Grew up in and around the water, so comfortable with it, but no real swim training. Just lessons as a kid at the Y so as to not drown in it. Started actually training a few years ago for triathlon. On my own the first few years and then with a masters group the past year which helped out substantially. Getting into the lower 20's for a 1500 and closing in on 30 min for a HIM. Pacing during the masters sets is usually ~1:13-1:17 scy depending on set objectives and fatigue. Swimming a bunch right now as I want to get faster and it's fun. I flip turn at masters, but not as much on my own. More of a psychological thing to help control effort, masters is harder & faster while on my own is a bit easier.

First thought, from the intro:

"Let’s look at his times: In February 1924, Weissmuller swam a 57.4 in the 100-m freestyle (long course meters). Sure, the world record now is 46.91, set by Cesar Cielo of Brazil (2009 World Championships), and the women’s world record is 52.07 (Britta Steffen, Germany, 2009 World Championships), but how many of you who are reading this book would think you were the cat’s meow for going a time like Weissmuller’s? And it wasn’t just the short races in which Weissmuller set world records. He also owned the 400-m and 800-m freestyle records: 4: 57.0 in the 400, set in 1923, and 10: 22.2 in the 800..."

Um, DAH-UMN.  Those times are unbelievable.  I mean, his head was above the water and his legs were pointed at maybe 30-45 degrees downward.  I'm thinking maybe I should try his technique, since he's so much faster than me.

Also, these only-slightly-subtle digs:

"First, I wanted to write a book for triathletes more than any other group. I feel that this group has latched on to one swim-technique theory for too long." (Chapter 1)

"A weekend swimming clinic is coming to town. It is marketed as holding the key to unleashing your swimming potential. At the clinic, swimmers are told that taking fewer strokes is better. The focus is entirely on reducing the number of strokes to get across the pool. From our equation, we know this is a good thing. However, at this clinic, the swimmers are not told about the other half of the equation. All weekend, the participants are in the water— reaching, extending, and gliding out front. They look beautiful and smooth. The athletes get excited about having reduced their number of strokes from 10 down to 8. They probably raised their hands to tell the coach the good news, and the coach probably high-fived them."  (Chapter 2)

Hmmmm...a shot across the bow at TI?