jszat's group- closed (Page 4)

Well said.  Racing is truly just getting out there day in day out to prep for what event you are doing.  Again, I would suggest looking at why you are doing this and use it to keep focus. 

JChristoff - 2007-06-01 2:15 PM I guess the best question would be is are you seeing things that we should be working on/focusing on more than others? I know that I have been seeing incremental increases in my averages as I have progressed this month but should I be doing more?? Speed/Interval Training? Maybe it is the general Donkey mojo that you exude that is making all of us better

This past weekend was kinda hectic having a race and all, so sorry for being a bit AWOL the past few days.  I will be peeking through blogs to say hey.

So is swimming the sore spot for ya?  If so, what have you been using or looking at to try and improve?  I have long had frustration with it and only have recently become a funtional freestyler.  Before that most of my races were sidestroke, which is perfectly fine, but can burn up the legs a bit if you kick lots.

I would highly recommend the DVD too as I got my start with the book and DVD.  It is a great way to get comfy in the water and understand the basics, but eventually you will grow out of it.  I was in the same boat kind of just getting in the pool once in a while to make it seem like I was swimming.  For me it helped to get into a race distance that was way more than I thought I could do and lemme tell ya, that gets you in the pool!

Watching others that can swim well (in a non creepy way and please honor any outstanding restraining orders) was one of the ways that I have made some key breakthroughs, one of them being improving my breathing.  By changing my roll about a half second, I now longer felt like I was dunking my head in the drink before getting a full breath.  Each and every session there is so much you can tweak, so focus on roll for a few sets, then pull, then head position.  If you keep focusing and working to refine the parts, the sum eventually improves.  It takes time and really is a continuous process.  Try to embrace the challenge of improvement vs the whole suckiness of swimming at this point.  I actually think I am starting to enjoy it a bit (OWS for sure vs pool swimming).  And I will be honest- if I never had the goal of doing IM's I probably would have never put this much effort into swimming.  Baby steps are key and keep with the TI drills even as you become proficient as they help a lot with balance and hydrodynamics.

Was nice meeting you on Sunday.  Your race report was kind of brief.  Where do you think you can make the biggest gains in the future?  Did you get the bike thing figured out?  Sometimes if I shift too fast I drop my chain.  Was the chain clicking or ???

I have High Cliff HIM on June 24 and then Door County Oly on July 22nd.  After that, its laser focus on MOO.  I saw something for a two mile swim in northern IL and would like to maybe do another bike tour just to mix things up a bit as the longer rides will surely start to blend together soon on the same terrain.

The feedback on the forums here is generally that TI is great for beginners but to swim fast, you need to modify some of its teachings.  That said, I think the balance drills and all that never get old and I see a lot of good swimmers doing variations of the TI stuff.