Sink or SWIM! with WittyCityGirl - CLOSED (Page 43)

Oh! I'm REALLY glad you tried catch up drill...when you get an instructor, they should be able to help you work on your form with it.  If your arm/shoulder is dropping I think you may not be using your core to keep your body aligned.  Try it again, sucking in your belly and squeezing your "cheeks" (my Pilates instructor talks about holding a credit card in your, um, crack (ha!)).  If you engage all those muscles it'll be easier to relax the arm that's out in front so that you aren't trying to unintentionally balance on it thus causing the shoulder/arm to sink.

Good quote!

Mike_D - 2011-07-02 7:58 AM Good morning, everyone. Hope y'all have a great holdiay weekend. I kicked mine off with a 3 mile run this AM which felt like garbage, but turned out to be a sub 9 min pace. I also just yesterday signed up for a 4.4 mile roadrace on monday AM. Tomorrow will  likely be a good long bike ride. Back in the pool on tuesday.

Today is also me & the Mrs. 16th wedding anniversary!

Wow, Mike, you're busy!!  Enjoy that race.  I hope you have something special planned for the anniversary!

Mike - congrats on the anniversary

Sara - any ways to fix sinking legs during the swim?

Curt - love your quote

Me - just finished my last run/walk of month 1 of the agressive c25k. This week has been great too. I got my PB distance on run/walk of  1.67 miles in 35 mins on Friday and I managed 75m freestyle yesterday. I've also been challenged to do 150m by the end of july bu a friend on on FB but I'll see what happens - I'm just going to take it one extra lap at a time.  

Mike_D - 2011-07-02 8:31 AM

50andgettingfit - 2011-07-02 9:06 AM

Mike_D - 2011-07-02 4:58 AM Good morning, everyone. Hope y'all have a great holdiay weekend. I kicked mine off with a 3 mile run this AM which felt like garbage, but turned out to be a sub 9 min pace. I also just yesterday signed up for a 4.4 mile roadrace on monday AM. Tomorrow will  likely be a good long bike ride. Back in the pool on tuesday.

Today is also me & the Mrs. 16th wedding anniversary!

Great start to your morning and hope you have a wonderful anniversary!

Thanks! 

Best of luck w/ the HIM! Your season has been an inspiration.

Thanks Mike! I think we all inspire each other  We all have such different lives but we're all out there taking care of ourselves and setting goals. Life is good!

50andgettingfit - 2011-07-02 10:28 PM

Mike_D - 2011-07-02 8:31 AM

50andgettingfit - 2011-07-02 9:06 AM

Mike_D - 2011-07-02 4:58 AM Good morning, everyone. Hope y'all have a great holdiay weekend. I kicked mine off with a 3 mile run this AM which felt like garbage, but turned out to be a sub 9 min pace. I also just yesterday signed up for a 4.4 mile roadrace on monday AM. Tomorrow will  likely be a good long bike ride. Back in the pool on tuesday.

Today is also me & the Mrs. 16th wedding anniversary!

Great start to your morning and hope you have a wonderful anniversary!

Thanks! 

Best of luck w/ the HIM! Your season has been an inspiration.

Thanks Mike! I think we all inspire each other  We all have such different lives but we're all out there taking care of ourselves and setting goals. Life is good!

Definitely agree Johanne

Dumb question - I'm looking up the beginner swim program as I want to bring some more variety in to my swims and the explanation of the fist drill is as follows:

Fist – using the pull buoy, close your hands to make fists and swim front crawl as you normally would. Concentrate on holding as much water as possible with your forearms.

Does this mean you use the buoy (I'm thinking I may actually buy one this week) the same way you do for a normal pull set? or is it more like an alternative to the kickboard for your arms?

Yes, use it normally. And as the drill name indicates, make a fist instead of using an open hand when you swim. This is a really useful drill!

It has a lot to do with what you're doing with the lower abdominal muscles and your chest.  If you lay flat in the water and your legs sink, you can press your sternum down (a little) to get your hips to float and by lightly kicking your legs will stay on top of the water.  Most swimmers need to use their kick to keep their legs up (and reduce drag) rather than get extra speed out of the kick.  Pressing your sternum down worst best when your stomach is sucked in and you contract those glutes so you're squeezing the front of your body and the back of your body in towards your spine. 

I've seen some swimmers do really well with the pull buoy and really not well with the pull buoy.  If you don't have the strength in your lower abs and inner thighs to latch on to the pull buoy to prevent it from popping up, then it becomes difficult to swim with it and concentrate on what you're supposed to concentrate on-the pull.

If you find yourself having trouble with the pull buoy then you can ditch it so that you have to kick while you pull with your hands in a closed fist.  It's a good idea to work towards being comfortable with a pull buoy.  

Swimming is a great sport because there are 99 thousand different ways to improve, but it's also a frustrating sport for the very same reason!  A good plan is to find one thing at a time that is difficult to do in the water and work on becoming good at it.  Then hopefully it gets put in your "muscle memory" so that you can move on to something else in your swimming that needs improvement-you keep building a better stroke.

Happy almost July 4th everyone!

Just back from a quick/short ride, but needed to get out. Road race tomorrow AM, then hopefully some swimming in the afternoon.  I ran 4 times last week (counting my race) and am very happy about it. felt good, and I'm going to build off of it.

I'm also taking the leap and signing up for at lest 3 more, maybe 4, additional tri's for the summer. All are sprints, and fairly local. I'm starting to feel like I'm getting my mojo back after a labored spring, and I want to get out and build up on what I've been doing. I also need to shed about 15 pounds, as it seems I've let some creep back on during my recent couple of months of doing nothing much.

Tomorrow is also a big day for me -- it will be 1 year ago tomorrow I found BT, took my first swim lesson ever (!!), and decided I was going to do a try myself. Now I'm planning a 4 or 5 race season, a handful of running races, and setting 2012 sights on a HIM. I'm feeling good!

And be sure to read this tomorrow -- always good to reread the words of the men who risked life & limb to bring forth a nation in a rather grand experiment: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html

Mike - thanks for the "fist" info

Sara - thanks for the legs and buoy info. I'm not sure how much inner thigh/lower ab strength I have - probably not much - but I do know that I found the kickboard useless when I tried using it as a substitute for the buoy - something suggested on the forums at large after I asked - so I want to try using the real thing. I like the idea of doing 1 thing at a time but I get bored with the same old drills all the time, lol

Oh and in a bit of scary news. I post my swim workouts - usually a praisied version - on the RW forums too and I've inspired quite a few people to try it as xt.

Happy 4th of July everyone!!! Its off to work for me, then off to a friends party after that---thankfully, it is my 'Friday' today, so I can SLEEEEEEP in tomorrow!

Last night was an open water swim--I was actually able to drag the husband along (I needed someone else there to watch stuff on shore, and just in case there were any issues...); he actually swam out a bit, and later told me how much fun he had. He also suggested that we might do this on a regular basis through the rest of the summer! I am quite happy with that--especially since I ALWAYS need more OW swim practice. It was SO packed at the lake last night, I was amazed there was room to swim! I wasn't surprised, being on a holiday weekend and all, but still...

Hopefully you all have a great holiday today, I'll try and catch up my training and check in tomorrow!

Road race was good today. It was 4.5 miles, and I finished in 42:17 which is ok, I guess. still, good to be out running, and feeling good about it.

Back to work/the 'routine' tomorrow and will likely spend lots of time at the pool in the AM. Did a bit of swimming yesterday, but not worth tracking.

Glad to hear you made it through healthy.  Once down and 4 tris to go for you!

Sounds like you've had some nice relaxing days Curt.

 Kate - yay for getting hubby to come swimming with you.

 Mike - nice work on the race.

Me - Had some knee issues during my "tryout" run yesterday so took a rest day today and am going to do another one with shorter intervals tomorrow plus a gym class - bodybalance - mix of tai chi, yoga and pilates - plus maybe another swim - I'll see what happens after the class though.

Looks like things are going well for everyone and sounds like the American folks had a good holiday.  I worked all weekend, but had time to enjoy a picnic/fireworks last night with the family.

I have a triathlon in 11 days and I am very undertrained for it.  I've been having plantar fasciitis issues after my short runs and I'm just not interested in being on the bike.  Now that my long ride is over, I'm not thrilled about biking since it irritates the hernia I had repaired and the new one that formed when I trained for the long ride.  I haven't been swimming much for no good reason.  I gotta get my rear in gear, that's for sure!

Sorry to hear about the state of things with race prep! What distance is the race? is it a sprint or oly you can fight through, or is this a HIM where you may find a challenge? Do you think biking in the race may reinjure the hernia? Seems like you are up for the challenge, so get out there and get after it!

As for the PF, if there is an ART practitioner around your way, I highly recommend it!!!

Sara--your pain issues don't sound good at all! Are you sure that doing a triathlon will not exacerbate the problems? Be careful--we don't want you sidelined!

My next tri is this coming Saturday--sprint distance, based on a small lake in a park based around a shuttered nuclear power plant!   there's also a Saharan wildlife refuge nearby (Oryx and other hoofstock), so all in all, its a rather weird location--people love to camp and fish around the lake, so I guess its a safe place--I have been there before, but only for birdwatching (another major hobby of mine...).

Anyway, The lake is somewhat shallow and warm, the bike trail goes out of the park and onto the local 2-lane highway then back, and the run is on a trail surrounding the lake...It should be fun! I will also be racing in the Athena division, we'll see how that works out for me!

In the meantime, my coach is having me and the rest of our class do a mini-tri tomorrow night for training---my coach is also going to be competing in my race on Saturday, so she will also be doing the mini-tri tomorrow.

I think its a good night for Wii Fit and Wii yoga....

Kate -- it sounds more like an obstacle course than a tri! . Do you have a lead lined wetsuit for the swim?

I ended up hitting the snooze button this AM as I was dead tired and felt lead legged like I've not felt in ages. figured I'd give it the day to loosen/lighten up, then go for a ride/run this evening.

It's a sprint race, so I won't have a problem finishing the distance (at least that's what I tell myself).  I just won't be very competitive.  I typically don't like doing races just for the stuff, I try to be competitive, but I think I'm starting the like the idea of doing a race and enjoying it by not pushing so hard. =)

The doctor said I couldn't make the fixed and unfixed hernias "worse"...whatever that means!  Apparently, in their eyes more pain doesn't equal more damage, so I've been told how much tylenol/prescription pain med I can take per day.  Worked for that long ride I did in June! =)