Mad Manatee Mentors, Part 2! CLOSED (Page 5)

MadMathemagician - 2013-02-01 4:15 PM

The Three Styles of FreeStyle Swimming  

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hSCA_J5fP0&list=FL8H5sjD-Xe4uXl... Yanti is a proponent of the hip driven style of freestyle. 

4agoodlife - 2013-02-01 8:27 PM My house is abed except for me and my poor boy. I think the antibiotics are working but they seem so slow! I haven't had a decent night's sleep since last week, and tonight I finally broke down with a good cry. I hate not being able to fix the pain I planned to swim tonight....didn't happen. Couldn't leave him with in-laws when he was crying for mom/dad to hold him.I know there are several answers to my plea for swim help. Thank you! Thank you! I WILL respond and watch videos/links tomorrow.

MadMathemagician - 2013-02-02 8:15 AM

The Three Styles of FreeStyle Swimming  

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hSCA_J5fP0&list=FL8H5sjD-Xe4uXl... Yanti is a proponent of the hip driven style of freestyle. 

bcraht - 2013-02-01 8:34 PM

.  I'm so sorry that your boy is not well.  It's so hard when they are sick and you can't fix them.  Sometimes letting the stress out via a good cry leaves you with the strength you need to keep on.  Hang in there, prayers from here for quick healing.

bcraht - 2013-02-01 8:34 PM

.  I'm so sorry that your boy is not well.  It's so hard when they are sick and you can't fix them.  Sometimes letting the stress out via a good cry leaves you with the strength you need to keep on.  Hang in there, prayers from here for quick healing.

TriAya - 2013-02-01 12:31 PM

NOTE TO EVERYONE ABOUT SWIMMING

I'll try to explain it more clearly and in more detail when it's not 4am.

I dislike the term "pull" because it makes it sound like you pull the water with your arm. IMO even though most triathletes just don't swim often, far, or hard enough for that to be cause of any shoulder problems, if there is arm or shoulder strain (particularly at the acromion process ... basically, the intersection of the end of your shoulder and the top of your arm) it comes from using the arm to pull, instead of using body rotation by way of lats (most notably felt where your back meets your armpit) and obliques (those side-wall abdominal muscles just above the hips).

You roll your hip to point at the bottom of the pool in order to get your arm outstretched in front of you as far as possible for the catch (where hand meets water after above-water recovery). It's like twisting your body to reach something on a high shelf. As you anchor the arm in the water vertically (as in my avatar), instead of pulling back with the arm, you want to use body rotation (make the other hip point at the bottom of the pool) to drive the arm back. Your arm doesn't actually have to move all that much; only the angles change a bit as goes through the pull phase

The lats (latissimus dorsi) especially but also the obliques are huge trunk muscles that can generate and tolerate a lot of tension. It's a lot better to learn to "pull" by using these muscles to drive body rotation (and the arm back during the pull and outstretched forward for the catch) than it is by stressing the relatively weaker and less stable arm anatomy, muscles and joints.

Muskrat37 - 2013-02-01 1:17 PM

I would suggest focusing on one thing at a time.

#1 is balance.  You have to get balanced in the water.  When you work on balance -work on front to back AND left to right.  Front to back means your hips are high in the water.  

#2 your roll - A follow up to the "balance" focus.  This is where you can work on left to right balance

#3 your pull.  If you are balanced front to back AND left to right - you can now begin to focus on your catch and pull.  

A good pull with bad balance will mean you are working way, way to hard to move forward in the water. This can lead to overuse muscle injuries - and bad habits.

You should get very, very balanced in the water before changing your focus.  You can swim a lap and see how moving your head, pushing down with your chest, changing your kick etc all affect where your hips are in relation to the rest of your body.  When you feel balanced you have mastered balance, grab a pull buoy and then focus on your stroke.  You can then forget about your hips (the pull buoy raises them for you) and your kick and just focus on the catch and pull for a few laps.  Alternate between the 2 so you don't get too bored.  

Here are a couple of video's I like on the web that demonstrate some drills you can work on. 

Balance drill (front to back)

Balance (left to right)

Also - if you can get a video of you swimming - it would be helpful.  

I sure wish fellow Manatee's lived closer...would love to go to the pool and help out in person.    

Chad

 

 

4agoodlife - 2013-02-02 10:52 AM

Thank you, Kirsten. He woke up after a full night's sleep in his own bed and his face is at least 50% less swollen! Yes!!!! He is being his goofy self again with Lego sound effects and ninja moves I am breathing a sigh of relief.

rrrunner - 2013-02-01 3:41 PM

X2

ponderingfox - 2013-02-03 12:27 PM There's a 5 mile race tomorrow at the local high school.  I was planning on doing a 5 mile training run, so I'm thinking about it.  The only catch is that it's supposed to be in the 20s tomorrow with a bit of wind.  But I figure it's in town and I can bundle up.  Would love to get outside after spending so much time on the treadmill!  Just need to find my running club membership card now...

StaceyK - 2013-02-02 9:12 PM

Thanks everyone for your best wishes with my race today and for the weather report Jayne. It was a balmy 86*F (30*C) at the start of our race, water temp of 77*F (25*C) so not yet at the 100*F that it has reached this afternoon, thankfully.

It went well, it was a mini sprint and I really did it to keep myself motivated to train (not that that worked last week) and to work on a few things in a race situation in the build up to doing an Oly in April.

So the race was a 250m swim, a 10km ride and a 2km run (it feels very insignificant when you look at it like that but we've all got to start somewhere I guess). I had 4 goals for the race:

1. swim the entire distance with my face in the water (except for breathing of course).
2. wear my bike shoes for the ride (first time in a race).
3. do the full km run withut walking.
4. finish in 45minutes or less.

I managed the first 3 but according to my watch my time would have been about 48 minutes which is a bit of a bummer but I can live with that.

Some things that I learnt:

1. dont start the swim at the middle of the back of the pack, there are too many people to swim around or over. start in the middle out wide.
2. buy a number belt so I dont have to try to put a shirt on while Im wet.
3. get down on the drops more when riding. I need to prctice this because my shoulders were getting sore.
4. take 30 seconds to put socks on in T2 otherwise I end up with blisters on the insteps of my feet.
5. Oh and most importantly get to the race a bit earlier to allow for the toilet line or be prepared to do the race with your butt cheeks clamped together

All up good race and I felt good all the way through, I think I could have run faster if I had worn socks because the blisters on my feet were really sore by the time I had finished. Should have listened to the nothing new on race day advice but just looked at my watch when I was in T2 and thought if I put socks on I was not going t make my goal time.

I have 10 weeks today until the Oly that I am planning to do and after today's race I'm feeling no where near even close to being ready for it.

StaceyK - 2013-02-02 9:12 PM

Thanks everyone for your best wishes with my race today and for the weather report Jayne. It was a balmy 86*F (30*C) at the start of our race, water temp of 77*F (25*C) so not yet at the 100*F that it has reached this afternoon, thankfully.

It went well, it was a mini sprint and I really did it to keep myself motivated to train (not that that worked last week) and to work on a few things in a race situation in the build up to doing an Oly in April.

So the race was a 250m swim, a 10km ride and a 2km run (it feels very insignificant when you look at it like that but we've all got to start somewhere I guess). I had 4 goals for the race:

1. swim the entire distance with my face in the water (except for breathing of course).
2. wear my bike shoes for the ride (first time in a race).
3. do the full km run withut walking.
4. finish in 45minutes or less.

I managed the first 3 but according to my watch my time would have been about 48 minutes which is a bit of a bummer but I can live with that.

Some things that I learnt:

1. dont start the swim at the middle of the back of the pack, there are too many people to swim around or over. start in the middle out wide.
2. buy a number belt so I dont have to try to put a shirt on while Im wet.
3. get down on the drops more when riding. I need to prctice this because my shoulders were getting sore.
4. take 30 seconds to put socks on in T2 otherwise I end up with blisters on the insteps of my feet.
5. Oh and most importantly get to the race a bit earlier to allow for the toilet line or be prepared to do the race with your butt cheeks clamped together

All up good race and I felt good all the way through, I think I could have run faster if I had worn socks because the blisters on my feet were really sore by the time I had finished. Should have listened to the nothing new on race day advice but just looked at my watch when I was in T2 and thought if I put socks on I was not going t make my goal time.

I have 10 weeks today until the Oly that I am planning to do and after today's race I'm feeling no where near even close to being ready for it.

ponderingfox - 2013-02-02 8:27 PM There's a 5 mile race tomorrow at the local high school.  I was planning on doing a 5 mile training run, so I'm thinking about it.  The only catch is that it's supposed to be in the 20s tomorrow with a bit of wind.  But I figure it's in town and I can bundle up.  Would love to get outside after spending so much time on the treadmill!  Just need to find my running club membership card now...

4agoodlife - 2013-02-03 12:32 AM You may not feel "ready", but look how much you learned! #5 is a priceless lesson. Haha

bcraht - 2013-02-03 3:00 AM

Yep, assuming it isn't going to derail your training for something else by racing a training run, dooooo eeeeeeeet!  You'll warm up quickly!

ponderingfox - 2013-02-03 10:29 PM

I'm fairly good at finding my training pace and sticking to it (see my Jan 1 5k I led a pace group for).  I do recognize the temptation will be there to go faster.  I'll save that for the last mile and try to bust it out then.

TriAya - 2013-02-03 10:00 AM

Your training plan calls for a 4-mile warmup for a 1-mile time trial?

TriAya - 2013-02-03 10:58 AM

Did someone ask about AEROBARS?

The short answer is: shorties. If you're putting bars on a road bike and you don't want to compromise its handling and possibly safety, but you do want an alternate position to ride in, shorty bars that don't extend past the handlebars. Generally the ones with fold-down elbow pads are a PITA, just something to keep in mind if you get the kind that connect in the front.

Here's a good read from THE MAN regarding bike fitting (click on the first article, "Choose Your Bike"):

http://www.elitebicycles.com/tech_tut_fit.php

ponderingfox - 2013-02-03 8:29 AM

I'm fairly good at finding my training pace and sticking to it (see my Jan 1 5k I led a pace group for).  I do recognize the temptation will be there to go faster.  I'll save that for the last mile and try to bust it out then.

StaceyK - 2013-02-02 11:12 PM

Thanks everyone for your best wishes with my race today and for the weather report Jayne. It was a balmy 86*F (30*C) at the start of our race, water temp of 77*F (25*C) so not yet at the 100*F that it has reached this afternoon, thankfully.

It went well, it was a mini sprint and I really did it to keep myself motivated to train (not that that worked last week) and to work on a few things in a race situation in the build up to doing an Oly in April.

So the race was a 250m swim, a 10km ride and a 2km run (it feels very insignificant when you look at it like that but we've all got to start somewhere I guess). I had 4 goals for the race:

1. swim the entire distance with my face in the water (except for breathing of course).
2. wear my bike shoes for the ride (first time in a race).
3. do the full km run withut walking.
4. finish in 45minutes or less.

I managed the first 3 but according to my watch my time would have been about 48 minutes which is a bit of a bummer but I can live with that.

Some things that I learnt:

1. dont start the swim at the middle of the back of the pack, there are too many people to swim around or over. start in the middle out wide.
2. buy a number belt so I dont have to try to put a shirt on while Im wet.
3. get down on the drops more when riding. I need to prctice this because my shoulders were getting sore.
4. take 30 seconds to put socks on in T2 otherwise I end up with blisters on the insteps of my feet.
5. Oh and most importantly get to the race a bit earlier to allow for the toilet line or be prepared to do the race with your butt cheeks clamped together

All up good race and I felt good all the way through, I think I could have run faster if I had worn socks because the blisters on my feet were really sore by the time I had finished. Should have listened to the nothing new on race day advice but just looked at my watch when I was in T2 and thought if I put socks on I was not going t make my goal time.

I have 10 weeks today until the Oly that I am planning to do and after today's race I'm feeling no where near even close to being ready for it.

StaceyK - 2013-02-03 12:12 AM

Thanks everyone for your best wishes with my race today and for the weather report Jayne. It was a balmy 86*F (30*C) at the start of our race, water temp of 77*F (25*C) so not yet at the 100*F that it has reached this afternoon, thankfully.

It went well, it was a mini sprint and I really did it to keep myself motivated to train (not that that worked last week) and to work on a few things in a race situation in the build up to doing an Oly in April.

So the race was a 250m swim, a 10km ride and a 2km run (it feels very insignificant when you look at it like that but we've all got to start somewhere I guess). I had 4 goals for the race:

1. swim the entire distance with my face in the water (except for breathing of course).
2. wear my bike shoes for the ride (first time in a race).
3. do the full km run withut walking.
4. finish in 45minutes or less.

I managed the first 3 but according to my watch my time would have been about 48 minutes which is a bit of a bummer but I can live with that.

Some things that I learnt:

1. dont start the swim at the middle of the back of the pack, there are too many people to swim around or over. start in the middle out wide.
2. buy a number belt so I dont have to try to put a shirt on while Im wet.
3. get down on the drops more when riding. I need to prctice this because my shoulders were getting sore.
4. take 30 seconds to put socks on in T2 otherwise I end up with blisters on the insteps of my feet.
5. Oh and most importantly get to the race a bit earlier to allow for the toilet line or be prepared to do the race with your butt cheeks clamped together

All up good race and I felt good all the way through, I think I could have run faster if I had worn socks because the blisters on my feet were really sore by the time I had finished. Should have listened to the nothing new on race day advice but just looked at my watch when I was in T2 and thought if I put socks on I was not going t make my goal time.

I have 10 weeks today until the Oly that I am planning to do and after today's race I'm feeling no where near even close to being ready for it.