Yanti & Salty MAD MANATEES Mentor Group - FULL POD (Page 54)

Congratulations! That is an excellent job and sounds like a lot of fun.

I had a great day today -- After rest time (none of us really napped), the little guy and I went for a swim and hubby came along to video. Of course, I realized after he took the pictures that he has a 3d video camera. I didn't tell him what I wanted it for. Anyway, he thinks he can convert it so I can post it on Youtube, and you all can critique me. Just looking at it, I can see a few things that surprised me -- things I thought I was doing a better job of that I'm really not doing well at all.

Anyway, 30 mins of swimming -- mostly 50s with breaks of playing with Jayson.

When we got home, I went for an almost 18 mile bike ride. Very easy riding, on the hybrid. It was fun. I couldn't talk anyone into doing it with me, but that's okay.

Now we're watching Chipwrecked. Wow. Not a whole lot to say about that. lol

NOTE TO SELF - EAT MORE CARBS!!!!!!!

So the reason I write this is because of the following.  A really intense workout weekend (6 weeks out from HIM).  did 2 hours Friday, 2 and a half Saturday and 3 hours Sunday.  Eating - well I just ate standard stuff, nothing special.  I did eat a banana and a peanut butter sandwich on Sunday while riding, came home went to my neighbours and had a beer (carbs right?)  Nothing else....was consumed in the way of food.

anyway suddenly I just had to get home and when I did I had the mother of all emotional meltdowns, uncontrollable hiccuping sobs - you know the sort!  Lots of hugs from my hubby which helped heaps.

I had just heard that my dad is in hospital back in the UK - he's fine but it's scary coz I live in Australia and I know they aren't getting younger and one day I'm gonna get the dreaded phone call to fly home....

Anyway - all of that compounded (along with some hormones) and I imploded.

so - eat more carbs and sugar!!!!  nutrition is sooooo important....Must buy some Nutella and some Pop Tarts then I know I'm covered!!!!!

Sorry to hear your dad is not well, Jo.  Nutrition can play such a huge role in everything, can't it?  Hope you are feeling better after some eats!

1. Oh no! I am so sorry about your Dad--glad to hear he will be all right, but I really get it about the parents--mine are well into that stage. It's a difficult time of transition to realize in our hearts, not just "I know" that our folks are starting to wind down and will be gone someday ... sooner, always too soon.

2. Food--do a simple, I mean really basic even gross guesstimate of calories in/out for a Sunday, and you will realize that you were wildly, wildly under the mark. Okay, all right, you already realized that. But remember that training is simply a CONTROLLED INJURY. In order to get the result you want, which is building back from that injury stronger, you MUST get good nutrition and sleep. Otherwise, all you did by training was hurt yourself.

3. Indeed, for the endurance athlete, carbs are GOOD. They're even better when taken with some protein and healthy fat, too. Nutrition is the fourth discipline of triathlon and, as horribly unpleasant as yesterday was for you, you took what was needed away from it and learned something important. Better yesterday than in the middle of the race run course!

Aw thanks!  worked out what I ate....

spot the carbs....

Steak and salad, calamari and salad, a bite of peanut butter sandwich, a banana.

That's right no carbs - where's that Friday and Saturday night pasta?  Jeez just coz it's not a race you still have to eat right!

anyway lesson is definitely learned.  I am still a bit emotional today but getting better - !!!  Get me some eye candy at swim squad will help - Oh and I think I ordered a new Trek.....can't beat retail therapy.

I'm sorry to hear about your dad -- it's so difficult to be so far away from family during times of illness.

We made yummy short bread cookies at our house this weekend -- they aren't very nutritious, but maybe they would have helped a little.

It's nice that your hubby was so understanding and was there for support.

Here it is -- the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aeM5El8TXQ&feature=youtu.be

1) is my kick all over the place?

2) I thought my head was further under the water, but it's too far out, isn't it, especially when I breathe?

3) My arms are too stiff? I thought I had more of a bend in my elbow.

4) What are my hands doing?

Help!!! :-)

(Oh, and the little guy at the end is my Jayson. I love him.

Felicia, I am in no position to comment on someone elses swimming, so I will let those who know do so.  However, your wee one is awfully cute!

I had a great run this am--it was very quiet in my neighbourhood, not much traffic, and all I could hear was the birds, my breathing and my feet on the pavement.  It was very peaceful.

Easy spin on the trainer tonight, 60 minutes while watching the hockey game.  No intervals though!  Off day tomorrow, and then on to recovery week!

Have a great week everyone.

Okay I'm no coach but I can tell you what I see and how my coach would see it.

1. relax your fingers, no cupping
2. arms wider, they should feel in your head like they are way too wide then you'll be just right!
3. get the catch deeper, really feel like you're going to touch the floor
4. legs - kick probably bending the knees a bit (like all triathletes tend to do).  to fix me coach Johnny said think about not kicking at all, naturally you will kick but it won't be such an exaggerated look.  If you bend too much you're creating drag he says.

That's my 2c worth .  Maybe compare it to some other youtube clips of some professional swimmers (not Ian Thorpe he's a freak of nature)

Felicia, both you and Jo have it dead on. I'd urge you to watch the video again, but frame by frame, so you can really look at each part of what you're doing. I agree that your catch and pull need some work, but I wouldn't frame it as "deeper" or "touch the floor" (nothing wrong with that, but I suspect that image may cause you to straighten your arm even more than you already do after the catch, which is NOT what you want to do).

First, the excellent news. Your body position is great. Your hips and legs aren't sinking, nor are you swimming flat as a board. You have lovely body rotation side to side. SO COMPLETELY IGNORE ANYTHING RELATED TO THAT. Don't fix what ain't broke. It doesn't need to be any better. It's fine as it is.

Now, what to work on. Without even seeing your arms in the first part of the video, it was absolutely clear to me that the reason your legs are going wide is that they are trying to balance or overcompensate for a weakness in the pull. BINGO.

YOUR #1 PRIORITY IS TO WORK ON YOUR PULL. This is where the greatest gains are to be made for you. Try this advice. Full refund if it don't work for ya.

Stand in the water facing the edge of the pool at a shallow end. Put your arms straight out, palms on the deck. Now pull yourself out of the water, using that position.

What do you mean, you can't do it?

Exactly.

Now stand closer and bend your elbows. Nice 90-degree bend. Now can you get your body out of the water as far as your arms will allow?

The straight-arm is exactly what you are doing with your swim stroke. Very little power there and horrible strain on the shoulder. The bent-elbow is what you WANT to do with your swim stroke.

Let me give you an analogy: as you reach your arm out to begin the stroke, pretend you are sliding it across the top of a square package. In order to pull yourself across the top of that package using your arm, as soon as your elbow gets to the front of the package, you must bend it 90 degrees so that your forearm and palm are flat against the front. Then using your arm as a unit, press the box backward toward your feet in order to move your entire body forward.

Try that first. Focus on that first. Don't worry about the rest of it; whatever doesn't get fixed by practicing this (and adding some yardage and frequency if possible) is easily fixed later.

Do this one arm at a time at first. Down the pool right arm; back left arm (or vice versa). Once you feel like you really have that down and are surging forward and "feeling it" (if not a teeny bit sore) along the back of the shoulder and arms like you weren't before, try a somewhat-catch-up drill ...

Same thing, but alternate arms. Once you feel like you really have that down, smooth, beautiful, surge surge surge ... then you're ready to try swimming it more naturally, not waiting for one hand to nearly catch up to the other. If you feel stymied, go back to pseudo-catch-up. If that still feels awkward again after a bit of practice, go back to one arm at a time down the lane.

Remember, even if it feels all wrong or you think you're doing it wrong, no matter what, you are building a) strength b) water feel and c) endurance. These are critical to be able to take more technique drills on board and integrate them into a whole stroke.

I can offer nothing useful on your swim question, just wanted to say that I love how your son cannonballed you!  A steady dose of those will toughen you up for any race swim shenanigans!

Awesome! Thank you so much. This has given me a lot of specific things to work on. I'll work on these for a few weeks and then post another video to show my, I am hopeful, progress.

Woo hoo!  Nothing like a fun fun race!

Great Race Kate!!

I think Yanti has nailed it on the swim video, although I can criteque the cannonball form if he needs some pointers on maximum splashitude

Had to take it easier than I wanted this weekend since I strained my back putting an 80lb dog who is scared of cars in the back of a jeep wrangler, talk about a square peg in a round hole...  and decided to double down with doing yard work.  I went for a short, was going to say quick but it wasn't, run and am going to go for another round of bridge repeats later today hopefully the wind wont be as bad as last week

Nice job on the race Kate!

Chris I hear ya on the mid-day running.  Sometimes that is when it fits the schedule but it's brutal!

Today is pretty emotional for me.  First of all I'm having trouble fitting life and Oly training into the 24X7.  But, most importantly, my son is right now on a plane home from China! He's been there for almost 8 months doing missions and I am giddy at the idea of him being back on US soil and tortured that I can't see him until Saturday! On top of all of that I agreed to prepare the food for my SisIL's graduation party (also Saturday). OMG I think I need to clone me!

I got my long S/B/R done this weekend.  All were pretty good (Yanti my 8X100 sucked because I was relegated to the lanes attached to the activity pool).  This afternoon bike to/from the pool w/ a swim in the middle.  Gotta cram my weeks training into a few days for the Denver trip!

Have a great day all!

Hey Felicia - great video - that was cool of your husband to come along and take that for you.  You can't beat watching yourself in action.  Obviously Yanti is the swim guru, but I noticed that you do a lot of the same things I do - namely, drop your arms straight to the floor during your pull, causing your kick to scissor, causing more drag and loss of balance.  I've found that doing single arm drills really helps.  I'm way worse dropping my left arm, because I usually only breathe to the right.  You switch sides, so definitely get out there and just think about one arm at a time. I did a clinic with Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen, super fast masters swimmer, and she said to think of crushing a box with your arms. You would want them bent for that.  Also, it looks like your follow through out of the water really swoops high, and sort of fosters the straight arm feel. (Yanti, please correct me if I'm wrong!) That wastes time and energy, so you may get a little extra speed if you try thinking of the figertip drag drill (which I admit I hate), since it cuts down on you arm's air time and lets you get your stroke moving faster.  But you look so natural and graceful in the water! With some drill work to improve your catch, no one will be able to catch YOU!!

I love our diverse group, both with regard to tri and not! 

It is great getting advice from folks with MUCH more experience with various aspects of the sport.  I'm trying to absorb all the great swim info that was just shared.

Congratulations!!!

I'm hoping to be around more this week.   Updates on my life:

1) Baby E is doing a lot better.  Antibiotics are amazing.  She has two more days and then we go back next week to make sure that it is gone.

2) Went for a run yesterday with the baby.  My calf/achilles is REALLY sore.  Like, I had to walk the 1/2 mile back home sore.  No idea what's going on.  It's not low in the ankle like I would expect if I twisted it, but about 4" above the ankle.  I've never had anything like this before.  I'm trying to stretch my calves out - they are definitely tight - but it's really strange.

3) I'm trying to cut back on refined/processed carbs.  Had an asthma attack after eating a bunch of sugar last week, so now I'm wondering if it could be related.  From the research I've done, it looks possible, so we're going to try to eat more brown rice and whole wheat pasta instead of the white stuff.  That's going to be much harder for my husband than me because he loves white rice.  I've already mostly cut out soda (I've had 2 20 oz bottles in the past 3 weeks) and I'm trying to cut out candy.  The candy is going to be a lot harder.