kaburns1214 Mentor Group 2011 Part 2 - CLOSED (Page 62)

i go with some video analysis if you can swing it - for a 2:20/100 you have to be doing some things really wrong from a form perspective (sorry).  I assume you didnt hang onto a kayak for 5 minutes or anything like that.  Plus, you're too good of a biker and runner to post that swim time. 

I am a big proponent of TI - i did not start swimming until i started doing tris and TI took me pretty far.  It really gets you to focus on the catch and your body rotation.  I think once you have the form basics down, TI can lose some of its utility, (for example the long glide can create dead spots and there is not really much focus on a proper kick) but for triathlon swimming i think its great.

TOO cute!  great work.  I'm trying to find a kids tri for my 7 year old.  wish she could do Mossman but we'll be on vaca.

AWESOME pics!!!!!  You must be a very proud papa!!!

I agree with Jeff, i used TI for a while to get the basics down and comfortable in the water, then progressed from there.  Keep at it, i was a 2:10 swimmer, then something clicked and i was a 1:45 swimmer basically overnight, i fixed something(s) in the stroke and body and it was night and day, i still remember when it all started to click.  Now i am just lazy in the water and do not train enough in the pool, but i still swim sub 2m 100's. Form is key, without good form you are working too hard.

I'm willing to bet (based on your body comp) that your issue is balance in the water.  Before you invest in having a video analysis, there are probably things you can work on. 

Also, if I'm right, a wetusit will solve a lot of your problems.  Jeff and Rudy forget that they swim in CT where its cold and the wetsuit keeps your legs up without effort.  In Texas you don't get the luxury of having a bubble around your legs. 

Couple things you can do:

- youtube, lots of videos out there

- books, but I am not the greatest at reading and not seeing

- lesson, for the cost of 2 books you can probably get a lesson.  I can get lessons around here for $30 and they are 1-on-1 and high quality, my coach has made an amazing difference, I would just research to find a good coach that can adapt to anyone

when i improved, most if not all of my swimming was in the pool, where i did not use a wetsuit. that is where and how you get good form and core strength. i also never used a pull buoy, paddles or fins.

i use a wetsuit for free speed, not to fix issues with my stroke, balance or form.

"i use a wetsuit for free speed, not to fix issues with my stroke, balance or form."

The wetsuit give you "free speed" because it fixes balance issues with your lower body.  Swimmers with really good balance don't get the 'free speed" benenfit from a wetsuit.  That's why really good swimmers have very similar wetsuit and non-wetsuit swim times.   Wetsuits also tend to provide bigger benefits to men over women because women are naturally more buoyant (they have larger fat deposits) than men, especially the thigh/hip area. 

sure they do, a wetsuit will help EVERYONE, some more than others, slower swimmers or swimmers with poor form will get helped much more than Michael Phelps with a wetsuit, but it would still help him or any other really good swimmer, just not as much as you or I.

most of my swimming is not in a wetsuit.  virtually the only swimming i do in a wetsuit is in races.  Also, my Winding trails swims were not in wetsuits and while on 1/4th mile, i dod not suddenly swim 2+

Try this Jeff.....

http://www.mightykidstri.org/

It's September 18th at Rocky Neck State Park. 

The best money I ever spent was on swim lessons . . . you can find them cheap if you look.  Swim analysis will generally cost $60-90, but just a lesson, maybe $30.  I went from swimming a mile in over 45 minutes to under 30 minutes (from the first time I entered the pool to about a couple of months ago).

I am one of those few people that is much faster with a pull buoy (I have a crappy kick and it taxes me terribly cardio wise) and can beat alot of people with it. I think a pull buoy can help you work on alot of problems with your stroke and allow you to focus on just that without adding the kick to it. You can choose to kick very little or now at all with a wetsuit anyhow.

Maybe try the pull buoy do some catch up drills, high elbow drills, fist drills, make sure you are rotating well in the water with each stroke. Make sure you are entering the water with your hand in a glide (instead of slapping the water as your hand enters) and you get good extension with your hand as you rotate your body, get a strong pull through that water and a flick of the wrist as you are exiting the water.  A pull buoy will act just like a wetsuit.

Just my thoughts since I was a beginner with no form whatsoever 2 years ago . . .

Go compare times.  Very little difference for very strong swimmers.  Wetsuits correct form issues, so the better the swimmer, the less improvement.  I'm actually slower in wetsuit or rather slower outside even when wearing a wetsuit (mostly because I'm a pool swimmer and I loose my pool advantages in the open water).

have a shark chase you, i bet you'll speed up. 

You have a muscular lower body.  Makes swimming well hard.  Good swimmers have chicken legs.

There were rumors of a gator near our swim on Sunday. 

Well damn.  All those years of lifting coming back to bite me in the rear.  I just want to stay close enough in the swim to beat them on the bike and run. 

well....i certainly do not have chicken legs, lol

Don't mind me, i am tapering, it is close to a female menstrual cycle a man can get. I will be better next week...hopefully.

I'm slower in a wetsuit but that has nothing to do with a wetsuit and everything to do with the fact that there are no walls in open water swimming. 

My comment isn't that there's no difference, its that the worse the swimmer, the bigger the help from the wetsuit.