kaburns1214 Mentor Group 2013 (Year 3!) - CLOSED (Page 71)

It has more to do with the fact I have access to OW 5 or 6 times a year right now, during races.  It's just not something I have access to at 5 AM on a weekday morning.

Your kick shouldn't really be playing too a big a role in distance swimming.  Distance swimmers generally have a 2 beat kick (as compared to sprinters -- 50 - 100 -200 -- who use a 6 beat kick).  The point of the kick on distance or OWS swimming is to help maintain the body position but it shouldn't be a primary driver of overall speed. 

With regard to getting faster at your pace my guess is there's a form issue (either a dead spot in the pull or dropping hips).   I would almost be willing to bet that you have an elbow slip (its probably the most common issue I see with fairly solid swimmers). 

Couple of questions -- Is there a big difference in your times when you use a pull buoy versus when you swim?  Can you describe what you do with your hand and arm when you pull? 

About 2-3 seconds per 100.  Definitely worth learning. 

jarvy01 - 2013-02-08 1:03 PM

kaburns1214 - 2013-02-08 12:36 PM

kidtri33 - 2013-02-08 12:03 PM

kaburns1214 - 2013-02-08 9:27 AM

So we talk about aerobic vs. anaerobic athletes and working on limiters.  Below are my swim TT times from this morning.  I thought I'd let you discuss and then tell y'all what I think:

 

1 x 200 TT (2:55)
1 x 1000 TT (15:41 total; 100 splits = 1:28, 1:32, 1:30, 1:35, 1:37, 1:35, 1:33, 1:38, 1:38, 1:35)

What I do 800 in you did 1000 Looks pretty aerobic to me based on the consistency of the 100s. Even your first 200 are really close unlike mine from the other day.

Its actually a little bit of a trick question.  I am obviously very aerobic at the moment (two years ago I was much more anaerobic but it goes to show you can build strengths) but I screwed up the 200.  Even for someone who is aerobic the 200 pace should be faster than the 1000 pace, mine are almost identical.  I did a 600 warm up before the 200 at a pretty easy pace.  I should have included a few fast 25s.  I essentially was flat out of the gate and never made it up. 

The other interesting point is my stroke.  Over the past 2 months I've worked to eliminate the glide in my stroke and go with a straight, deep arm pull.  In OWS you generally lose the very front part of your stroke because of the tumult from other swimmers.  I'm trying to build a stroke that won't be impacted by other swimmers. 

The point about the wetsuit is also key.  The weaker the swimmer you are, the more benefit you get from a wetsuit.  A wetsuit is like a bubble around your legs and it forces your hips up putting you in good body position.  Good swimmers already have this position so the wetsuit doesn't change much.  Weaker swimmers who drag their hips get a huge boost from a wetsuit (its like using a pull buoy and still being able to kick). 

I can't visualize how you're changing your stroke.  Do you have any underwater images of how you want your new stroke to look?  Nice TTs, Kelly!

I've been swimming with former college swimmers recently and have been fooling around with mimicking their strokes.  Essentially instead of rotating my body and stretching out my hand upon entry I dive my hand down deep early (but make sure that my elbow stays high relative to my hand).  Then I hold a vertical arm, pull back until I hit my hip and then snap the wrist at the hip. 

I've been toying with getting a Go Pro and taking some video.

I'm with Larkin. All ya all talking about your swim times can...

Someone who does not come from a swim background, please tell me you improved your times with persistance.

Block 1 of my training plan down...Block 2 begins next week. I get what Tabatas are now.

Persistence and a ton of cussing

Scott is a really good example of someone from a non-swimming background who's made really big improvements.  It happens, it just takes patience.

Swimming is tough, it takes some skill and finesse.

Have a blast!!!

Yes.  A friend said "you can get bitter or you can get better".... they got better.  My Dad is an amazing surgeon who retired early and went to some of the most ravaged and scary reaches of the planet to do surgery with Doctors Without Borders.  Life changing. 

I definitely thought of my brother a lot when doing and training for the IM (the whole live life to the fullest thing).  

I know this is a tough month for you...hang in there.... we all will be sending you good vibes

x2!  Good luck!

How fun! What's the weather like? That race was here a couple weeks ago (I didn't do it, but had friends that did) and it was super warm & humid. They still had hot chocolate and the fondue at the end.

Have a great race.

Oh and the sweatshirts are pretty nice.

Am I the only one that does not know who One Direction is?

2 of our 3 dogs are rescues.  They are both from the same litter, but we got them about a year apart.

Before we got either, we had our first ridgeback (Kylie) who was a great dog.  We decided she needed a friend.  We were at PetsMart one Saturday (do not go on Saturdays unless you are prepared to look at all those sweet faces) and there was a beautiful pit bull up for adoption, along with her litter of 8 puppies.  We adopted a puppy, Marlo.

Kylie got lymphoma shortly after and we lost her before she was 2.  The breeder where we got her had another litter of ridgebacks and offered us a puppy.  So I flew to San Diego and brought Harper home.

Then one Saturday we were at PetsMart (I know) and there was one last puppy from Marlo's litter, except not a puppy anymore because it was about a year later.  This poor dog was so afraid of people.  She had been adopted a couple of times but was returned because she was so afraid of everything.  I'm sure that didn't help her insecurity issues at all.

My husband talked me into adopting her (I did not want 3 dogs) and I'm so glad he did.  For the first couple of weeks she (Rainey) wouldn't let us get near her.  It took a long time for her to trust any of us.  She eventually warmed up to me, and basically glued herself to me.  She took forever to warm up to my husband, but she eventually after a couple of years.  Our son, she has been afraid of from the day we brought her home.  She will probably never warm up to him, but she is fascinated by him.

Anyway, we now have 3 awesome dogs, 2 that were rescued, all spoiled rotten.  Marlo looks like a pit bull / boxer mix.  Rainey looks like a pit bull / black lab mix.  Harper looks like a crazed, prima dona, beautiful ridgeback.

We do not go to PetsMart on Saturdays anymore.

Same here. One of the shows they watch that I can tolerate is ICarly and they were on there and for a boy band they're not awful. Luckily my daughters hate Justin Beiber who I can't stand. We took them to see Taylor Swift and he opened, few years ago before he really got big, and Cayden was booing and we were cracking up at all the horrified girls shooting her looks.