Predict my times - first masters swim meet (Page 3)

Didn't guess on times but I am very IMPRESSED. This made me realize even more how slow a swimmer I am. I am new to swimming but was surprised to see that you were bi-lateral breathing. I couldn't maintain that if I were going all out like you were. Congrats on the win!

I noticed the head lifting when breathing too.  I had no idea I was doing that at all - definitely something I'll have to work on.

Thanks!  Bilateral breathing is just the natural thing to do for me.  When you have coaches beating it into your skull for years and years as a kid, that happens.    I will drop down to breathing every 2 on one side when I get gassed for a longer time but a one minute race isn't long enough to get me there.

To go along with the head up item you can hardly see your kick - seems a bit low in the water.   Maybe just my eyes, though.

I didn't want to get into the stroke critique, but ... I noticed your hips dropped, probably for the last 10-15m or so - that's why the kick disappeared. I could see your fanny on the way out, your hips were high up on the water. But on the return your hips started dropping.

You've got stones, dude, putting your video out there for people to critique. I don't know that I would let that happen to me! But, it's given me the idea to have someone video me in the water. I've never seen what I look like while swimming and I'd like to catch my own issues. I get plenty of compliments, but I don't know that the people complimenting me on my stroke have trained eyes, so what's that worth?

Your thread is yielding lots of inspiration for me. I'm off to chat with one of the local Master teams.

My kick stinks at the best of times but it was really bad in that race.  I'm itching to give it another go now, LOL.  Probably won't get to another meet for quite a while though.

Honestly I never have but I sure am tempted to give it a shot.  I have focused on it a bit more in the last 6 months and it has improved but it's still largely an afterthought and clearly when I get tired, it becomes non existent.  This largely explains my prowess with a pull buoy. 

He's plenty fast - that time speaks for itself.  Even at 1:03 the video shows he's got some real growth potential with some changes and kick work, though. 

It actually depends on what his goals are if he wants to invest in creating a solid kick. As axterra mentioned, he's a master with a pull buoy much like many triathletes are...which in turn means he will swim much better with a wetsuit.

If his goal is pool swimming, yes, I would take the time. If the goal is open water *triathlon* swimming, nah, just let it be. Get the head down on breathing and develop enough of a kick to maintain pretty good body position and go with it.

Also, we are just looking at a 100 yard sprint where a lot of people go to hell in a handbasket at the end of the race. His kick is there at the start.....

Let's say the difference between that pool and what's known as a FAST pool, with competition lane lines ... up to 2-3s/100m.

And working on the streamline / pushoff from that flip would slice our Axenhots easily an extra second as well, possibly 2.

But he doesn't need to be a top pool swimmer, much less a sprinter.

Axenhottie, any video of the 400/1500? That would actually be much more telling of what you really look like in distance swimming.

You didn't ask for critiques, so I didn't give any (although I suppose it was implied by the offering up of the video). Sure, there are things you could work on, but I will say from what I could tell that what your arms are doing underwater, which is really the most important thing, is perfect.

Unfortunately, no video of the 400 or the 1500, only still shots.  Included in those shots were some more ugly head lifts when breathing.  Ugh.  That's going to be issue #1 to fix me thinks.

Open water triathlon swimming is my primary goal for sure but at the same time, the World Masters swim championships for 2014 are in Montreal which is a reasonable distance for me to travel to and is on my long term radar.

BTW, the video is totally fair game for critique.  I didn't explicitly ask for it but I would expect nothing less when posting something like that online.    If I could get my hands on a good underwater camera and my pool would allow it's use, I would get a proper video and request a critique.

I'm surprised it is that much.  And heartening, since I swim in a pool much, much worse than what Ax did (his pool looked pretty nice). 

No question, he's got speed. The sub 1:00 can be obtained in those last 15 meters.

The problem, as I saw it, wasn't that he stopped kicking. It was that he dropped his hips, creating drag.  I wouldn't let that be - streamline the core, make it like a torpedo. Whether he kicks hard or not, I have no opinion on that. My sister was All-American collegiate swimmer, state high school swim champ - she left very little wake with her elegant stroke and kick. She practically hydroplaned. She was very streamlined, like a torpedo. So, I've seen where a big kick isn't necessary - but a tight core is.

I don't agree that a lot of people fall apart at the finish. I've been to too many swim meets to agree with this. Strong swimmers finish strong and maintain their core - they have the muscle memory for it.  (Or maybe you were saying that, in this particular heat/video, the other swimmers fell apart too?)

Please note, I'm not disagreeing with your point just cuz. I'd hate for someone to read that and think that losing your form is just something that happens when you go ballz out during a race. It only happens when you don't have the solid form to begin with.

And on another note - I'm going to give the local Masters team a try! I spoke with the coach last night. He asked if I was willing to swim something besides free (he gets triathletes who are not willing to learn other strokes) and I was happy to tell him that butterfly and IM were my events back in the day - and that I wasn't coming to the team to be a triathlete. Excited! Now I'll have someone to correct MY form. BTW, one of the fastest swimmers on the team is 70 years old.

So cool! Good luck and happy laps.