Yep this is a problem too
I leave my ‘swim kit’ in the car (goggles, hat, fins, pull bouy). On more than one occasion I find a ball of wet material also in the bag, but fortunately haven’t had to resort to wearing them yet.
I like to get my swim kit bag ready the night before so I can leave it at the door to pick up on the way out & maximise minutes in bed.
If I’d shit my trunks at M&S I’m not sure I’d use them again
Feel like I got a nice speed bump from a new pair of jammers this morning . Will have to remember to save a pair for special occasions.
I hear you guys on the back up kit in the car but this is the pool by work and an unplanned train to work, and the office had a ‘deep clean’ which meant I took all my kit home a few weeks ago.
Normal state of play last year was swim toys and kit at work always, spare kit at home for occasional trips to other pools. Go into office two times every week
This year, it being winter, I’ve been trying a full week at the office, so commute by train take in all kit for the week, bring home at the end.
That week is my “recovery week” with lots of swimming and much reduced run and bike.
As we head into better weather I’m wondering where bike commuting fits into my training, if at all, it maybe recovery is swim bike 5 days which is still quite a load.
If anyone is bored this weekend, live stream of National Qualifier in Winchester. Crazy high standard
https://youtube.com/@winchestercitypenguins?feature=shared
El Nino doing S2 this morning 200Breast, 100Back in S3, and 50Breast in S4 today and 100Breast in S6 tomorrow.
I think you will find that videoing minors swimming is illegal!
No video bans here, would somebody think of the children
200Breast, 2.50.73, over 3 second LCM PB, was a nicely executed race, he didnt trust the process on the 3rd 50 and shortened stroke a bit and tied up for last length but 8th place , not last.
Lack of long course experience shows against the south/southwest swimmers who have quite a few LCM pools unlike Kent.
Game over , back home, 4 races, 3 pbs. He was a bit disappointed with 100bk time but he went too hard at start of 2nd length and died last 10. 50 breast he messed up his timing on transition to breakout, race over in a 50. Its not just the time the mistake cost, its building back up to speed also so a good second there which is the difference betewen top 5 and 20th. Today was 100breast, but messed up 2nd breakout again, no PB but all a good learning experience, and only his 5th LC gala, although 2 in 2 months with new club and another 3 by May!
Hes happy though as he swam ok, new strokes starting to take hold, and the coach has now seen him compete 3 times, so working on race execution and ironing out the little mistakes is the focus now.
Boy was at Winchester this weekend, too. Finally got him some racing jammers to fit after the issues above we tried and returned 26 and he eventually got in a 28 Must just be doing it wrong but there’s no-one at the club seems to know any better - the 2 or 3 swimming at this kind of standard have all gone up several sizes from measurements, too.
Yeah, we’re a bit spoilt here. The Portsmouth Northsea pool has been the local 50 m for a long time but the new Winchester pool has been open 3-4 years now, as well. Shiny, isn’t it? We have to go to Aldershot for LC training, though.
Another advice question. Club coach seems reluctant to do much about slow starts and turns. I think the boy would get something useful from a session with someone who really knew their stuff having a look and giving him some things to work on. Can’t seem to find anyone by Googling. Are there good coaches that do that sort of thing or is it all within clubs, really?
Lovely part of the world, walked 16km yesterday between races, and good 10 today. Envious of the pool. We’ve got LAC for Kent and the whole of London, even Essex as Basildon is closed again for about a year (boom broke a couple years back) then its Crawley next. Kids all enter with converted times but none come close to that as the conversions are based around Elites who are well versed with LCM.
New club do all fast reps off blocks and turns seem to be a key focus. He does sets where they time in and out, or speed of turn itself. Club coaching is quite variable and unfortunately a lot is based on what they did rather than continuing to be a student of the sport. We are spoilt in this era with a wealth of information and video footage at your fingertips, but too many either ignore or do not filter appropriately.
El Nino wore his 24in Arena Primo, is a 32 waist trousers and 6ft tall.
The Swimsuit Guy, is a 34in waist, well over 6ft, a grown man, and only has a 28 Arena which went on in a few minutes and did wear a 26 also but the primo is designed to have max compression at just 50% stretch so you can size up, be comfortable but not worry too much about speed.
Its the girls I feel sorry for, they are being scooped into suits and can take 20minutes to get on
How much are these suits worth at this level?
Genuinely curious, is it seconds per hundred, tenths or hundredths?
second(s), make a huge difference, hard to quantify as kids make errors that no suit can fix and if you have crap technique, then you’ll not magically get good technique in a suit, but you will not compete at the top level juniors without one, and anyone saying otherwise is making it up! In Scotland they are banned under 12 years old, in the US I think its 14 (and many colleges race unsuited). England and Wales is the wild west but in the terms of competing £150-300 is peanuts really. £155 pm squad fees, galas, petrol, and lots of time (Weekend in Winchester must have cost us ~£900 in the end with entries, spectator passes, petrol, hotels and eating out for 2 days and nights!)
A kid’s parent told me last year she spent 6 grand on swimming!
https://www.instagram.com/p/DHtEeSrtdg8/?igsh=MXRuZnI2Z3R5ZGhwYQ==
Must buy!
I get a mention I helped write the sprinting section; which was changed by the publisher to flow in the style of the book.
Still playing with this, trying to have my head higher in the water but keep the pitch right is tricky and feels weird.
I think it’s putting my legs lower in the water - I can’t feel my feels touching air anymore. On the other hand, my kick has always been shit so maybe if I keep the new position but kick higher…? Is there a way to sense this without a coach?
I don’t think the position is making me slower or faster..yet.
this is where stroke count and a finis tempo trainer can come in handy. keep SR lower at say 50SPM, and count strokes whilst trying different things. Gradually raise the SR and add in the RPE feel and you have a pretty decent set of self evaluation tools