Sorry, last CSS test was 25th November, 5:43/2:42
I did an oly tri in a 14m pool a couple of years ago. Bang on 25:00 for the 1500. I must have been looking at the lady counting laps from 80 onwards thinking it must be soon, surely…never again!
Just seen this from a coach on IMJ, surely this is wrong. Swimming 3 times a week is good advice, I would have thought that drills are a good idea, but need someone to teach them, however focus on push back? Surely body position and front quadrant are most important for a slow swimmer
"If you are a non-swimmer; ie you didn’t swim properly as a child, don’t waste your valuable training time trying to do drills.
You will probably not be able to do most properly and they’ll do you more harm than good.
Focus on swimming - 3 or more times a week and only swim. Work on the part of the stroke that is important, the push back as this is the only propulsive part.
Build your swim fitness and strength; this should help, along with the related/linked articles: https://mastersoftri.com/developing-the-push-in-the-swim-stroke/"
I would say that the catch & EVF are very important parts of the stroke; alongside good body position (and rotation).
To a degree I would agree about doing too many drills if you’re an AOS. It also depends on what you define as a ‘drill’. Just using a pull buoy and focussing on body rotation might be classed as a drill by some. Whereas others might only think trying not to drown whilst doing some weird TI drill is what you must do!
the guy is regurgitating Brett Suttons methods but incorrectly. Sutton is all abut power rather than pretty strokes, lots of merit to that , but no where would he say the bloke that cant even break 2:30 flat out 100m should just be working with paddles on force production. Take cycling, if using a vicars bike you will need to put out 400 watts to keep up with the guy putting out 150 watts on a full aero bike. Hes advocating just using a vicars bike and training power rather than working on the skills to use an aero bike with less power. Its all about balance and making the most of the tools you have. Thing is the IMJ lazy swimmers will lap it up oh just use a pull buoy and paddles and swim up and down. No wonder they cant swim listening to advice like that.
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I guess there is a difference between wanting to survive an IM swim and learning to swin properly - I wish I spent more time developing good technique 4 years ago, rather than being able to thrash through at a semi Ok pace
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A lot of people are too deliberate; their cadence is too slow, and combining that with poor technique and they are going nowhere fast. Maintaining momentum helps to keep your body flatter in the water too, so you don’t get ‘MAMIL legs’.
Our club swim coach is all about extension and the catch. We do very little in terms of the actual propulsive part.
In related news, his coaching facebook page was the following yesterday:
I doubt he’d get much business from IMJ types with posts like that!
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It’s a mix, but if you dont set up the catch you cant grab enough water to propel yourself, and if your head is too low or too high, and legs are like a couple of anchors you could propel yourself like Mark Spitz and still be slow. Too many out there selling fake news kwik fixes to the gullible who think they are great because they “swim” a 2hrs IM but with potentially less time in the water and the right focus could get that closer to 70 minutes and get out feeling like they can ride the bike rather than spending 30 minutes soft pedaling recovering from the swim. Still, you’ll never convince them, so not worth wasting energy on them.
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That’s a large part of our coaches philosophy, and underpins a lot of what he does
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Feel like I’m catching plenty of water, but my right shoulder is pretty sore the next day. Getting 1.50/100m interval ( which is an improvement ) but needing over a minute to recover for another interval.
First attempt at an endurance set in a long time. Started ok but went downhill and couldn’t hold the pace.
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What’s the best way to set up the catch? I generally try to enter the water with a straight hand and arm, at ~30°. I was chatting to someone recently who said the modern technique is to enter the water with fingers slightly bent so that you can get straight into the pull. I probably extend too much as well.
@Hammerer is probably better placed to comment. There are a lot of different approaches. Our club coach would be almost the polar opposite of what you’ve just described, but as I say, a variety of coaching theories I imagine
Opposite of straight hand or angled fingers? I’ve notice OW swimming has changed my stroke. So my elbow is less angled now, more windmilling to get over any waves!
Trying to get straight into the pull. We’re taught to get fully rotated by really getting the last bit of extension out of the initial part after entering the water.
Thats the focus of drills anyway.
Linked to what hammered said about getting enough extension to ensure you can grab enough water with each stroke.
That said, what you describe may well work better in OW. I’m still trying to get my pool swimming back after a period away, but I’ve not seen the OW progression historically to align with the improvement I’ve seen in the pool. Although swimming a 1:01 is still something I’d take again come July (seems a long way away at the moment!)
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Dont sweat the little details, basically enter the water extend, about 30degrees sounds good, just get the forearm vertical as easily and quickly as possible putting no downward pressure on the water. Newtons law, if you exert a downward force what will happen? So if you need bent fingers or extend with palm out, in, straight, as long as you do the above it will be fine.
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Messy 15*100s this morning.
Caught/got caught a couple of times, throwing some times off.
Better club swim for me today. Something clicked, and I really focused on getting the elbow in front of the wrist as early as possible. Maybe a result of some of the chat above.
The front of my shoulders got a bit achy with the effort of that action, but my steady cruise pace dropped significantly. I was repping 3:03 200s at a comfortable effort level, and finished with a 2:55 at the end of the session when we were asked to pick it up (middle of the pack today, so caveat those with a bit of draft assistance).
Endurance still has some way to go, but feels like my technique is coming back. Just need to keep this elbow/wrist thought in the front of my mind for the next few sessions
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I find my left wrist isn’t as strong.
I’m not sure why 
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