Swim Swim Sugar...
Discipline: Swim
Distance: no idea
Time: 6 hours :os
Today was the day I'd been looking forward to - swim camp at SleekerSwim. A chance to find out what was wrong with my swimming (well - or why I wasn't going quicker) and to start the process of putting it right. It was quite a journey for me down to Ashford in Kent, but all went to plan, with no problems following the directions, other than a slight worry when the road into the police training venue just seemed to go on for ever, and I wondered if I'd gone the wrong way.
The session started with us introducing ourselves, and then we watched a video of Christine (one of the coaches) swimming - she's an ex-international and therefore obviously rather good, as she talked us through the stroke basics. A fair amount I'd heard before, but there were several bits I didn't know, but that made perfect sense. We watched demonstartions of how NOT to swim, which included many common errors. Then we watched some film of the Olympics 1500m final, again with Christine's commentary, which included some underwater footage that really emphasised a lot of technique points. Fantastic stuff :o)
Next - to the pool, and Christine and Nicki (the other coach and international triathlete in her own right) started videoing us, after a quick warm up. They split the videoing into two halves, and I was going to be videoed at the end of the session. We were split into two groups of four to work on the legs, which I know are one of my weak points! My legs just don't add anything to my swim, as I demonstrated by "conking out" half way down the lengths. We put flippers on, and did a variety of drills to strengthen our kick (or make it more than nothing in my case!) while also practising position in the water. I found this really tough, even with the flippers, as I found it hard to get the hang of the kick and kept sinking! A few words of advice from Nicki and things started to get better :o) By the end of the session I'd got the sideways kick fairly well, but was still kicking too high (and hence out of the water) when I was on my front. One to work on over the next few days in the pool.
Then - my turn to be videoed. I decided not to bother with the legs as if I tried to think of them as well it would much up my arm strokes, and so swum without using my legs at all, which I normally do. Then, off to change, eat the rather scrummy cake that Nicki had provided, and watch the videos!
Mine proved interesting - I looked totally different swimming to how I had imagined, and I noticed how flat my arms were and what a "splat" they made as they hit the water - something that Christine had earlier pointed out when watching the "common swimming errors" bit. And of course, she spotted it in my video. We had a nother swim later which was going to focus on the arms, and I resolved to work at it then.
Off to the gym for a break from swimming, and to have a go at some core strength exercises with the Swiss Ball. Nothing revolutionary I guess, but several that I'd not seen before that certainly made my abs ache, and I'll be trying over the next few months. There was also a funny elastic rope contraption to practise the stroke, which I think I might get, and helped demonstrate the final push at the back end of the stroke.
Then - book to the pool! Time to work on the arms. I thought this was going to be easy, just a matter of lifting my elbow higher so that the arm entered through the same "hole" as tyhe hand (and turning the hand to 45 degrees), but what ended up happening, according to Nicki, and it felt like it too, was that rather than rotating about my spine, I was twisting my bum sideways, which meant my legs "snaked" behind me. Perhaps a bit more video would be interesting, but I've thought my legs did this when at the pool before today. Snaking legs equals more drag, so this had to be cut! I was taking in an awful lot of stuff at once, and was finding it a bit hard to put it all into practice, but I did manage to swim what felt great for several chunks, although consistency was hard to get. I think I found the balancemore on my side a bit tricky. This is an area I'll definitely be working on. Nicki said that when I got it right I was going a lot faster (which it felt like too) and it seemed relatively effortless. So - just need to work on doign that consistently!
The final bit of the session was spent doing stroke counting. My first length was 20 (21 really), the second 17, and then 19 and 18. Not bad all things considered - the best I've ever done with my old style was 17, and just after learning the adjusted technique and without refining it, I managed to hit 17, and get close to it on a few other lengths. Apaprently my videoed length was 26 strokes, so it was a vast improvement!
Finally, a Q&A session and filling in a feedback form. I really enjoyed the day - it was well tauht, had a great atmosphere, and I learnt an awful lot about my swimming. I guessideally I'd have liked to come out of it being able to consistently swim in my "new improved" way, but that would obviously be rather too much to ask! I now know what I need to do and how to achieve it - it's just a matter of practice practice practice. We're getting sent drills to focus on, and I bet mine includes the "zipper" drill and "chicken wings". I'll be doing these over the next few days in any case.
Can't wait for my lesson with Christine next Saturday :oD
Distance: no idea
Time: 6 hours :os
Today was the day I'd been looking forward to - swim camp at SleekerSwim. A chance to find out what was wrong with my swimming (well - or why I wasn't going quicker) and to start the process of putting it right. It was quite a journey for me down to Ashford in Kent, but all went to plan, with no problems following the directions, other than a slight worry when the road into the police training venue just seemed to go on for ever, and I wondered if I'd gone the wrong way.
The session started with us introducing ourselves, and then we watched a video of Christine (one of the coaches) swimming - she's an ex-international and therefore obviously rather good, as she talked us through the stroke basics. A fair amount I'd heard before, but there were several bits I didn't know, but that made perfect sense. We watched demonstartions of how NOT to swim, which included many common errors. Then we watched some film of the Olympics 1500m final, again with Christine's commentary, which included some underwater footage that really emphasised a lot of technique points. Fantastic stuff :o)
Next - to the pool, and Christine and Nicki (the other coach and international triathlete in her own right) started videoing us, after a quick warm up. They split the videoing into two halves, and I was going to be videoed at the end of the session. We were split into two groups of four to work on the legs, which I know are one of my weak points! My legs just don't add anything to my swim, as I demonstrated by "conking out" half way down the lengths. We put flippers on, and did a variety of drills to strengthen our kick (or make it more than nothing in my case!) while also practising position in the water. I found this really tough, even with the flippers, as I found it hard to get the hang of the kick and kept sinking! A few words of advice from Nicki and things started to get better :o) By the end of the session I'd got the sideways kick fairly well, but was still kicking too high (and hence out of the water) when I was on my front. One to work on over the next few days in the pool.
Then - my turn to be videoed. I decided not to bother with the legs as if I tried to think of them as well it would much up my arm strokes, and so swum without using my legs at all, which I normally do. Then, off to change, eat the rather scrummy cake that Nicki had provided, and watch the videos!
Mine proved interesting - I looked totally different swimming to how I had imagined, and I noticed how flat my arms were and what a "splat" they made as they hit the water - something that Christine had earlier pointed out when watching the "common swimming errors" bit. And of course, she spotted it in my video. We had a nother swim later which was going to focus on the arms, and I resolved to work at it then.
Off to the gym for a break from swimming, and to have a go at some core strength exercises with the Swiss Ball. Nothing revolutionary I guess, but several that I'd not seen before that certainly made my abs ache, and I'll be trying over the next few months. There was also a funny elastic rope contraption to practise the stroke, which I think I might get, and helped demonstrate the final push at the back end of the stroke.
Then - book to the pool! Time to work on the arms. I thought this was going to be easy, just a matter of lifting my elbow higher so that the arm entered through the same "hole" as tyhe hand (and turning the hand to 45 degrees), but what ended up happening, according to Nicki, and it felt like it too, was that rather than rotating about my spine, I was twisting my bum sideways, which meant my legs "snaked" behind me. Perhaps a bit more video would be interesting, but I've thought my legs did this when at the pool before today. Snaking legs equals more drag, so this had to be cut! I was taking in an awful lot of stuff at once, and was finding it a bit hard to put it all into practice, but I did manage to swim what felt great for several chunks, although consistency was hard to get. I think I found the balancemore on my side a bit tricky. This is an area I'll definitely be working on. Nicki said that when I got it right I was going a lot faster (which it felt like too) and it seemed relatively effortless. So - just need to work on doign that consistently!
The final bit of the session was spent doing stroke counting. My first length was 20 (21 really), the second 17, and then 19 and 18. Not bad all things considered - the best I've ever done with my old style was 17, and just after learning the adjusted technique and without refining it, I managed to hit 17, and get close to it on a few other lengths. Apaprently my videoed length was 26 strokes, so it was a vast improvement!
Finally, a Q&A session and filling in a feedback form. I really enjoyed the day - it was well tauht, had a great atmosphere, and I learnt an awful lot about my swimming. I guessideally I'd have liked to come out of it being able to consistently swim in my "new improved" way, but that would obviously be rather too much to ask! I now know what I need to do and how to achieve it - it's just a matter of practice practice practice. We're getting sent drills to focus on, and I bet mine includes the "zipper" drill and "chicken wings". I'll be doing these over the next few days in any case.
Can't wait for my lesson with Christine next Saturday :oD
posted by XFR Bear @ 7:41 am
3 Comments:
Bear, I'm really glad you went to this. It sounds like it has given you a much needed confidence boost!!
Still think a tri or swimming club would be a good plan.
Sounds brilliant and a great morale booster! Well done, Beary.
xxx
flippers
flippers !!!!
FLIPPERS !!!!!
They are called FINS
;o)
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