News from FAST - Newsletter

Leg splay- this group is not yet totally comfortable in the water and thus the body attempts to remain flat. When the head is turned to the right to breath, the opposite leg splays or splits to the outside. This creates considerable drag as the legs are now wider than the body. As a result each breath results in a loss of momentum. The Fix - focus on keeping the legs and feet very close at all times Practice kicking with fins and having the inside of the fins touch each kick.
Swimming uphill- again in an effort to remain in control the head is lifted when it turns to breathe. A 1 inch lift causes the legs to sink 4"- 2" =8" etc. Drag city. The Fix - if you breathe on the right keep the left goggle and left ear in the water.
Short stroke - as this group tires the stroke gets shorter to the front and at the end of the pull. The Fix - focus on pushing the arms forward into full extension and then continuing the pull until the hand is even with the hip.

Intermediate Swimmers: Many times intermediate swimmers are those athletes who have become triathletes after they were accomplished in another sport. They have good strength, coordination, work capacity and maybe a big motor. They are challenged in the following areas:

Drills- these folks like to come in and get at it and work hard. As a result they sometimes half listen to the drill instruction to just get after that set! The Fix - Slowing down and feeling what the drill is to accomplish will help these folks to refine the areas of their stroke that may be keeping them from getting to the next level. Do drills with fins so your low body fat self doesn't struggle to stay up when you're going slowly.
Short Stroke- as with beginners when they begin to tire - the intermediate swimmers, with their big engines, pull out by their lower ribs vs. hips/thigh. They pickup their stroke rate and spin the arms fast thereby tiring themselves out even more. The Fix - when tired focus on pushing the arms forward so the deltoid comes into contact with the cheek and continue the pull phase until the hip/thigh. This will encourage more hip rotation and thus you will be able to rely on those fatigue resistant ab muscles to power the stroke.

Advanced Swimmers: Most of these swimmers come from a swim background unless they have really worked on this discipline. They are old hats with the pace clock and flip turns can be done while napping. Challenges? Sure:

Motor boat kick- many in the beginner and intermediate group long to be able to kick and actually go forward without fins and talk while doing so. These skills are often developed as an age group swimmer at6-10 years old. ( my youngest could thump me in a 50 yd kick race when he was 10) The difference between triathlon swimming and competitive swimming is you need to ride a bike and run after the swim as opposed to kicking really hard at the end of a swim meet event and being finished. The goal is to kick just enough to maintain a great body position.
Swimming more than is needed. We all like to gravitate toward the skill set we are most efficient at. As a result many advanced swimmers will swim an extra day or swim another 1000 before or after the planned workout. In my experience even age group IM winners need no more than 10,000- 12,000 yards per week. Save the energy and time for bike training.
Lack of ability to bilateral breath - competitive swimmers always have a lane line to follow. Also in competition, during all but the 50 and 100, they are breathing every stroke to get in enough O2 to maintain great speed. In a triathlon the buoys may be on the opposite side of their breathing side, or the sun may be on the same side as they breath and they are blinded every stroke. The fix - during long sets mix up breathing so you're comfortable on either side.

Final tip- Want to be a better swimmer? - swim - consistently. One of the guys in my masters group cut almost 10 min. off his 1650 time trial in 4 months. Why?- a year of coming 3 times a week consistently finally clicked and performance skyrocketed!
Contact Coach Dwight for a private videotaped swim session at 262-719-7893.