Forums >Cross Training>Swimming
clydesdale
Yeah that swimplan site wants you to pay for membership after 14 days no thanks.
For a second, I was excited that BR might have started a "I wanna swim!" thread today.
Nah, it is from December. Ah well.
Time to run. And swim if I fall off the path and into the sound.
I am not sure I agree with some of the advice given so far (kick drills, fins, etc..). To improve your swimming you will find the most benefits from improving your efficiency; and that means taking less strokes; and making each stroke travel a longer distance.
Most of the techniques I have used have come from here :
http://www.totalimmersion.net/
(and the books).
First you need to get a baseline. Count how many strokes you are taking each lap (either 25 m or 25 yds). Unless you are at 12/13 strokes you have a lot of area for improvement. I started at 22 and now I am at 14-16.
The key to taking less strokes is to glide more on each stroke; the drills on the website / book focus on 3 main areas.
1) Stretching your lead arm for each stroke
2) Rotating your body from side to side with your hips
3) Swimming "downhill"; and having the correct head position, slicing your arm into the water, etc...
I was skeptical at first; but my swimming has been improving consistently for the last 6 months after I started applying this.
b
Goals: 20:00 5K, 3:30 Marathon, Finish Marathon, 4:00 Marathon, Finish IronMan, 45:00 10K
Options,Account, Forums
Maybe your most important defect was overstroking -- but I'm not sure that it necessarily follows that that is true for everyone else.
It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.
I am not sure I agree with some of the advice given so far (kick drills, fins, etc..). To improve your swimming you will find the most benefits from improving your efficiency; and that means taking less strokes; and making each stroke travel a longer distance. Most of the techniques I have used have come from here : http://www.totalimmersion.net/ (and the books). First you need to get a baseline. Count how many strokes you are taking each lap (either 25 m or 25 yds). Unless you are at 12/13 strokes you have a lot of area for improvement. I started at 22 and now I am at 14-16. The key to taking less strokes is to glide more on each stroke; the drills on the website / book focus on 3 main areas. 1) Stretching your lead arm for each stroke 2) Rotating your body from side to side with your hips 3) Swimming "downhill"; and having the correct head position, slicing your arm into the water, etc... I was skeptical at first; but my swimming has been improving consistently for the last 6 months after I started applying this. b
So that explains why I suck at swimming. Granted I rarely swim, but I once counted my strokes and it was about 28. I figure I'm hopeless, and I'll just stick with running. It doesn't require nearly as much thought.
Consistently Slow
No,I suck. 45 meters. Count strokes? Who knew? Third time in a pool in 35+ years. Would like to do a race in 2011.
Run until the trail runs out.
SCHEDULE 2016--
The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff
http://bkclay.blogspot.com/