Swim Coach

I'm in Central Florida, where I've got an awesome swim coach. However, when I've done a race in south Florida, I received a flyer for a TI coach named Gary Fahey. He goes by the name of the Stroke Doctor, teaching clinics, lessons, open water, and video analysis. Never taken any of his classes or had any involvement with him, but I'm sure there are some south Florida BTers that know more about him.

Yes, he's mentioned down here in what I've run across. Considering a lesson or two to get started. Do you find lessons helpful?

I'm in Central Florida, and have a swim coach up here that teaches a combination of Total Immersion and Swim Smooth. It is kind of the best of both worlds for the most part. As such, I have not been down to the Broward area to take any of Gary's classes. I am part of a national tri team, so I'll put up a message on the south Florida group to see if anyone down there has taken any of the Stroke Doctor's classes. If so, I'll post their reply here for you.

That's great. National team! That's amazing. How long have you been doing triathlons?

Actually not long at all. I've been running since Feb 2011. Then Dec 2012, I started training for a sprint tri. I have completed 2 sprints this year with plans for an international in a 2 months.

No replies about the Stroke Doctor's class yet.

Thanks for the reply. Honestly, I'm really surprised he's not called back. I've left 2 voicemails. Odd. Good luck at your next event.

I've done lessons with Gary. I've done group clinincs in Miami where I always learn something and also I've done a private lesson with him. He's good - in fact I credit him with changing my position in the water which made a huge improvement in just one lesson. If I remember though I did have a similar experience setting up my first appointment with him that he's hard to reach.

Thanks. I'll keep trying, then!

Brilliant advice! Third time's a charm. Sent him an email and got a pretty prompt reply. He'd been having some email and voicemail glitches. I'll let you know how it goes.

Cheers.

Gary

Amy,

I've got a lesson set up for next week. I've got high hopes. Thanks again.

Gary

Good. I look forward to hearing about it after.

Swim lesson was good. Solid hour of work. Good feedback. Nice interaction. Thanks again for the endorsement.

Excited to try it all out afterward, but still, it's a lot of change and a lot to work on. Hoping that some consistent work between now and September 1 race day will pay off. Probably will have one more lesson in a few weeks to refine things and get some more feedback and instruction.

Also, he suggested a different use of my swim workout time than what I've been doing, which makes me feel a little uncertain. My typical workout consists of about 900 - 1000 yds. One day, I do short intervals (50's, 100's) for speed. One day, I do medium intervals (200's) and focus on stroke work and strength. One day, I do longer intervals (500's) to work on endurance and race-condition lengths. He suggested instead that I break my yardage down into smaller chunks and dedicate sets to focusing on each of the different elements he taught me (e.g., "soft hands", proper entry of leading arm, proper exit on the backside, coordination of movement, etc.).

Any thoughts?

Who do you use in Central Florida? I am in Oviedo and need some help.

I'm glad you had a good lesson. I'm not a swim coach so I can't speak about breaking up the intervals or whether its good or bad. I do think that like all things his way is not the only way. So for example Gary is a huge proponent of not doing kicking sets. I ignore him on this because I train mostly with a masters coach who believes in kicking and he's convinced me of its worth. So I say take what's good and what works but if something he says or does doesn't fit don't do it.

I saw immediate return from my lesson with Gary although I felt a little like a turtle floundering in the water for a few days trying it on my own. But one thing he told me to work on (breathing earlier) I'm still working on. So I think some things click right away and some take a while.

Interesting. He said the same thing to me about kicking! I wasn't doing any kick work anyway, so I was o.k. with his recommendation (for now). Definitely get the turtle reference, but I've been working on a lot of the elements of the FS stroke in 50's and 100's, and it's starting to feel more natural. I'm seeing improvements and that's encouraging, and I'm starting to be able to self-evaluate mid-lap and make changes or talk myself through modifications and reminders. That feels like improvement.

Gary's big into "extending to breath" from the lats. He recommended the catch-up drill, which I found to be very helpful with my breath timing (e.g., not pushing down with the lead arm, but instead extending and rotating to breath). It tends to fall apart, though, when my body starts to fatigue. Have to keep reminding myself.

I'm watching his videos and trying to time it during the catch-and-pull, but am still unsure when is optimal. You said you are trying to breath earlier? Can you tell me more about that? When in your stroke to you rotate to breathe?

There is so much instruction out there. Seems like there are basic swimming conventions that any instructor would focus on, and then there are triathlon-specific conventions that might differ from what a classic swim instructor would emphasize. OWS training presents additional challenges, too -- i.e., like how to throw-up and keep swimming -- I read your race report -- you are tough! Is your masters instructor USAT or triathlon-focused?

BTW, congrats on your IM! That's really inspirational. What's next on your race calendar?

Gary

His name is Mark with Water Exercise Technologies. He has a webpage, which is easy enough to find through Google. He teaches at a pool in College Park. Days and times vary. He'll let you know the schedule by e-mail or phone, whichever route you contact him by.

Sorry, didn't see who you were asking the question of until I was re-reading this thread.

Edited by Running_FF 2013-08-03 3:46 PM

When I met with Gary he told me I should breathe earlier so more toward when my recovering hand is just coming out of the water than when it's going back in. My current swim coach is I think telling me something related which is to make sure I don't start my pull until the recovering hand is going in by my head. I think it's all the extension stuff but I don't quite have the timing down. I swim at Gulliver Swim Club so they are just swimming - but a lot of their masters folks are triathletes.

Thanks for the positive feedback on my race. Next up is Escape to Miami.

Similar feedback on swim and when to breathe: as the front arm is getting to full extension which goes with the rotation, and the recovering arm is flaring out and "slipping out" of the water. I had a great workout the other day working on that. Of course, I'm not yet working on speed, so it's easier to implement at slower speed. Gary also talked about timing of the two sides: talks about it being like swinging from monkey bar to monkey bar. I've got another lesson this week, so we'll see how I'm doing!

Cheers.

Gary

Monkey bars - that is how it feels. What a great idea. Of course, I'm not that great at monkey bars either. Hmmm...

Time to hit the playground for a refresher course!