General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Encoragement for Bad Swimmers Rss Feed  
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2014-04-17 9:21 AM

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St Catharines, Ontario
Subject: Encoragement for Bad Swimmers
Just a note to encourage any beginner swimmers out there who are losing faith while sucking down a lot of water and getting gassed after each 50.

Yesterday was a wonderful breakthrough swim for me after 8 months of seemingly going nowhere.

What made the difference?

Recently I watched two videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg-GB2_lPyI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ9w3fsBWwY

The first helped me think about body position and balance. The second shows Grant Hackett getting ruined by a 15 year old Ian Thorpe but what really helped me was seeing the underwater shots and being able to visualize the reach and catch.

The other main thing was going to the pool and only using my watch to count the laps (no review of splits). Swimming without any focus on time helped me relax and for the first time and really get into a rhythm..

My session was just under 1700 meters. Short for most of the BTers but about double most of my previous sessions. Seeing myself finish off a swim longer than an Oly event has built my confidence more then I can describe.

Stick with it all you lousy swimmers out there!


2014-04-17 9:43 AM
in reply to: badmo77a

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Subject: RE: Encoragement for Bad Swimmers
Good stuff!

I started swimming back in February and could barely complete a lap without being out of breath.

Last week something finally clicked and I went 1200 without stopping(previously 400 was my best), then two days later i did 2000 without stopping.

They were not done fast by any means but gave me a huge and much needed confidence boost. Knowing that regardless of time at this point i can swim a decent length without stopping.

My first tri is in june so i am going to keep hammering away at the pool!

2014-04-17 9:48 AM
in reply to: JakePS

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Subject: RE: Encoragement for Bad Swimmers
Originally posted by JakePSGood stuff!

I started swimming back in February and could barely complete a lap without being out of breath.

Last week something finally clicked and I went 1200 without stopping(previously 400 was my best), then two days later i did 2000 without stopping.

They were not done fast by any means but gave me a huge and much needed confidence boost. Knowing that regardless of time at this point i can swim a decent length without stopping.

My first tri is in june so i am going to keep hammering away at the pool!


Nice work!!
2014-04-17 9:52 AM
in reply to: badmo77a

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Subject: RE: Encoragement for Bad Swimmers
More encouragement for everyone! I've been swimming about 18 months, and I'm still all kinds of slow, but it does get better. Did my first iron-distance swim (4,300 yards) - it took almost 2 hours, but I did it.

The most useful bit of advice I have heard is to think of swimming as like golf or tennis - it is mostly about technique, not fitness.

It does get better.
2014-04-17 11:40 AM
in reply to: badmo77a


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Subject: RE: Encoragement for Bad Swimmers
Those are great videos! Especially the second one. I completely agree with you, the underwater shots really show a great depiction of form. I've been slowly improving with distance and endurance WRT swimming. I must have rewatched the underwater portions almost a dozen times now trying to study it.

I'm excited to get in the pool and work on replicating the technique here.

Thanks for sharing!

2014-04-17 1:21 PM
in reply to: e_powered

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Subject: RE: Encoragement for Bad Swimmers

Thanks for the links and the encouragement.  I'm getting ready for my 1st tri and am an "adult-onset" swimmer.  I've been swimming with a pull buoy for the past year or so due to injury issues and just added kicking back in.  I get so winded when I kick, but I thought it was mostly because I'm lacking cardio fitness.  I did wonder about my technique too.  I've been thinking about looking up some videos, so these are really timely.  Can't wait to take a look and make some changes!



2014-04-17 1:49 PM
in reply to: laffinrock

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Subject: RE: Encoragement for Bad Swimmers
Originally posted by laffinrock

Thanks for the links and the encouragement.  I'm getting ready for my 1st tri and am an "adult-onset" swimmer.  I've been swimming with a pull buoy for the past year or so due to injury issues and just added kicking back in.  I get so winded when I kick, but I thought it was mostly because I'm lacking cardio fitness.  I did wonder about my technique too.  I've been thinking about looking up some videos, so these are really timely.  Can't wait to take a look and make some changes!




Don't copy Thorpes kick in that 2nd video!! Its like he has a motor attached. Insane effort. :-)

I spent a long time getting tired from my kick and if found the only solution was to slow it right down. I am not looking for anything much from my kick apart from it keeping my legs in form.
2014-04-17 2:06 PM
in reply to: badmo77a

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Subject: RE: Encoragement for Bad Swimmers
Originally posted by badmo77a

Originally posted by laffinrock

Thanks for the links and the encouragement.  I'm getting ready for my 1st tri and am an "adult-onset" swimmer.  I've been swimming with a pull buoy for the past year or so due to injury issues and just added kicking back in.  I get so winded when I kick, but I thought it was mostly because I'm lacking cardio fitness.  I did wonder about my technique too.  I've been thinking about looking up some videos, so these are really timely.  Can't wait to take a look and make some changes!




Don't copy Thorpes kick in that 2nd video!! Its like he has a motor attached. Insane effort. :-)

I spent a long time getting tired from my kick and if found the only solution was to slow it right down. I am not looking for anything much from my kick apart from it keeping my legs in form.


Don't even get me started about kicking. 200 kick takes me something like 8 minutes. Yup, it's bad. I won't say I've given up on the kick, but rather that my drills focus on minimizing the kick energy expenditure while focusing on body position and stroke rhythm. And lots of foot stretches to gain flexibility for that snappy swimmer kick. For a real swimmer, it's antithetical, but for me, right now, the goal is to get through the swim feeling as good as possible. I've accepted that the 14 year old in the lane next to me in my swim group is going to always kick my rump in the water, but I'm going to knock him down and take his lunch money on the bike
2014-04-17 3:15 PM
in reply to: mirthfuldragon

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Subject: RE: Encoragement for Bad Swimmers

Originally posted by mirthfuldragon
Originally posted by badmo77a
Originally posted by laffinrock

Thanks for the links and the encouragement.  I'm getting ready for my 1st tri and am an "adult-onset" swimmer.  I've been swimming with a pull buoy for the past year or so due to injury issues and just added kicking back in.  I get so winded when I kick, but I thought it was mostly because I'm lacking cardio fitness.  I did wonder about my technique too.  I've been thinking about looking up some videos, so these are really timely.  Can't wait to take a look and make some changes!

Don't copy Thorpes kick in that 2nd video!! Its like he has a motor attached. Insane effort. :-) I spent a long time getting tired from my kick and if found the only solution was to slow it right down. I am not looking for anything much from my kick apart from it keeping my legs in form.
Don't even get me started about kicking. 200 kick takes me something like 8 minutes. Yup, it's bad. I won't say I've given up on the kick, but rather that my drills focus on minimizing the kick energy expenditure while focusing on body position and stroke rhythm. And lots of foot stretches to gain flexibility for that snappy swimmer kick. For a real swimmer, it's antithetical, but for me, right now, the goal is to get through the swim feeling as good as possible. I've accepted that the 14 year old in the lane next to me in my swim group is going to always kick my rump in the water, but I'm going to knock him down and take his lunch money on the bike

Glad to hear it's not just me!!  I've been reading some of the other posts here and slowed my kick down last night.  Made some difference but I know I still have some work to do.  Fortunately, my tri's not until August and the swim is itty-bitty - just 480 yards.  Between improved technique, short distance, and a wetsuit (it's wetsuit-legal), I'm sure I'll be fine.  Not sure I'll be kicking anybody's rump or taking anybody's name, but at least I feel pretty confident that the tri won't do that to me!

2014-04-17 10:01 PM
in reply to: 0

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Subject: RE: Encoragement for Bad Swimmers
His feet are size 17. I swam a few meets where he was there... never got to race him though. His kick looked like a light steady kick...

I got to train with Grant for 2 weeks in 1999 he was an absolute machine.

1500 AB Masters 2014: http://youtu.be/uY1ruzHtsZM

This is what 2 masters swimmers doing 17.06 and 17.18 look like. I'm in green cap (37) silver cap is (27), red cap in lane 3 (34). Lane goes out too hard and falls further back than he should... he was only 9 sec behind me in the 800.



Edited by simpsonbo 2014-04-17 10:10 PM
2014-04-17 10:03 PM
in reply to: mirthfuldragon

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Subject: RE: Encoragement for Bad Swimmers
My 7 year old kicked 38 for 25. Your ankles are probably stiff and your but is probably sitting low.


2014-04-18 1:47 AM
in reply to: badmo77a

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Subject: RE: Encoragement for Bad Swimmers
Good stuff!
Thanks for sharing!

I also had the same starting point, in August last year my max distance would be 70m and I would be completely winded. I watched mostly Total Immersion vids on youtube, and one thing that helped me is that I did not care about speed at all in the beginning - just technique. And I deliberately tried to swim with a low stroke frequency, thinking that you must have good technique and form in order to do that.
After about 3 weeks it suddenly "clicked" for me too, and I was able to go from 100m to >1000 and to >2000 in the next week. My time then was about 2:45/100m, since then it has gone down steadily until today where I can do 2:11/100m for a 2k swim at moderate effort - not max.
I kick once on left and twice on right, so still a bit unbalanced but working on it

I still have a lot to work on of course, but compared to the other racers in my 70.3, my swim was actually my strongest discipline.
Find your form (body position, balance and rotation, together with reach and catch). Don't try to fix all at once. Work on one MAX two things at a time, then when you are happy, move to the next.
2014-04-18 5:26 AM
in reply to: badmo77a

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Subject: RE: Encoragement for Bad Swimmers
Originally posted by badmo77a

Just a note to encourage any beginner swimmers out there who are losing faith while sucking down a lot of water and getting gassed after each 50.

Yesterday was a wonderful breakthrough swim for me after 8 months of seemingly going nowhere.

What made the difference?

Recently I watched two videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg-GB2_lPyI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ9w3fsBWwY

The first helped me think about body position and balance. The second shows Grant Hackett getting ruined by a 15 year old Ian Thorpe but what really helped me was seeing the underwater shots and being able to visualize the reach and catch.

The other main thing was going to the pool and only using my watch to count the laps (no review of splits). Swimming without any focus on time helped me relax and for the first time and really get into a rhythm..

My session was just under 1700 meters. Short for most of the BTers but about double most of my previous sessions. Seeing myself finish off a swim longer than an Oly event has built my confidence more then I can describe.

Stick with it all you lousy swimmers out there!


First of all congratulations.

Yes, I find some of these videos very helpful to understand what is right. I actually like mr Swim Smooth

But for me the biggest thing was seeing myself using an underwater camera. What an eye opener. I thought I was doing one thing, I was doing the complete opposite. My stroke looked fine from above the water but below was a disaster.

I feel I wasted a few years not doing this before.

Get an underwater camera, get a friend and film yourselves and then compare them to the guys in your video, or mr swim smooth. You will probably be very surprised.

2014-04-18 7:20 AM
in reply to: badmo77a

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Subject: RE: Encoragement for Bad Swimmers

Swimming was a BIG part of why I stopped doing tris.  I can swim but VERY SLOWLY and never really had anyone give me any pointers other than to spend more time in the pool. I grew up in the water but it was for play not anything else.  I knew how to swim enough to not get into situations.  

I know that if I spent some time in the pool I might be able to lose some more weight and take a few pieces away from my core.  I will have to watch the video and find a pool again.  

 

THANK YOU FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT THAT I AM NOT ALONE!

2014-05-20 10:45 AM
in reply to: badmo77a

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Subject: RE: Encoragement for Bad Swimmers
Just wanted to say a huge thanks for this. Over the winter I started taking adult swim classes at the Y to go from 'I can tread water and move places eventually' to 'if I fall out of a boat I can actually swim somewhere if I need to'. I've been struggling mightily with the swim over the last 5-6 months. Every last thing I do is wrong and I couldn't spend any time working on one thing since I was getting gassed every 25-50 yards. The training vid is huge for me - I was getting nowhere trying to get my butt and legs up in the water and all anyone could tell me is that I wasn't doing it, not how to do it....

The other breakthrough moment for me? I may be the only person with this issue, but breaking my goggles before class fixed my breathing. Let me explain - for whatever reason, I have some nearly overwhelming instinct to gasp for air the second I see that I'm underwater (even if it's just my face that's in). I have to be careful snorkeling because I can breathe through the snorkel, and I have to consciously slow my breathing down or I will hyperventilate. I have no explanation for this and like I said I might be the only one on the planet, but as soon as I snapped my goggles and had to swim with my eyes closed in the water, I had no troubles controlling my breathing and managing taking enough air through the side of my mouth, and controlling my exhale through the nose. When I could see with the goggles on, I wasn't able to control the downward spiral of gasp for inhale, fast exhale, pull head out of water for longer to gasp, completely breaking form, swim gets slower and more difficult, need more air, etc. I mean I've been at it nearly 6 months and really was getting nowhere, and now the lack of panic breathing combined with trying to get my top end down to get my back end up to improve the kicking.. I'm not going to run out and swim a mile but I'm no longer worried about my 150 yard pool swim in my first Tri coming up.
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