Swimming Tips

[Lise]

Lynne, thanks for those tips. I love being in the water, but I hate swimming in competition. I am so slow. I only breathe off the left. Yesterday, in my tri, that meant I couldn't sight off the bouys (all to the right) unless I breast stroked. Oh, that was a tough swim. I have a hard time staying on course in open water. It feels like I'm swimming in a straight line to me! I'm going to practice that bilateral breathing drill in the pool. I've got to learn that one. Remarkably, my shoulders are not that sore today, after a 1 mile swim, 28 mile bike, and 6 mile run.

[LynneK]

That must mean you are in very good condition, be proud of that!

One drill that helps with bilateral breathing is single-arm swimming: swim one length with only one arm, holding the other one extended in front. You're supposed to use a pull-buoy with it, but I do it with extra-super kicking to make sure I am getting a cardio and leg workout (because, you know, the cycling and running aren't enough leg-ercise !). I do it one length breathing right-one length free-one length breathing left-one length free, and repeat as much as I feel I need (usually twice). When I'm doing stroke drills I breathe every stroke, even though in regular swimming I try to breathe every 3-6 strokes, because the focus in on the mechanics and not on the rhythm.

[Lise]

Is a pull bouy a floaty thing with a handle that you hold out in front of you? I will most certainly use this drill. Breathing left is such a habit for me, but I can learn new ways! L.

[LynneK]

I may be using the wrong name, but I think of a pull buoy as that hourglass-shaped foam thing that goes between your legs when you are doing arm work. It gives you buoyancy and focuses your work on your arms. I just don't use it because I want to keep working the core and the legs while I'm doing my stroke drills. But if you want to focus on arms, it's hugely valuable.

LK

[Lise]

Thanks, Lynne--I just don't know the names for these things. I know my Y has a number of floaty things on the side of the pool. I can ask the life guard which is the pull bouy, the one that goes between your legs.

[Running Mommy]

yep, that's the name alright... There are a couple of different styles, and I think some have mor4e bouyancy than others if I remember correctly.

So one arm drills ehh?? I'm in Lise's boat and was going to do a post about trying to become "BI"
Yesterday I did ok, but I can feel that I lift my head too much and my hips sink like stones, it's not the smooth turn like on my left. I suppose with practice I'll get there, but MAN... I just wanna swim!!!

[LynneK]

Yesterday I did ok, but I can feel that I lift my head too much and my hips sink like stones, it's not the smooth turn like on my left. I suppose with practice I'll get there, but MAN... I just wanna swim!!!

Yep, lifting head and sinking hips are sure-fire triggers for being discouraged with your swimming! I generally think of the body as a set of planes, and I try to apply some general rules to those planes:

-head rotates on neck, so ears only move on that plane/wire going through them
-hip bones stay in a plane (roughly), facing the bottom of the pool; they NEVER rotate with the head; one drill that can help with this is using a pull buoy but not kicking, so your legs are deadweight, and focus on pulling and breathing while twisting from your core and not your hips
-I think of there being two planes, one on either side of my body in the water (like big panes of glass), and my arms never go outside of those planes; they also never cross the plane that goes down the center line of the body when you are pulling
-shoulders are on an independent plane that rotates in the direction that you're breathing on the strokes on which you are breathing, but are always rotating around the plane down the midline of the body. But the rotation starts in the core, not the hips.

I'm a mathematically-spatially-visually inclined person, so this geometric visual works for me; your mileage may vary. But thinking through this has even improved my swimming: I just got back from a 1500-yd swim in 29:40 that was the longest/fastest swim I've done in eons!

LK