Till the lights go out

Oryx

I'm not logging training at the moment, but I'm posting to ask opinion:

Club swim. Coach wants me to use fins. Fine. Not sure why, maybe because my kick is weak. I should have asked, I didnt. I have fins but only use them when concentrating on drills where I still want my progress through the water to be fast, or for single leg kick drills to keep the idle foot up. Ergo, I'm not strong with them.

Coach puts me in with the sharks to swim 4 x 300 progressive (100 easy, 100 med, 100 hard) off 1.40. With 5 stroke breathing. (I habitually swim 2, working on 4, and my form still suffers on bilateral). My pb for a standalone 100 is 1.39 and I couldn't swim at all after that. Yeah, seriously.

So it didn't go well. First I struggled with the depth of kick required, and it was knackering (which I presume is the point). Plus my arm stroke went to pot. And the breathing? Turns out I cannot truly multitask - that was an ask too many for my brain to process. The only bit that went well was the last set when I had to concentrate on staying on a guys feet, somehow, that focus made me work like a dog and get around. Bet it didn't look pretty though.

Now, I know from my swim stats that I am inefficient, too many spl, so something is wrong there. There is little difference in speed for me between moderate and hard efforts, so I loose even more efficiency when I try to speed up. My feeling on last nights set was all it did was put more pressure on me and totally screw up the little form I have. But I wanted to know if I am wrong, and there is a point to just going balls out like that? (I'm not afraid of working hard, but this just felt pointless, I got to say).

Dory Dory

Not really sure what your question is. ?? You already know your stroke is inefficient, and my guess is that it becomes even more inefficient as your stroke gets faster. I also suspect you know how to correct that, if not let me know. As far as breathing every 3 or 5, that's just a matter of practice. And the kick? Check your body position as well as where you kick from (hips) and check your knees (not straight) and check your toes (pointed). Beyond that...what else are you asking Ms. IronWoman!?

Oryx

I'm asking what the feck the coach expected me to gain from chasing 1.15 sharks, with fins on, apart from a big dose of demoralisation? Are there better things I could be doing with my time?

And no, I have no idea what to do next with my stroke.

Kurt Godel

Oryx wrote: »

The only bit that went well was the last set when I had to concentrate on staying on a guys feet, somehow, that focus made me work like a dog and get around. Bet it didn't look pretty though.

So you managed to make the last set, by concentrating and focus? Personally, I'd take that as a sign you can up your game when out of your comfort zone.

What was the feedback from the coach?

Dory Dory

Oh! The coach thing!! Got it. Well, I doubt it was to demoralize you (unless you have done something shameless to piss him off)....it was probably a tactic to get you to rise to those around you. You will improve more by surrounding yourself w/swimmers (athletes/people) who can elevate you, so i suspect he sees untapped potential in you that he is trying to bring out. Swimming in a slow lane with slow swimmers will not do that.

As far as your stroke....my best advice is to hook up w/intersted some Thursday in Wicklow if you can....or i can PM you. Ball's in your court babe. Let me know.

Edit: perhaps talking to your coach should be the first thing you do. Communication is important....both to understand the purpose of a specific task, and how to improve what you are doing so you can meet your goals. Talk to your coach. Then take it from there. (Not getting wam-fuzzies about your coach, but maybe I'm wrong....)

Oryx

Dory, KG, youre so polite. Such a gentle way of saying HTFU.

I'm just frustrated with swimming at the moment, its one step forward, two back. This didnt feel like progress. I swim in the next lane with guys I struggle to stay with anyway.

And I swore I would not post on here cos its always negative. Dammit!

griffin100

Oryx wrote: »

I'm not logging training at the moment, but I'm posting to ask opinion:

Club swim. Coach wants me to use fins. Fine. Not sure why, maybe because my kick is weak. I should have asked, I didnt. I have fins but only use them when concentrating on drills where I still want my progress through the water to be fast, or for single leg kick drills to keep the idle foot up. Ergo, I'm not strong with them.

Coach puts me in with the sharks to swim 4 x 300 progressive (100 easy, 100 med, 100 hard) off 1.40. With 5 stroke breathing. (I habitually swim 2, working on 4, and my form still suffers on bilateral). My pb for a standalone 100 is 1.39 and I couldn't swim at all after that. Yeah, seriously.

So it didn't go well. First I struggled with the depth of kick required, and it was knackering (which I presume is the point). Plus my arm stroke went to pot. And the breathing? Turns out I cannot truly multitask - that was an ask too many for my brain to process. The only bit that went well was the last set when I had to concentrate on staying on a guys feet, somehow, that focus made me work like a dog and get around. Bet it didn't look pretty though.

Now, I know from my swim stats that I am inefficient, too many spl, so something is wrong there. There is little difference in speed for me between moderate and hard efforts, so I loose even more efficiency when I try to speed up. My feeling on last nights set was all it did was put more pressure on me and totally screw up the little form I have. But I wanted to know if I am wrong, and there is a point to just going balls out like that? (I'm not afraid of working hard, but this just felt pointless, I got to say).

Based on what I did in my last set of coached lessons fins are used for a number of reasons:

• Helps strengthen the legs
• Gets you used to swimming mush faster and trying to get the arms turning over to match speed
• Gets your feet used to pointing the toes properly
• Helps with body position

I ended up loving my kick drills with fins