After my swim this morning I did something that many swimmers must be familiar with. Instead of effortlessly stepping into my boxer shorts I got my toe caught, lost balance, had to put my foot on the [wet] floor and therefore now have wet pants!
Such a shame. because I’d had a great swim.
At the moment, under the instruction of my technique coach Ray (who is great) I’m working primarily on my technique. The plan is to become a better swimmer during the winter months, so that it is easier to become a quicker and longer swimmer once we get back into the open water.
The main technical flaw that Ray spotted was that I use my right arm as a lever to help me breath to my left (I only breath to my left). This means that at best I only have half the available catch on the right arm. So, again at best, I’m only using 3/4 of my possible catch – an obvious inefficiency.
The drill I’m doing at the moment is to swim on my side, arm extended, looking down the length of my arm, then to breath to the relevant side without moving my extended arm – it’s to teach my brain that I don’t need the help of that arm as a lever.
This morning’s swim was as follows:
– 200m warm-up freestyle
– 200m drills (right arm up, left arm back)
– 100m relax
– 200m drills
– 100m relax
– 200m drills
– 200m cool-down freestyle
It may not sound like much, but it’s bloody hard work, especially as I can’t use the fins (Grrr). I’ll go to see Ray again in a couple of weeks – so hopefully he’s noticing a difference.
1000kmstowindermere 