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Hey Alex,
Goals
We talked about your values for swimming and a goal that would satisfy those.
You talked about working toward the capability of swimming 3K or about 1 hour continuously. You are desiring to swim open water next spring and summer and do that with others (going alone is not attractive), so speed is important to the extent that it allows you to swim along with others. So distance and speed are external objectives. Internally, you’d like to increase the ease of movement and sense of flow, maintaining those qualities on distance swims.
Training Plan
We started to flesh out a training plan…
14-day cycles with approximately 8 swim practices within that cycle, and perhaps a 2 or 3 day recovery period at the end, which could include gentle swimming.
You would follow a ‘stair-step’ approach to development, which involves an incremental increase in the standards at the start of the cycle, and then maintain those standards for the entire cycle (not increasing any standards until the start of the next cycle). This allows the body time to adapt to those standards over 11 days, then 3 days recovery days to refresh resources, and then up the challenge for the next cycle. You can adjust those days to fit your body’s need for recovery, cycle to cycle.
You would use a variety of practice types, creating enough challenge per practice to stimulate adaptation and strength. While you would seek a good challenge and proper tiredness from each practice, over the course of the cycle, you would be aiming to see a neural adaptation to the challenge and it would become easier to maintain the precision and control standard, while you may also experience some accumulating metabolic fatigue. So there is both an element of ‘getting tired’ and ‘getting easier’ that you would be aiming for in each cycle.
Practice Types
Practice types include
Distance Practice – challenging yourself with more volume (longer repeats and more overall yardage per practice) and maintaining a strict target SPL standard. Up to 2000 volume per practice.
Pace Practice – challenging yourself with strict SPL x Tempo constraints, with medium repeats. 900-1500 volume per practice.
Sprint Practice – challenge the recruitment of more muscle fibers by short (25 or 50) at strict SPL and tempo at the edge of what you can handle. 600-900 per practice, maybe once or twice at most per cycle.
Technique Practice (which could also function as physically easier recovery swims).
Test swims of 500y.
There are some ideas you can look at here in the Training Plan 2K…
I played aroundwith one of the workouts from the 2k plan today.
My Comfortable TT varies depending on distance. When I’m doing 50 repeats I can start at 1.4 and descend .02 and hold SPL 19 down to 1.32. I also managed to be attentive enough when turning that SPL for both lengths of each 50 were the same. I’ll note here that when I relax my SPL is 21, so these are somewhat stressful repeats.
When I moved on to the second main set 4x 50, 100, 150 I ran into a little trouble. I found it difficult to maintain 1.4 by the time I got to 150. I wasn’t counting strokes but my SPL definitely went up and the pace was starting to feel taxing. I backed up to 1.5 and then 1.48 and 1.46 for the last three rounds. At 1.4 paying strict attention to my focal point and following the beep was challenging.
I should also note that I take somewhat longer rests than indicated in the set guidelines.
Did 250s for warm up and cool down Total distance 2200 yards, the workout took almost exactly an hour. At this point I would call this a hard day with a moderate level of metal and physical stress. I would want to follow this with a distance oriented day maintaining SPL over longer distances say 5×300 which I may try next time (Thr)
New design looks great, I had no trouble getting to the dojo or the personal discussion zone. Yesterday after a 250 warm up I did a main set of 6×250 playing around with a variety of factors-holding tempo, holding stroke count. It was informative. A relaxed SPL for me is around 21, not ideal but I actually like the fact that I can get that down, the trick will be to get it down to 18 (fairly easy over a 25 and 19 is relatively easy over a 50) without expending a lot of energy so I can maintain it over longer distances. Even that 21 stroke count broke down a bit 1or 2 strokes over 250-I think some of it is due to a very inconsistent turnaround and push off, something that wouldn’t be an issue in open water, but it’s something I should work on.
I’m also just going to have to build up my endurance a bit,. With a cool down I finished just under 1950. I also need to get used to counting strokes and using TT and adjusting for the added level of stress that imposes as it definitely makes a difference. It’s pretty clear that I’ll need to improve my conditioning before I’m ready to actually use the 2K workouts, but I think I can build some workouts based on the guidelines there.
I also think a 500 test once every two weeks will be a good indicator of how training is going and I’ll need to do that on a day when I have had two days off. I’ll be back in the pool on Sunday and give that a try.
A few things to note and then some interesting observations from today’s swim.
I’m having some issues with my shoulders, not sure if it’s due to climbing, lifting, swimming or all three. I’ve started doingsome mobility work and that may be part of the issue as well. I’ll see the PT soon and hopefullyt know more about what’s going on, until then no lifting or climbing and only entle swimming.
Did an easy 500 warm up-I’m still working on neutral spine and finally really starting to feel that. When I can maintain a neutral spine it’s easier to turn my head left to breathe, resulting in a better head position, being less off balance and a better recovery. This is going to take a good while to wire in.
To take it easy on my shoulders I did a long snorkel swim today with the TT/ I started at 1.60 and dropped .01 every 50. I really wanted to feel when I started to disturb the water as my stroke rate increased. I also wanted to bring awareness to a TT rate that allowed me to feel like I wasn’t stalling and was moving continuously. Using the slow TT rates allowed me to concentrate on swimming gently and smoothly, maintaining a streamline with legs in line and working n that neutral spine.
At 1.45 or so things started to feel like I wasn’t stalling any more or at least not so noticeably. AT 1.43 I started noticing more water disturbance and unnecessary movement. So 1.45 will be a good place to work on maintaining SPL over longer distances working up from 50 to 250.
I probably won’t do any real hard workouts until my shoulder issues get fixed and I may even need some time out of the pool, but day seemed productive even though it didn’t involve any hard laps.
Well, it could be that the mobility work shifted the balance of tissue support around the joint and it needs time to stabilize and strengthen around that new arrangement. Normal exercise loading could aggravate things.
Nice tempo test using your sense of stalling. 1.45 sounds like a good starting point. We’d like to see you in the 1.20s-1.10s eventually, so we can get enough frequency of strokes and a better rate of flow under the body. Recall my description of the lift we’re looking for that comes like air flowing under a wing (though disappointingly not as dramatic or fun as flying). 1.45 is too slow for this. But you are correct in seeking to remove the stalls (deceleration past a certain point).
Had a relaxed swim this evening after a moderately more challenging swim yesterday. I can always tell when the workout has been a little too much by monitoring my heart rate after the swim. My post exercise rate rate has always taken a good while normalize even when I was a kid. After long runs in my forties if I went a bit too hard my heart rate would stay in the mid 80s for hours after my run when it ws normally in the low 60s. My resting HR is still around 60 but when I swim a bit too hard it stays up in the mid 80s for hours just like it did when I was younger after a hard run or ride. Today it dropped to 70 within 30 minutes and that’s fine, I just don’t think run 25 beats a minute faster for hours is a great idea. I’ve talked to a doctor about this and he didn’t have much to say except-“You probably overdid it, just try taking it a little easier.”
Today I started with 2×500, the first at 12 minutes, the second at 11. Both were pretty relaxed with most of the focus on keeping my head down when I turn left to breathe, holding skate when I breathe left and coordinating the kick of the left leg with the turn to breathe.
I did a lot of shorter drills working on these focal points as I wanted today to be an easy day. Near the end of the swim I played around with the TT just seeing what TTs from 1.15 to 1.2 felt like and for 25 they felt fine, not even that rushed. Maybe it’s because I have less time to think about it, but I almost feel that my overall form improves at these faster tempos-need some video to check this out. I’d like to do some workouts with lots of 25s at these tempos until I can get just a bit more relaxed. Definitely less stalling at these faster tempos.
That 1.10-1.25 range is great! That’s where we’d expect to feel a preservation of momentum, not much deceleration during recovery. Short repeats at high tempo are great to help the nervous system adapt to firing the muscles with precision. It’s not about cardio at this stage, just about stimulating the nervous system to respond faster, establish control, just like a musician would practice with a metronome to play the song a little faster.
We’ll keep that slow HR recovery pattern in mind. Hey, I have a Finis swim HR monitor that slips under the cap and clips on the ear, if you’d like to play with it. I don’t use it. It speaks the HR number in your ear (bone conduction) every few seconds or something.
Ok, removing the cookie worked. I’ll be in touch as soon as I return and if I’m able to get a few swims in before I leave I’ll post notes here. Thanks for the offer of the HR monitor.
Yep, I’m off to Colorado at the end of the week. We’ll try to be as careful as possible and my daughter will keep the girls out of preschool and everyone will be tested which is about the best we can do.
Had another nice swim last night, lots of 25s in that 1.15 to 1.20 range. I worked first with the snorkel just trying to get into a very relaxed feel at this new faster turnover rate. I then worked on the same thing breathing every three. The 25s felt pretty comfortable and I was consistently at 19/20 SPL-19if I put a little more effort into it, 20 if I dial it back a bit. My HR stayed low-84 and dropped to the low 60s after the workout. That probably indicates I wasn’t pushing quite enough, but I can adjust that hopefully without getting to the point where my HR stays in the mid 80s for hours after the workout.
I’ve also determined that continued work on mobility, particularly my stiff neck (turning left) helps when trying to up the turnover rate. Breathing left keeps getting easier as I continue to focus on that and stretching and massage to loosen up that tight area.
Not sure how much I’ll get to swim before I leave. but these sessions have helpful in figuring how to set up a viable training plan when I get back.
Well it’s going to take some time (for lots of practice) and some mobility work as well but the suggestion to try lifting the area behind the knee is really going to help with lifting my legs. This takes the focus off my foot and by focusing on lifting that area it helps with rotation and seems to keep my feet in that counterbalanced position. It also seems to get my glutes and core engaged,something I’ve struggled with. I noticed when walking my dog tonight that my glutes felt like they had been worked.
I’ll need video confirmation but I definitely felt like my legs were riding higher resulting in a better streamline. Breathing left is challenging, but got better with some work and I think will come along. I’m excited about this development and will be devoting a good deal of time to practicing. It helped to do a number of laps with the snorkel and to work on the lift while swimming without breathing
Also worked on just keeping my head down when breathing and that seems to be getting better as well.
I should be up for a lesson in a few weeks.
I appreciate that feedback, and how his change in cue on the leg may be activating those illusive internal control points in the core and glutes.
If the tail is riding higher, we should expect less drag which would result in finding it easier to maintain SPL or reduce the count slightly. So that is one way to measure its impact.
Nice workout tonight. Only swam 1500 yards but every yard was pretty focused. I rotated snorkel/finis buoy and regular swimming. leg lift is getting more consistent and I’m getting a better feel for involving the entire body in that extension with rotation.
More practice on low head for breathing
I’m going to keep working on solidifying the leg lift for anther week and then start adding some tempo work. Tonight was very focused, more so than usual. I didn’t get lost in counting SPL and lose track on my focal points-I did note that on several counted laps my SPL was coming down nicely. For SPL to be meaningful I must be sure to use roughly equivalent levels of effort when making comparisons. It’s not too meaningful if I have several laps at 16 SPL but I was really working very hard. I’d like to get my SPL down to 17 with a moderate level of exertion.
Heartbeat in low 70s after the workout, which is fine. My resting heartbeat is usually in the low 60s but if it’s in the low 70s after a workout that’s not a concern
Oh, we met on Monday but I forgot to bring you the HR monitor!!
Yes, one can produce a low SPL by great effort, so you are correct in aiming for an SPL that comes from refined skill. Just getting some of that leg control to become autonomous (don’t have to think about making it happen) will reduce the amount of resources used in producing it.
No worries, we can check out the HR monitor the next time I come up for a lesson. HR has been doing well with recent practices. I have my new Tempo Trainer and will work on GRADUALLY increasing turnover rate. I plan to start at a very reasonable rate and initially work with the snorkel to develop a sense of ease at a given rate (probably start at 1.35) and then SLOWLY work my down trying to preserve that sense of ease. I’ll add breathing along the way and see how that affects HR. Dryland work should be helpful as well, the less effort it takes to get into that nice extended position the better and mobility/flexibility work definitely makes a difference in that regard. While working on these specific skills I’m also planning to do one day a week of nothing but easy sustained swimming, shooting for an hour of simply swimming with no real breaks.
I have had a number of training sessions since my last entry, most successful but one resulted in an over training response. In general I’ve been rotating during session across reg. swimming, snorkel swimming, buoy work. Each involves slightly different focal points and rotation allows to maintain better focus and work on during muscle groups. I’ve tried a number of formats but generally have gone with 3×100 Reg, snorkel, buoy and done this 6 times or 3×250 reg snorkel, buoy.
It seems like every time I get the tempo trainer out I wind up going at it a bit too hard then having that elevated HR afterwards. My other workouts have been fine just focused on technique issues. I just have to keep my HR fairly low while working out or I get response. I’m going to have telehealth conference about soon, not that I’m concerned since it’s been happening for many, many years.
Current focal points :
reg swim : neutral spine, streamline, don’t lift head when breathing-this is slow but turning to the left is feeling better all the time, not dramatic change, but noticeable.
snorkel-emphasize leg lift, involve entire frame, don’t swipe arm,nice steady pull
buoy-neutral spine, active core.
There’s going to be a lot of easy swimming until I get some resolution re HR. If I have to continue going easy that’s ok, I really enjoy those swims and feel great afterwards
Could it be that just the requirement of focusing and coordinating motion with (even an easy) tempo BEEP is raising the heart rate, or there is some line you cross with a faster tempo that bumps the HR up?
‘Easy’ swimming in terms of pushing the muscles or metabolism, but you keep it challenging (and intriguing) with all the skill projects you are working on!
Not sure where my other post went, but I saw your response in my email. I think you’re right about the TT. That really seems to jack my HR up a bit and I’m not sure why. I think the other night I swam just a bit too hard for too long. I’m pretty sure I can get some tempo work in if I cut back a good on distance-say holding to 1200 yards or so. For some reason when I’m listening to that beeper it’s hard not to start pushing even at slower tempos. The most frustrating part is that I don’t feel that tired or stressed when I’m doing it. It’s an interesting problem to tackle and while I’m working on it I can keep working on those focal points that I mentioned in my most recent post. Thanks for the response.
Nice workout last night. I continued to cycle through reg. swim, snorkel, buoy. Last night I swam 100s for a total of 1800 yards. What I noticed most was an increasing awareness of a nice easy rhythm. Resetting and changing the focus really seemed to highten a sense of efficiency. My SPL was pretty steady, but what I was attending to most were internal sensations that were guiding the application of effort. Good HR recovery, very satisfying swim, seem to be making some progress with keg position and streamline and breathing left continues to improve (slowly).
Not a lot of posts recently as this is a time of slow and gradual development. Working on building up the number of yards swum in a week. I realized that with the amount of drilling that I do that I was seldom covering much more than 1200 yards unless I made a point of just swimming. At this point I’ve worked up to getting 1800-2000 yards in while keeping HR recovery in a very reasonable zone-also morning HR has been in the low 50s suggesting that I’m not over training. Still working on the same focal points-neutral spine, head low on the turn to breathe and quick return to the water after breathing, focusing on moving the alternate leg up and integrating the kick with the core and the extension to form the catch. If the pools stay open in Salem I’ll probably come up for another lesson in a few weeks.
Well it appears that we’ll be headed back to dryland workouts for a weeks and possible until after the holidays are over given the recent surge in Covid-19 cases. During the past few workouts I’ve been working some of the time on getting very comfortable at TT1.4. I realize that this is a slow pace but my ideal is to get relaxed while staying on the beep. For whatever reason this has proven to be a bit stressful for me (as you have noted previously), but it’s getting better and I think with a slower ramp up I’ll be able to get 1.2 or 1.15 in several months. Last night swimming 25s at 1.4 felt great, avg. 16 strokes/length and felt a lot of extension, good rhythm and very streamlined (at least it felt that way to me). I’ll need more practice at this pace and moving up to 50s SPL will probably drop by 1 SPL-need to work on my turns so they are efficient but not stressful. Lots of nice internal perceptions last night so I’m sorry things are shutting down for a while but it will be a chance to put more emphasis on mobility and stretching.
Finally-pools are opening again and I have been bale to get back in the water. It’s reservations only and the time limit is 45 minutes, but at this point I’ll gladly take it. Felt great to get back in and most things (except endurance seemed to be in place). Still working on synchronising the front and back parts and really feeling the rotation. My hips are pretty tight so I’m working on that outside of the pool as well.Breathing right I feel like most of the time I’ve got one google almost underwater and in general I think my head position is better. the kick feels contained and a slight delay has made it seem more like my kick/foot flick is down instead of sideways. My neck is still a bit stiff breathing left and I’ll need to keep working on that in and out of the pool. In the past two weeks I’ve done all my longer continuous swims breathing right only. I feel much more aligned and comfortable and even now feel like I could swim all day. I’ll continue to work on breathing left and breathing every three. Forty five minutes isn’t that much time but i will have to do for now.
Just did a little visiting on the site and the new content is great. The material in Advanced Freestyle seems perfect for me at this point. The catch and hold addresses key issues that I really want to work on, particularly feeling the torso working more than the shoulders during the rotation. The drills you’ve laid out should be really helpful (even though it’s hard to drill when you only have 45 minutes). I’ll be scheduling a lesson as soon as I get vaccinated-having been through a year of this mess I’m being pretty careful until I can get some protection through being vaccinated. Anyway, great job on the new content, really looking forward to working with that material in the advanced freestyle course.
Hi Alex,
Sorry I’ve been so quiet. Quite swamped with family matters, study, work and just trying to stay sane through all this. Is the end of the tunnel in sight? I hope! Not sure I can get a vaccine in time to travel for a June swim camp in Turkey, but we’ll get out in these Oregon waters for sure.
I trust you’re getting more swimming in. Keep me posted on practice, and any questions you have about the Advanced materials in the Dojo.
I miss you and look forward to seeing you in person sometime in the sunny months ahead.
Good to hear from you Mat. Hope you can get that vaccine in time to travel in June. I just returned from Colorado and seeing my daughter and grandkids in person for the first time in a year. I am swimming more and ready to get more systematic with my workouts. My one big goal will be to maintain and hopefully even improve form while increasing turnover rate. Looking forward to seeing you again and getting in some outdoor water.
I struggle a little bit with finding a balance between working on some of the stroke particulars in the advanced freestyle section and also wanting to really up my turnover rate. I really want to minimize that stall that I often experience at the end of the glide so that I’m moving more continuously through the water.
I have a new wetsuit on the way that should be more flexible in the shoulders and am looking forward to trying it out at Tuner Lake. Sorry to hear about your mom, hope she is doing ok.
After much work on the quality of my stroke (still lot more needed) I decided I really need to spend some time working on my turnover rate. I don’t have a great desire to be fast, but I think to really improve the quality of my swimming I’m going to need to move a bit more quickly. This will no doubt entail the output of a bit ore energy, but not nearly as much as would be required if there ws a great deal wrong with my stroke. While there’s lots of work yet to be done I think I’m in a position to devote a good deal of time to getting that rate down to 1.00 without wrecking my stroke. ALthough it’s not altogether consistent with the TI approach I think one of the best ways to do this is t o spend a good deal of time with the TT and a snorkel. After several weeks I’m already getting much more comfortable at 1.10 and 1.15, working to keep the timing and stay as relaxed as possible so I’m not expending lots of unnecessary energy. I do add work without the snorkel as well but I find it very helpful to prep with the snorkel and get a very good feel for the tempo before I try it without the snorkel. I am breathing every two to make sure I’m not O2 stressed while trying to speed up my turnover. Kick timing almost feels better at these slightly faster turnover rates and Deb who happened to watch me from above at the DAC told me that my kick looked great, very streamlined, which was encouraging. Hope to get up to Salem for a lesson after our next visit to Colorado in April (new baby on the way). I’m still reviewing mechanics info from the Advanced Freestyle material and incorporating that into my sets as well.
Hi Alex. That sounds good. You feel drawn to the faster movements and are taking a technically careful approach. Yes, there is considerable advantage to expanding the comfortable tempo range and to normalizing a bit faster swimming from where you have been. The greater smooth flow of water under and around the body that can be achieved with your quality of movements will make things easier (more lift, conservation of momentum, etc) once you get your body adapted to the slightly increased effort.
Congrats on another grandchild!
Thanks Mat. I’m finding that a faster pace is feeling more and more natural, but will take time in terms of adjusting to the increased effort or improving the efficiency of my stroke to reduce as much as possible the increased effort needed. I’ve been using the TT a good bit and have started counting strokes to determine when my stroke starts to fall apart a bit. As with lots of things I tend to overdo it a bit and have recognized that I need to insert days that are not pace days and devoted to quiet swimming and technique work. I would like to get to the point where I am comfortable at 1.0o-1.05 for extended periods of time. That my take a good deal of time, but I’m oping it is a reasonable long term goal.
I’m off to Colorado soon for #3, hope to schedule a lesson when I return.
Still working on getting comfortable at a faster turnover rate. During the course of this work I’ve realized that a major goal is to be able to swim comfortably without stalling. This is somewhat subtle, but I still feel like I tend to stall a bit, generally after a breath but it even happens when I use the snorkel, so it’s not just the breathing. I working on figuring out what the issue is, but I’m pretty sure it’s related to my position in the water. My new mantra is -Stop the Stall- if you have any suggestions they would be much appreciated. If you’re doing lessons I’d like to come up after I return from a short trip to California (5/17).
Hey Alex!
How are you? You’ll be back from CA soon.
I’ve been swimming with a couple others at Turner Lake the last 3 weekends. Very nice to be there. Water was 64 F yesterday. I was in a sleeveless suit and neoprene cap, and I could have gone without the cap and possibly without the suit under the warm sun. I’ve been staying in sensory savoring mode on these swims and it is very nice.
We’re looking at dates for OW lake clinics this summer. What do you think about us having a clinic at Cottage Grove Lake on Sunday, July 11? I’d like to visit there, and perhaps earlier in the summer before too much algae.
I noticed that the payment for the Dojo failed on May 9. Let me know what you want to do with that. I can cancel it if you like, or we can find a fix for the payment problem.
The posture adjustment is going to take a while with dryland work helping me get the feel for activating the right muscles, but the one flipper exercise really helped immediately. That extra resistance helps me feel what it takes to initiate the movement with my hips. For whatever reason that was really hard to feel on the left side. I’m doing lots of 25 repeats trying to initiate with the hips, have the movement not be jerky and to be synchronized/connected with what the upper body is doing. I am starting to feel my legs come up with the torso adjustment, the issue is maintaining it over time (same with dorsi flexing the feet). Challenging stuff but it’s what I really love about swimming, always something to work on, just what an ageing brain needs. I’m going to try to come up either this coming Saturday or the next one (my wife returns from Colorado next Saturday so that may not work). Thanks for the lesson and remember to let me know how to pay you.
The initial training plan I sent after my last lesson was a bit too ambitious, but something very much like it should work. Some takeaways from that first workout;
I don’t really need separate sets for holding the right leg down and timing the kick of the right leg-a single focal point works just fine.
Working on keeping the legs separate so each is in place to kick when it should goes well with a focus on pelvic position. Using the muscles to keep the pelvis neutral helps with leg position which is great because this gets closer to the whole body working together rather than lots of little separate parts.
I’m excited to see what kind of changes are possible with a few months of focused work on what we discussed during the lesson ;
hip tilt to neutral
time left kick with extension
keep left leg down after it kicks (same goes for right leg)
Too bad about Waldo. I may try to get up to Turner one weekend if you do Saturday mornings.
How has it been going the last week or so? Making the connections, feeling the body unification?
I bet it’s nice at Amazon pool in this summer-fall transition.
Heather and Natalie came up today to Turner Lake and did a swim while I accompanied on the paddle board. Water was 66 and quite comfortable in wetsuits. A bit of wind kicked up just the right size waves to block a lot of the breaths when swimming into it.
I didn’t see that this had been posted (usually I get an email). I think it’s going well Mat, but the next videos will tell the tale. Keeping legs in place so each is ready to kick feels like it is getting much more consistent and lately the connection between the pull, the kick and turning to breathe is starting to feel quite good. Slowing the pull down really improves the feel for the water but it can be hard to maintain as stroke rate goes up. Trying to be aware of that slight core tension that tilts my hips and brings my legs up and I can feel that it makes a difference-it is not yet on autopilot but hopefully will be at some time.
We’re headed over to Bend next week, but I think I’d like to schedule a lesson for the following week-are you doing Tuesdays or Thursdays?
Great lesson Mat. I couldn’t resist a trip back to the pool this evening and the results were definitely noticeable. I did quite a few 25s with rest to bring clear focus to the repeats and I could really feel my legs coming up and that I was getting more distance for the same stroke effort and my 25 split times were dropping. I also began to feel an increased ability to use my glutes to lift the appropriate leg over time. The left side needs more work, but it’s coming. It’s really exciting when you have a breakthrough like this so thanks again for the advice.
I also encouraged Deb to come up regularly for a while and she seems interested in doing that but will need the scheduling link. Her email address is dcarver@uoregon.edu Good luck on that thesis.
That focal point-focus on the upward movement of the leg and initiate from higher up the chain (rather than the foot) continues to pay off. It’s going to take a good deal of work to sustain that effort and to condition the muscles I haven’t been using, but when it woks it feels almost effortless to glide through the water. I’m sure there re other aspects of my stroke that could use work , but this change is one I’ve been working on for some time with limited success and this feels like a real breakthrough. I’m doing lots of short repeats to maintain strong focus and at times to rest muscles that aren’t used to working.
Once I’ve had some time to work on this I’ll be back up.
Take Care and have a great holiday-hope you got lots done during your retreat.
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