Lesson Series Summer 2019

[Mat Hudson]

Pool Session – July 24

I have you swim two lengths while I made observations. We decided that I would help you work on just a few things that would be most helpful to you right away for your triathlon coming up this weekend, rather than review all the skills systematically (we can do that later).

I counted you taking more than 24 strokes to get down the lane.

I had you work on keeping the body line long and stretches (firm) and the legs tied in to that long body line. Then you can quiet the leg movement while allowing the body to slide along at the surface more easily.

I had you work on maintaining your Skate (streamline) position longer, so that you get more distance per stroke. And, this requires that you bring that recovery arm farther forward, overlapping the lead arm, before switching the arm and turning the torso, which shifts your weight to the other side. This allows you to travel farther per stroke and to connect the catch/pull to the torso rotation (like using your hip to pull on that stubborn lawn mower cord!).

And I had you work on keeping that lead arm extended in Skate while you turn and return the head from breathing, to protect your streamline and support while breathing.

Spine and Legs

Activities

• Superman glide with focal.points

Focal Points

• Tippy toes
• Neutral head
• Quiet legs

 

Streamline Position

Activities

• 1-Arm Superman To Skate, w donut in lead hand, no breathing 

Focal Points

• Long straight skate position 
• Hold it just a moment to slide farther forward
• Tippy toes 

 

Arm Switch Timing and Breathing

I had you swim a series of 50s with different…

Activities

• 1 Arm swimming all the way down the lane
• 1 Arm with 3 strokes one one side, the 3 strokes on the other side (3:3)
• 1 Arm mostly 2:2 then occasional 1:1
• 1 Arm mostly 1:1 then occasional 2:2 to retune overlap
• Skating (holding skate position a moment before switching)

Focal Point

• Come almost to Superman before switching arms
• Maintain patient lead arm while turning returning face to breathing, especially on R breathing L lead arm

When you swam with 1 Arm you took just 18  strokes to get down the lane!

 

Tempo Adaptation

Finally, I had you do the same careful strokes with a Tempo Trainer to help you adapt these movements to a faster stroke.

I had you start at 1.65 second tempo for several 50s. You were permitted to increase the tempo by -0.05 seconds if you felt like you could hold that better stroke pattern without struggle at the current tempo. You could stay at the same tempo for another lap or two if your body needed more time to adapt.

Then you did 1x 50 at tempo 1.60 

Then you did 2x 50 at tempo 1.55

Then you did 1x 50 at tempo 1.50

Then you did 3x 50 at tempo 1.45 at the end.

This gave us some idea of what tempo you could swim with while maintaining your form.

 

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