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Thanks Mat. Deb and I will be coming up together on the 8th. I’d like to get a bit of video as always and would really like a look at what’s going on under the water. I’ll have a 400 test time by then so we can also talk about some goal setting. See on the 8th.
Thanks for taking care of that Mat. I got back in the pool today and did another sprint workout-30×25 at 1.2. I counted all beeps on each lap and hit the wall at the 21st beep each time. It was the first time back in the pool after a break so I stopped at 30 and did some work on breathing. I noted that I never seem to have enough air for that burst as I turn to breath and often wind up sucking ome water in unless I turn my head farther than I should need to. I started working on just a tiny exhale as I turn my head back, holding just a bit and then having a forceful exhale as I turn to breathe. This was surprisingly easy and felt really good. I tired it first breathing every two and it was working great, so I tried it breathing every three and my last 25 was right at 20 seconds and felt pretty darn good. I was already tired from the 30×25 so I was only doing 25s but definitely plan to work on this some more.
Just getting started today on the Vranich exercises
I still can’t get into either the sprint training plan or the 1k course. I tried a number of different avenues, but nothing seemed to work. The sprint class option asked me to renew my membership and the 1k training plan indicated I didn’t have access to that material.
Oh well, the pool was jammed today, so full that I just left to go climb. I guess it’s those few weeks of the year when everyone decides that they’re going to get in shape.
Happy New Year
Thanks for alerting me to that. The sprint course expired today and I extended that. And the MC1K course had a setting I needed to adjust and that should be open for you now.
Your discovery of that better exhale management adjustment is exciting. Regulating just the right (partial) exhale volume and the timing of it is another sub-skill in that whole breathing situation. That goes to show that you’ve likely got many more amazing discoveries and breakthroughs awaiting you just in the fundamental skills, as you review and rediscover them on deeper levels than before.
Thanks Mat. I was really excited about the breathing observation as well. It was at the very end of a sprint workout and I only did a few laps but noticed a big difference ad was really surprised when I decided to try it breathing every three and sort of cruised a 20 sec lap (pretty fast for me). That may have been a fluke, but I’m sure as a work on this I’m going to notice a definite decrease in the sense of breathlessness that I often struggle with. Breathing every three I realized my exhalation has been so forceful at the outset that I’m doing a good bit of swimming on no or at least little oxygen. Really looking forward to exploring this and any oher discoveries that may come my way.
Back in the pool today after a lot of holiday craziness and on limited time. I just jumped in and did a 1k uninterrupted. Haven’t done more than 250 uninterrupted in quite some time so it seemed like a bit of a grind and I did it breathing right only since I haven’t done any distance in some time. I didn’t use a TT but was pretty consistently hitting 19SPL with the 19th being the reach to the wall. When I looked at the pace look (only several times I was around 33 sec). My final time was 23 min 10 sec- the fastest I’ve ever done it, averaging about 2 min 16 sec per 100 or 34 sec /lap. I didn’t feel like I was swimming all that well so I can definitely get this down. Does this data seem adequate for a starting point? My lap times were pretty consistent at 300 yards/ 600 yards and 900 yards. I’d love to get under 20 minutes, but that is going to be a long term project. Based on SPL and lap times it looks like I was at about a TT rate of low 1.4 something and I feel like with traning and more work on streamline I should be able to get down to a steady TT of 1.3 Hopefully we can strategize on Wednesday.
If you can set up a few months of consistent training, that would stack a lot in your favor of making a nice improvement in your 1K time. You understand the systematic approach, monitoring stroke count and tempo, which, within a few weeks, will reveal where your improvement opportunities are and you’ll have a sense the effort those may require. I think 16 second improvement and more is within reach. The strength you’ve gained from sprint work will support this. We’ll talk Wednesday.
We could meet at Battle Creek or Lancaster club.
At Battle Creek, we could start as early as 9 am up until 1 pm. There is a water exercise class in the warm pool until 10:15 – it would be a bit nicer to work with Deb in that warm water for a bit so she doesn’t get chilled, but we could stay moving in the lap lane.
At Lancaster club we could meet from 11am to 1pm – warmer water in that lap pool, easier for lessons.
Thanks Mat-I’ m looking forward to getting into a more consistent routine as my schedule has been kind of crazy while working on the sprint project-very inconsistent, but it still produced some nice gains.
As I noted in the direct email whatever Deb wants to do is fine with me.
BTW : Heather is loving the water at Dexter in her new wetsuit (46 degrees)-safe to say I won’t be joining her for a while.
Thanks for the lesson Mat and the videos, they really are very helpful and let me know what I need to keep working on. I’m going to start working on my training plan as well as a specific skill development plan which I can share with you when you get back.
I think Deb gets it and is definitely motivated to continue down the TI path, given her overall athleticism she’ll come along faster than me.
Espero que disfrutes el viaje a un lugar muy linda- we can schedule the next lesson once you’re back
after my last lesson I spent sometime with the videos Mat took at the end of the lesson and noted several things. I still need to work on maintaining skate while the opposite arm is recovering. This is more prevalent on the right breathing side than the left. I’m still lifting my head too much to breathe left, my right arm drops, my legs splay for balance and my hips sink. We worked a bit on a drill to practice holding skate until the head is back to neutral after a breath. I think I need lots of work on this. I can also practice this as a focal point while swimming.
I’ve decided to work for a while on swimming with ease-no rushed breath, no gasping. I can fight my way through a thousand yards or more but my inefficiencies make it too much of an effort for my taste. I’m currently swimming about four days a week and I’m starting each workout with a 1k warm up of very relaxed swimming (27-28 min for the distance). I’m ok with being at a plateau for a while as I try to work out some aspects of my stroke that have been problematic for some time.
After several weeks of working on some stroke corrections while breathing left I find myself pretty frustrated. I’ve gotten some help (and will get more ) from my PT, done stretching and worked pretty hard on the left breathing part of the stroke and it never seems to get much better. The drills go well and then when whole stroke starts things seem to fall apart. I have not been able to experience a sense of ease while breathing every three at almost any pace and after several strokes the old faults return. I also still have difficulty coordinating and controlling my legs when I breathe left. Maintaining skate while I breathe right and not starting to pull until the recovering arm enters the water is going well and I also feel like I am able to breathe right without lifting my head much.
Given all this my question is, how much time should I devote to correcting the left side breathing while working on the 1k training? At this point I’m inclined to just breathe right and do some training.
It’s a good question and perhaps one without an easy answer. The weak side breathing for most is going to feel not quite as good as the strong side, even at its best, least disruptive state. But for you, does it work well enough, at low enough cost, that you can still use it regularly without too much internal reluctance to use that side? It may not be 50/50 for both sides, but even just inserting 1 out of every 3 breaths will help improve or allow flexibility to your average breath rate.
Thanks Mat-I’ll give that a try, perhaps breathing left one out of three or even one out of four will allow me to maintain a sense of ease. I enjoy not stopping at the wall, but I don’t want most of my swims to feel like a struggle. I’d like to work on this for a week or two and then come up for a check in to see how things look.
After several workouts I ‘ve decided to simply continue working on breathing every three, it seems to be the least disruptive pattern and right now the most comfortable after breathing right every two. If I can remember to exhale right before the inhale, keep my head low and hold my skate and not swipe down hard with my lead arm when my head returns to neutral (while breathing left) then I can swim 500 or more pretty comfortably. I’m going to stay away from timing and work on quiet swimming while cycling through focal points lap by lap. I should probably just keep working on this before I have another lesson as I think you’ve been clear about what I need to do and now I have to do the work.
When breathing every three gets a bit better I’ll start to work on my 1K.
I’ve probably done this more than once, but I have realized that breathing comfortably every three is going to take a LONG time. Breathing left is still awkward and the latest video shows that my legs splay (sideways) my hips drop, I tend to left my head more and these are things I’ve been trying to correct for goodness knows how long. I think a lot of the difficulty has to do with the tightness of my hips which I’m working on outside of the pool but the PT says hips come around VERY slowly so I’ll have to be patient. The changes on that left side have been so slow that I’ve become frustrated and tempted to just give up, but that’s in my weaker moments so I’ll just keep working on it inside the pool and out.
In the meantime when I return from Colorado (3/8 I’ll resume work on my 1k. Several times recently I’ve just jumped in and done a 1k and I’m usually right at 25 or a little under, right where I have been for quite some time. That’s a very comfortable 1k and at times I wonder if I need or want to swim it any faster. What I want is to be able to do it breathing every three which I have done before but it was uncomfortable and several minutes slower.
You’ve been very generous with access to the 1k course so I’m comfortable paying for the course while I’m working on it. I think I should still have 1 lesson left which I’ll take advantage of after I return.
This is going to seem like I’m a little crazy, and maybe that’s not much of a stretch. I got in the pool today and warmed up with a 500. Nothing too unusual about that excepet that breathing every three felt good, I started off very casually and when I hit 500 my swim watch said that 10’20” had elapsed when I typically do this in 12 to 13 minutes. I’ve been working on my hips a lot lately and rotating left to breathe is feeling much better, legs are less awkward, skate arm is more comfortable waiting for the entry arm to pull. Frankly all of this surprised me and even if the time had not been that fast (for me that is) I would have felt great about how comfortable this 500 was. I’m off to Colorado in few days, so I’m still planning to wait until I return to start working on the 1k program, but now I’m really looking forward to it.
Well, maybe that 500 breakthrough is not so crazy. You’ve been nurturing the roots underneath.
10 min 20 for ‘easy’ 500 is a great sign of your improvement and potential. Perhaps, your body is blossoming from all the patient, gentle investment you’ve made in developing your skills.
The 1K program is there for you when you are ready!
Thanks Mat. I’ll be back in the pool soon. The dry land work on stretching and breathing (Buteyko method from the Oxygen Advantage) seem to be working. Hope the ventures are going well
Well, as it turns out I haven’t been back in the pool at all. I’m staying at home pretty much, running early in the morning and doing calisthenics, but I haven’t been too eager to go to the public pool (now closed) or to swim at my club which remains open. Over the years I’ve often taken lengthy breaks from an athletic activity of choice and it’s usually worked out pretty well. I hope that once this virus is somewhat contained I can get back in the pool and I’m very much looking forward to that. Thanksfully I discovered slow jogging a running protocol developed by Dr. Tanaka a Japanese physician and researcher. Now I can slow jog every day for an hour and feel great afterwards. I hope things are ok for Mediterra Swim in this very difficult time.
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