Swimming with Billy

I've joined a trend...

by BillOddy @ 2008-07-03 – 20:39:14

For the last couple of months, everytime I go to Amazon I get adverts for those bloomin' PowerBalls. So I gave up and got one (arrived yesterday). I've watched a few saddo-videos on YouTube (not the best selling medium for this type of thing) and read a bit about what they are supposed to promise. According to the "blurb" they're great for hand/grip/forearm/upper arm rehabillitation. And they are good for those sports that need good forearm strength (citing things like golf and tennis), they also supposed to be good for musicians (building forearm/finger strength).

So anyway mine arrived yesterday and Ive had a couple of goes yesterday and one just now. I have to say it's clearly a skill (amongst other things) as my left hand/arm co-ordination has been shown to be incredably poor!

When you do get it working, it really does pack a punch. Something to do with physics and centrapetal/pedal forces but get the thing spinning at a reasonable velocity (I am yet to hit any dizzy heights) and you can really feel your lower arm working.

I read a long time back that those little hand-grip-squeezie things are good for building/strengthening your lower arms. And on one swimming site they recommended this as just another handy exercise to do, the rational being that you use your hand/wrist/forearm as your main anchor point whilst swimming, so perhaps strengthening it wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Anyhow we'll see how it goes...

Crusader League: Oakengates

by BillOddy @ 2008-06-23 – 18:51:23

Well this was an interesting old meet, basically because of how we (my car load) quite spectacularly failed to find the venue - we got their just on the cusp of warm-up start, so we did okay in the end. But we had an "interesting" journey getting there.

Sadly we didn't have a big team for this meet, so we were always going to "loose". Having said that the kids that were there did their best and are probably better for the experience. From my position - the senoirs did well: Rick won the 100 back, Tim the 100 free and second (just) in 100 breast and I... well I lost the 100 fly - no surprises there! Relay wise we won both the medley and free, so overall we did okay there.

Didn't get many of the times, our 200M free relay I anchored in 28.3, Tim lead with 27.x, I guess Rick and Gary must have done similar because we finished with 1:50. The 100M fly I did 1:11 which was okay (out 34.x back 36.x).

And so the end of this years Crusader and we're relegated to the 3rd division. But that was always on the cards as we haven't the squad (male boys) to make a full team very often!

Heart Attack set!

by BillOddy @ 2008-06-04 – 18:16:35

Well that's what I thought when I was swimming it yesterday. So I've had a week off, and although I'd boasted that I'd been swimming four times whilst on holiday, in actuallity that's four times in the paddling pool with the kids on holiday.

All I can say is this was a real shock to the system - crap food, dodgy drink for a week and... bang goes my swimming ability.

Warm Up
1 x 300 EZ
12 x 25 kick on RI 10 (swum 1-4 IM order)

Main set:
8 x 100 on 2:15 swum...
1 x 50 Max effort
1 x 50 active recovery (BK for me)

Warm Down
10 x 25 RI 10s swum as breath control starting with breathing every 5 up to no-breathing

All I can say is that my "fast" swims started okay (30.5) and gradually declined (33.3) the last one I managed a bit quicker (32.5). God I was knackered though!

End of a long week

by BillOddy @ 2008-05-23 – 20:35:46

I'm off on holiday next week So no swimming

This weeks been tiring and hard work, I don't really know why, I think it's probably down to me cooking up something again (I blame the kids). However today's practice was more of the same with a bit of a twist. The basic idea was to swim at a reasonably hard pace through out. What made it more challenging was a couple of fast swims thrown in.

Warm Up
1 x 400 EZ
6 x 50 fly kick on side (I love this)

Main Set (repeat 3 times)
1 x 50 on 1:00 brisk
1 x 200 on 4:00 swum at the preceding 50M pace
2 x 50 fast (PB + 4) on 1:00

The fast 50M repeats I was managing to hold around 32 pace, which was about right, the last two however I managed a 31 and then a 29.6 (this from a dive) to finish with. The downside of this set was the 200M repeats weren't particularly fast (2:35 - 2:44). However the fast swims were okay!

What do you wear?

by BillOddy @ 2008-05-19 – 21:31:42

Very excited today as I got my first (early) birthday present - a couple of new pairs of drag shorts. These are from Zuma and are a rather natty black with a big Zuma logo across the backside. They're much bigger than my Keifer ones and look all together cooler...

Tomorrow I'll take them out for a spin!

As an added bonus they were only £10 each on e-bay!

2008 Yorkshire Open (Scarborough)

by BillOddy @ 2008-05-12 – 20:54:59

This last Saturday was the day of the Scarborough (Yorkshire) open Masters competition. It was a right scorching day and the swimming was good. As is my usual - if it's a long journey I book into a B&B the night before, this had the added advantage that I didn't need to pay for parking on the day. Scarborough pool is a 6 lane 25M pool, its one downside was the shallowness of the (well) shallow end - just 0.9M so it took a little while for me to adjust for flip turning!

Another thing that struck me was the size of some of the male swimmers - *big*. But size isn't everything, and I had to remind myself that my first event last year I was a touch intimidated by the size and quality of some of the swimmers. So I just calmed down and did my bit.

As is the way with these events, the people you sit with tend to be really nice people, and Saturday was no exception - I sat with a team from Wetherby and they were really nice, and it helped pass the time. Something else that was really good about this event was that it wasn't rushed. The morning session finished and they had an hour's break between it and the afternoon. This was really good, because Scarborough's a lovely town and I hopped off to the beach for half-an-hour and chilled with a cup of green tea from a shore side cafe... nice!

As to my swimming, well some was okay, some was poor and one bit unpleasantly scary. Probably the best swim was the 200M free, in the lane next to me was a lady some 10+ years my junior who'd entered a time just quicker than me. I think we both swam better than we would have done because of the presure. Alas she did beat me but that's because I didn't put the throttle down until the final length. I caught up quite a bit then, but she had longer finger nails and out touched me by 0.1s! But I was really pleased with the effort I put in on the last 25, it felt fast and my time recorder said it looked pretty good. As for the rest the 50M free was okay, I clocked 28.55 - it should have been sub-28 but I did the bad thing and took that extra breath (that I didn't need). What was annoying about that was I finished 5th where third was just 0.11 in front of me - I should have done better (must stop breathing!)

As for the rest, the fly was a bit hit and miss (more miss really) and the 100 IM/free were slow! In my defence the afternoon didn't start very well (other than the 200M because I tried to rip my right-hand ring finger off!) I got my ring caught in part of the housing of the blocks when practicing my dives and it felt like I was trying to rip my finger appart from the knocukle joint (very sickly feeling). So the afternoon session I was a touch gun-shy on my dives - not important on the 200M but would have been usefull on the shorter ones.

Anyway, it's over now and I had a good day, all things concidered:

Event	Time	Position
100M Fly	1:12.68	3rd
50M Free	0:28.55	5th
200M Free	2:23.80	3rd
100M Free	1:04.44	4th
50M Fly	0:31.43	3rd
100M IM	1:13.23	3rd

I am not Bill Clinton...

by BillOddy @ 2008-05-08 – 22:39:00

... I'll get to that later...
Today was an interesting taper set - a bit of all sorts:

Warm Up:
1 x 400M EZ

Main set:
12 x 25M kick (odds fast 1st 10, evens fast last 10)
4 x 50M 25 max turnover (high stroke count), 25 low stroke count
4 x 50M IM style (strong first 25, fast second 25)
4 x 25M sprint from dive (hyper toxic breath control)

The worst thing of the above was the second 25 breast stroke - I hate breast stroke, but this felt good until I breathed in when I shouldn't and got a "gallon" of water down my wind pipe. I knew I hated breast stroke... Unlike Bill Clinton I did inhale!

Tapering - part 1

by BillOddy @ 2008-05-07 – 22:44:57

I should be tapering this week, ahead of this coming weekend's Masters competition in Scarborough. And I think I am a bit, except that I feel really knackered and achie at the moment. Yesterday's session was okay (not withstanding the aches) but tonight's was grim. I opted out of the tri-session (3 x 400M followed by 2 x 400 broken on 100M) and did some gentle speed work - but it just felt pretty dreadful and I was thankful to get out of the pool... not really what was wanted, and hopefully tomorrow will be a touch more like it. Oh and to top it all my current favorite goggles have decided to start misting up all the time (washed and anti-fogged them tonight, but this could be their last week - they have been warned!)

Tuesday:
Warm up:
1 x 400 EZ
4 x 50 kick (15s vertical fly under the deep end flags)

Main set:
4 x 50M on 70s PB + 3/5
4 x 50M on 80s PB + 3/5
4 x 50M on 90s PB + 3/5
4 x 50M on 100s PB + 3/5

I got to do 1 & 4 on PB + 3/5 and 2 & 3 EZ.

Wednesday:
Warm up:
1 x 400 EZ
8 x 25 kick (fast 10, build to fast, EZ, fast)
Main set:
16 x 25 fast/fist last 10M
2 x 50 EZ
8 x 25 fast/fist first 10M
2 x 50 EZ
4 x 25 build to fast
Warm down:
1 x 200M

Where does technique fit in a swim program?

by BillOddy @ 2008-05-01 – 22:59:05

Now there's a question. Last night during our triathlon session our coach told me of a mature swimmer (a runner) who used to swim with us but has since moved on to another session (in a different pool). Now this swimmer is a real struggler - very little (natural) ability and swims incredably slowly and poorly, this isn't because he's unfit, on the contrary the guy's a very fit fell and distance runner. It's because water is a very alien substance to him and swimming's really hard.

It appears that he's given up our sessions and moved to a technique oriented setting where he was seen taking 45-50s to complete a length. These sessions are TI-like, but don't know the whole ins-and-outs. However I do know of the chap that runs these sessions, I know that he isn't a bonefide TI instructor (because that costs a whole heap of money to get through their accreditation) but he does have (some) coaching qualifications. And I know that he says he teaches TI-based swimming.

And I also know that when he came to watch/help at one of our sessions a few years back he made an absolute point of staying away from me both before/after the session and whilst I was in the pool. This I found interesting - because I was then, and still am, a big advocate of TI - and I would have thought some conversation would have been interesting/useful to both parties. The person who brought him to the club had told him my history in TI so may be that concerned/worried him - don't know... but I have my suspicions.

TI - isn't anything special (I think Terry Laughlin, founder of TI, would agree) it's just based on a number of core techniques, philosophies of a (large) number of very good swimmers. And here's the rub - our triathlon coach agrees that there's nothing special about TI because all good swimmers need balance and a certain level of technique. Now where he has problems with TI is in its over accentuating of certain aspects of technique (extended front quadrant swimming for one), and perhaps the biggest issue the general lack of speed of TI swimmers.

Now I have a slightly different slant, but that's because I am bias, but I believe I can see this from both sides. Front quadrant (FQ) swimming when drilled is/can be very catch up like, and a lot of drilling can be bias towards catch up. And it's true you just don't see any fast swimmers racing with a catch up stroke. However FQ is but one aspect of TI, and most very fast swimmers have a degree of FQ in their stroke. This is where a lot of pro-TI/anti-TI people get all hot under the collar, but I stand by the previous statement - because the devil is in the semantics of what FQ is. My definition is:

Front quadrant swimming is where, during some point of the stroke cylce, both arms are within the front quadrant of your body space (i.e. somewhere in front of your ear/temple area).

That doesn't mean just mean catch up, though by the above definition it is clear that catchup is FQ. If you watch most very fast swimmers their stroking and recovering arms will cross very close to the temple area. In longer distance swimming (look at Ian Thore and Grant Hackett) this cross over happens more towards the forehead - very definitely FQ.

No, the problem here is that a lot of TI based coaching (including self coaching) seem to miss this point - and end up swimming catch-up. The second most common failing is that people learning the TI way - do so slowly. One of the key aspects is to learn to drill thoughtfully and slowly, focusing on one aspect at a time (swimming's hard don't forget). However there is a real catch here in that some people (a lot from the people I see doing TI-based stuff) never progress passed this.

I know, from my own experience, I did a whole lot of drilling for a very long and protracted period. And I got quite fast (especially since I'd never really swum as a youngster and at that stage never with a club), but there was a definite ceiling on my speed. And that was TI-based self limitation, I'd gotten so used to drilling and the feel of my stroke (and yes I liked it) that I simply couldn't sprint/swim really fast. So I fell right into the anti-TI sweet-spot(sic) in that I had a very pretty stroke, was very efficient, but just didn't have that much speed.

It really is only in the last year or so that I've started/learnt to let go a bit, and swim fast. I still do this in a TI-way (read the last post about things I've been consciously experementing with) but I do now swim for speed.

In TI's defence - there is nothing I've read, nor seen from the upper-end of the TI "team" that says anything about TI being for slow swimmers. But what's missing somewhere in the message is where/how to take this technique stuff to the next level and swim fast.

Now back to our ex-triathlete swimmer. I think doing technique based swimming when you are basically a beginner/learning/a poor swimmer is the right way to go. What I do worry about, is the mind set of some coaches who advocate TI but use it as a meal ticket. I hope that he gets what he wants out of his sessions, and that his coach is a good one.

So back to my original question - where does technique fit? For me swimming is probably one of the most technique driven sports there is - it is so alien to most of us. So you've got to put the mileage in doing technique work. But it's got to be techique that's fit for your purpose. And there is more than just technique - get the basics, then go and swim; learn a bit more, then go and swim; set your goals and go and swim. My goals now are to swim really fast (sub-27 is my lofty target). Am I going to get there? Who knows! How am I going to try? Well with a combination of both technique and raw - fast - swimming. Speed doesn't come only from technique, but technique has a lot to do with it.

Lactic Thursday

by BillOddy @ 2008-05-01 – 22:10:15

Today was a right old leg wobbler. The main set was a set of six (though I only manage five-and-a-half) 25/50M spring combinations. The last one was really good. I had intended to swim odds fly, and evens free, but third set just wasn't good. So we decided that that was enough fly (muscles definitely not recovered after yesterday). And the forth set was cut short with more rest for oxygen deprived body. However the last two were good, my 50M times were 29.8 and 29.1 (turned in 13.5). But what was good was my technique - I've been trying to get this high-elbow thing working and I can hold that style of technique (see earlier PB+x sets). However this degrades, through lack of practice/just learning as I pick up the pace.

Well on these final two sets I concentrated on trying to get my elbow higher in my catch, but I also concentrated on something else. Apparently when sprinting, after the first half length or so my stroke shortens dreadfully. But probably more importantly as it shortens (and I can feel this) I tighten up so exaserbating the issues. Well on these two final 25/50M repeats I also concentrated on pushing/thrusting my recovering hand forwards. This had quite a few possitive effects: firstly lengthed my stroke again; secondly helped my core/hip rotation and thirdly with this higher elbow catch it felt like I was anchoring and pulling myself over a huge wall of solid water - a feeling I don't get that often.

Now what was even better (getting carried away here) was that on the final repeat after a good turn my first (or was it second?) breathing stroke went horribly wrong (inhaling water), and I needed take two/three additional breaths on the next strokes!! So I know that the middle 10/12meters or so of the second length weren't good. And I still managed a 29-low.

But I was severly knackered afterwards!!

Warm Up:
1 x 400M EZ
8 x 50M free RI 10
swum (odds fast kick, evens swim with fast kick)
4 x 25M last ten "rocky" (fists windmilling like crazy)

Main Set:
6 x 25M (on 1:00) + 50M (on 2:00) fast

Warm Down:
1 x 100M EZ (ran out of time for anything else)