The summer's over, SwimFit started back last week, and I've competed in my first competition of the new season. Phew just a few things to go at. But what did I do over the summer (swimming wise?). Well I had a plan, and thanks to the really quite workable lunchtime regime at Stockport, I managed to stick to it for most of the time. And what was that plan? Well I got some new paddles (another pair making a grand total of seven different types now) and I got a pull buoy.

No I have been really quite anti pullbuoys, and probably still am for just about every use you can think of. That's every use except... the one I was using it for. Basically I strapped my new paddles on, they're designed to help improve your catch (Early Vertical Forearm), stuff my pullbuoy between my knees and did lap-after-lap of catch-based sculling. I did sessions where I focussed solely on single-arm catch (dog-paddle) and others where I'd do double-arm sculling (a la Fly and breaststroke). To break these sessions up I'd do a few lengths "quality technique" swimming. So a typical session looked like:

Warm Up:
1 x 200 - 400 EZ
Main Set:
8 x 25 dog-paddle
4 x 25 FR
8 x 25 double-arm scull
4 x 25 Fly
repeat the above

And that was my summer break! But what did it do for me? What was I trying to achieve. Well firstly conscious that summer's not very long (especially when you include holidays and so forth), I wanted to concentrate on trying to get my forearm anchored much earlier in my stroke. A while back I drew on a sheet of A4 on of the main differences between me, those that are (considerably) slower than me, and those that are (considerably) faster than me. And one of the main differences, other than general balance, is how the stroking arm works. Basically "good" swimmers anchor much further out (in front of their heads) and keep that vertical position througout the stroke.

Now whilst my arm does anchor better than most slower swimmers, it is nowhere near as advanced as those I class as speedie. So working on trying to educate my stroke into having a more advanced catch seemed like a good idea.

This set of drills has had an additional benefit (even if I haven't made the switch in terms of catch position), and that is that it seems to have really helped my hand position. I used to pitch my hand out (at the wrist) as soon as my stroke started, but now that seems to have gone, so no more of Gary (triathlon coach) talking about "Mr Penguin Hands".

Has it made any (real) difference? Well I don't know yet. The problem is, as with a lot of this type of thing, is that I've got years of ingrained technique to deal with. I do know that my non-breathing strokes on butterfly "feel" better, now whether that equates to any speed benefits is yet to be seen.

Now I am back on the SwimFit program so it looks like there won't be as much time for this technique work. But as a bonus there will be time for some speed swimming (something that's been missing these past few weeks).

Anyway that was my summer. And only time will tell if anything stuck!