tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2009-11-21:/A blog about me and my swimming (just an average swimmer trying to get better). I am a Total Immersion oriented swimmer. TI has worked pretty well for me so far... MokoFeed2009-11-21T20:50:14+01:00tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2009-07-22:/2009/07/22/been-away-6569607/BillOddy2009-07-22T22:48:35+02:002009-07-22T22:48:35+02:00 <p>In more ways than one, as you can see by my lack of posts I've not been around much. Quite a lot has happened in my little life. Firstly I had an enforced lay off from swimming (and all other types of activity) because I had "men's health problems". Thankfully they were discovered in time, but I needed some surgery and other stuff. So no swimming for a while. Then secondly (and still on going) the company I work for is trying to self-destruct, and it's doing so in a quite unpleasant way. So whilst I've been back in the pool for a while, the work situation has clouded my internet enthusiasm.</p> <p>Sadly the work fiasco is still on going, but it is time to get that part of my life back in order... and hence a post or two.</p> <p>So what's been happening swimming wise? Well the end of last year I hit two land mark times (50 fly and 100 fly) and prior to my illness I'd decided that this was the year I was going to make a mark in these events, well I'd set myself a serious challenge for the 100 fly. And then illness in January, so I thought my challenge for the rest of this year would be to get back to some level of competitive fitness.</p> <p>Cutting a long story short, my first meet back was Scarborough. I really like Scarborough and it was a good time for a competition. And I swam okay. No, I actually swam better than okay considering the circumstances. I won't bother with the times but they were pretty close to last year's times (in fact overall I was some 2/3 seconds quicker this year). So that was a good one. Then I managed to get picked to be in the Buxton Crusader team and swum the IM relay (50 fly), free relay (50 free) and the individual 100 fly. And of those, hand timed, I managed to hit my pre-illness goal for this year - I was well buzzing after that! And couldn't wait until Blackpool last month. </p> <p>And Blackpool was brilliant. If you get a chance to swim there - go, it's a really good modern pool. Swim wise I got three PBs and two near PBs. The crowning glory was the 100 fly where I beat my new hand-timed record with a 1:08.45. I was chuffed to bits, and now want to see if I can get into the 1:06 area - that and a decent 50 free, before the end of the year.</p> <p>This last seven months have been "interesting" and I now need to move on, as they say... 1:06 here we come! (I hope) </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2009/07/22/been-away-6569607/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2009-01-06:/2009/01/06/60-59-58-5334950/BillOddy2009-01-06T23:36:55+01:002009-01-06T23:36:55+01:00 <p>Not quite the first swim of the year (that was last Friday), but this was the first Swim Fit session and it was pretty tiring in a "good" way. It was a bit of fun, but it was a stressful fun. The main set was a series of 50M repeats, starting on a turn around of 60s then each repeat going on a turn around 1 second quicker than the previous. So you start with 60s, then 59s, then 58s... until you get to a point where you can't make the turn around. I got as far a 39s so managed 21 repeats. It was a funny set because it felt okay until right near the end when it just fell apart (probably on repeat 20).</p> <p>Warm Up<br> 1 x 200M EZ<br> 7 x 50M (25 fast kick, 25 Popov)</p> <p>Main Set<br> 'n' x 50M descending turn around from 60s</p> <p>Warm Down<br> 1 x 100M </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2009/01/06/60-59-58-5334950/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-12-26:/2008/12/26/satch-and-the-south-yorkies-5281921/BillOddy2008-12-26T22:14:54+01:002008-12-26T22:14:54+01:00 <p>Hey, here's a surprise, I've not posted for an absolute age. Next week, New Year and all that, we'll see what can be done about that. For now though, you can watch this little expose. The Swim Fit Stockport group went-a-swimming at the South Yorkshire Masters a few weeks back and I put some of it to music. Watch and enjoy if you wish...</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/12/26/satch-and-the-south-yorkies-5281921/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-11-07:/2008/11/07/serious-workout-time-5001354/BillOddy2008-11-07T23:08:11+01:002008-11-07T23:08:11+01:00 <p>Two rather different sessions today... this lunchtime was a "sprint" set and this evening a... well I don't know what you'd call it, but it was definitely a session.</p> <p>The sprint one was physically tiring, once the lactate builds up (like immediately) that's it - the body rejects pretty much everything else:</p> <p>Warm Up<br> 1 x 200 EX<br> 8 x 50 kick (odds fast, evens build to fast)</p> <p>Main Set<br> 3 x 50 Max from dive in 5 minutes<br> 2 x 25 Bungie cord swim<br> 4 x 25 Max from dive<br> 2 x 25 drag alert (tow your partner to the other end of the pool)<br> 1 x 50 Max from dive</p> <p>Warm down<br> 1 x 100 EZ</p> <p>Killer lactate set, my first 50 was 28.9, second 32.5 (fly) and third 30.5 by then I was beyond caring. The final 50 was okay 28.9 again. Craig has started having a go at my turnover. And I've got to say that at the moment it's not great, when "sprinting" I seem to have lost that feel for the water that I used to have.</p> <p>This evening with the Buxton kids, a different sort of set (and boy am I going to be broken tomorrow...)</p> <p>Warm up<br> 1 x 800 FR</p> <p>Main set<br> 20 x 50 on 1:00 (odds fly, evens free)<br> 1 x 600 (100 fly, 100 free, 100 fly, 100 back, 100 fly, 100 breast)<br> 5 x 25 fast (free, fly, free, fly, free)</p> <p>Warm down<br> 1 x 100</p> <p>What a killer main set. The 20 x 50 was okay, the fly wasn't great but the free felt good - that feel of the water was there for this set (but then I wasn't going quick). I spent the whole time breathing to the left and focusing on getting that hand/arm catching "really" well.</p> <p>I need to do some more experimenting here, but those repeats where I did a more straight arm recovery with my right arm, the better my catch was with my left.</p> <p>The 600M was, well as grim as could be expected. Tomorrow I'll ache, that's for sure! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/11/07/serious-workout-time-5001354/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-11-06:/2008/11/06/average-joes-4996649/BillOddy2008-11-06T23:52:14+01:002008-11-06T23:53:09+01:00 <p>Er no, I don't think so...</p> <p>A couple of weeks back were the British Short Course Masters in Sheffield. For a number of reasons I didn't go two of the SwimFit group did - Craig and Martin. Martin swims with us and Craig takes the sessions, and both are very quick. Anyway they entered the "young persons relay" (72+ age group) and won with a time of 1:35.70 which is a British record.</p> <p>Anyway here's the video of their swim...</p> <p>Oh the title of this post is the same as theirs on YouTube - average? Er no I don't think so! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/11/06/average-joes-4996649/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-11-05:/2008/11/06/purgatory-for-a-friend-4991618/BillOddy2008-11-06T00:13:33+01:002008-11-06T00:15:08+01:00 <p>We did a session last week (SwimFit) that was shear hell. Actually a lot of last week was horrible. I happened to mention to Craig that we did a grim lactate set in the previous triathlon session (75 best effort + 125EZ repeat 6 times). And I think that inspired him, so the main session was four lots of:</p> <p>1 x 50M kick fast<br> 1 x 200M free (2:40-45 pace for me)<br> 1 x 25M submerged starting block push</p> <p>Now the grim bit was the starting block push. Basically each swimmer had a starting block upside down in the pool and had to push it from shallow to deep on the odd repeats and back again on the evens. That was grim enough but the best/worst bit is a friend of mine RT (a chap I work with) comes once a week to these sessions and came to this one. Now to be very fair to him, he's not the best swimmer in the world, he is getting better but swimming (for him) is hard work.</p> <p>So we set off and me being quicker finished my first two repeats and was on my third 200M swim when RT was heading back to the shallow end with the block. Now for those of you who don't know, Grand Central has a clever contraption the can vary the depth of the "shallow end" from very shallow to 2.4M (which is the depth of the centre of the pool). Usually the shallow end is 1.2M so the clever contraption, about 10M our slopes down from 1.2 to 2.4M.</p> <p>When pushing the block to the deep end this is "fine", but coming back the other way... well lets just say that poor RT got stuck - got the block to the bottom of the ramp, took a deep, swum down to the block, pushed it about half way up, stopped, came to the surface for a breath, swum down, rescued the block from the bottom of the pool, pushed it up about half way, stopped, came to the surface... repeat as often as you like.</p> <p>Now I am not laughing - okay I am, because it was funny. But poor RT knew after the first attempt this just wasn't going to happen. And you could see his dilema of not wanting to breathe, but needing to, and then seeing his look as gravity took hold of the block...</p> <p>Just to let you know I did the decent thing and helped him on this and his second up hill struggle. To be very fair to him, it is very hard work (especially if you don't swim that well) and he never gave up. But without help he'd still be there now.</p> <p>If he has nightmares about swimming now, I wouldn't be at all surprised!!</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/11/06/purgatory-for-a-friend-4991618/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-11-05:/2008/11/05/wednesday-s-triathlon-night-4991566/BillOddy2008-11-05T23:58:54+01:002008-11-05T23:58:54+01:00 <p>Tonight's triathlon set was an easy session (that's what Gary said anyway). Actually it was in terms of work load (1600M isn't much), the main set was Gary's old favourite hyper-toxic (3, 5, 7, 3 breathing pattern). Just for fun(?!) I was given the option of 3, 5, 7 ... 9 (yuk). I did about four like that but it wasn't enjoyable.</p> <p>As far as a session goes it wasn't that hard, the send off for me was 1:45 and I think each repeat was around 1:20.</p> <p>Warm up:<br> 1 x 600M</p> <p>Main set:<br> 10 x 100 hyper-toxic (3, 5, 7, 3/9) on 1:45</p> <p>Warm down:<br> 2 x 100 IM EZ </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/11/05/wednesday-s-triathlon-night-4991566/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-11-05:/2008/11/05/lame-excuses-4991549/BillOddy2008-11-05T23:53:43+01:002008-11-05T23:53:43+01:00 <p>Oh I've got to get a grip really.  This poor blog has been rather ignored for the past few weeks/months.  It's not that I haven't been swimming, or had swimming thoughts and stuff - I have, it's just that there's been so much "real" work to do that additional hours in front of my PC just doesn't fill me with enthusiasm.</p> <p>So here's an early new years resolution - to get this up and running again!</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/11/05/lame-excuses-4991549/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-10-13:/2008/10/13/hypoxic-training-4866336/BillOddy2008-10-13T20:44:00+02:002008-10-13T20:44:00+02:00 <p>I hate it - enough said.</p> <p>(Posted for someone who occasionally reads what I say, it'll make no difference as we'll be doing 3, 5, 7, 3 hundreds again). </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/10/13/hypoxic-training-4866336/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-10-13:/2008/10/13/looking-into-the-future-4866306/BillOddy2008-10-13T20:37:53+02:002008-10-13T20:37:53+02:00 <p>A long time ago, I did a set in Stockport where I wore fins and paddles. In that set, by virtue of these mechanical devices, I just sneaked in under 30 seconds for 50M free. That was before I started entering competitions. And I remember talking with a (much older) chap who said I should enter Masters events, I retorted that I couldn't swim "fast" because I had never broken the 30s barrier. But on that day I did, but only with some help from my "friends".</p> <p>Fast forward to last Thursday, I was completely full of cold so had a shorter/less intense session, but we ended with a 50M free wearing paddles and fins again. Martin went 24.something and I went 25.high with a bad start. What's hopefully interesting about that is that I remembered my first sub-30 swim (above) and thought I just couldn't understand what it'd feel like to swim _that_ fast. And here I am again, through artificial aids, I hit a sub 26s time for the first time ever. And that felt odd, and again I can't (yet) understand what I need to do to achieve this kind-of speed, and may be I won't but with a new record of 27.59 "unaided" it looks like my next "challenge" is to get really quick - sub 27s. Perhaps I've bitten off more than I can chew, but it's time to step up to the plat... </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/10/13/looking-into-the-future-4866306/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-10-13:/2008/10/13/2008southportsprints-4866261/BillOddy2008-10-13T20:26:11+02:002008-10-13T20:26:11+02:00 <p>A couple of weeks back the Southport Masters Sprints took place. I didn't enter them last year, but did this time and had a really good time. I had a good time for a couple of reasons, firstly my swimming was amazing (for me!) and secondly I used to live in the Northern end of Southport, so going back after a good number of years was nice. I got to meet up with a couple of old friends, sadly not as many as I'd hoped but time was against me.</p> <p>As far as the swimming went it was all 50M events and the 100IM, I have to say that the IM is rapidly becoming my least favourite event. I swam it okay but just can't get any speed into it (turns are the problem, and I'd rather concentrate on something else, other than my IM turns - sorry!). So I have a feeling that the IM is going to loose favour over the next few events.</p> <p>But what about the swimming? Well other than IM I hit four new PBs - and a couple of those were <i>quick</i>:</p> Event Time Position 50M Backstroke 0:35.25 1st 50M Breaststroke 0:37.53 3rd 100M IM 1:13.41 3rd 50M Fly 0:29.22 1st 50M Free 0:27.59 1st <p>I can't explain how chuffed I felt getting under both 30s for the fly and 28s for the free. To win those heats was a bonus, but to hit both my main goals of the year... well pleased<img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/10/13/2008southportsprints-4866261/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-09-19:/2008/09/19/2008-cheshire-masters-sprint-4751817/BillOddy2008-09-19T22:09:19+02:002008-09-19T22:09:19+02:00 <p>Bit late posting, but last weekend (Saturday) was the annual Cheshire Masters Sprint meet in Macclesfield. I've not entered before, but because there was a good sized presence from the Stockport "SwimFit team" I got encouraged to enter. Entry wasn't easy because being a member of Buxton SC (about 15 miles from Macc) I wasn't eligible to enter!?!? Nope I had to jump through a couple of hoops and register with another (a Cheshire) club to swim for, and so now I have dual swimming nationality (Buxton, Derbyshire and Marple, Cheshire). It does seem a shame that, because this is a "closed meet" that the number of swimmers is more limited. Having said all that the competition was fun and I even had a first - both winning a race and also my first DQ!! My back-to-breaststroke turn in the IM was not only rubbish, but illegal as well!! (sigh). The highlight for me was my 50M 'Fly - 30.57, getting closer to that sub-30s barrier...</p> Event Time Position 400M Free 5:09.14 1st 100M IM 1:14.79 DQ-T 50M Fly 0:30.57 2nd 50M Free 0:28.93 3rd <p>Next up Southport in October. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/09/19/2008-cheshire-masters-sprint-4751817/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-09-08:/2008/09/08/2008-halton-open-sprint-meet-4700756/BillOddy2008-09-08T21:34:12+02:002008-09-08T21:34:12+02:00 <p>Halton is in Widnes and to celebrate there 10th anniversary they held their first Masters meet and invited swimmers from their twinned towns (in the Czech Republic, Germany and Portugal). So this was my first "international" meeting. The one problem with this meet was that it was the first week back after the summer break - so speedie swimming (for me) was probably off the agenda. That said it was a really good event, and it was nice to chat with people from other countries.</p> <p>I entered the maximum of five events, and some how got encouraged to enter 50M breaststroke. That was a laugh, because the lady I spoke to on the phone about that "helped" me pick an entry time of 36s, that seemed okay to me at the time (what do I know?) but it made me the fastest seed in my heat (er no...) and who came last...? Still 38.49 was pretty good for me<img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>Of the events I enjoyed (for that read swam better) in the afternoon. I think the reason for that was that in the morning it wasn't easy to warm-up properly. Whilst the pool was eight lanes wide it was just bedlam. Now the afternoon was much better, probably because I had a good 20-25 minutes with a lane to myself, and that let me stretch my calf and leg muscles into a bit better shape.</p> Event Time Position 100M Free 1:04.33 2nd 50M Breaststroke 0:38.49 5th 100M Fly 1:12.94 2nd 50M Free 0:28.74 3rd 50M Fly 0:30.86 5th <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/09/08/2008-halton-open-sprint-meet-4700756/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-09-08:/2008/09/08/what-i-did-during-the-summer-4700687/BillOddy2008-09-08T21:21:07+02:002008-09-08T21:21:07+02:00 <p>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.</p> <p>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:</p> <p>Warm Up:<br> 1 x 200 - 400 EZ<br> Main Set:<br> 8 x 25 dog-paddle<br> 4 x 25 FR<br> 8 x 25 double-arm scull<br> 4 x 25 Fly<br> repeat the above</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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".</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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).</p> <p>Anyway that was my summer. And only time will tell if anything stuck! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/09/08/what-i-did-during-the-summer-4700687/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-08-20:/2008/08/20/flippin-helpful-4615150/BillOddy2008-08-20T20:30:49+02:002008-08-20T20:30:49+02:00 <p>A couple of the triathletes I swim with are trying to get their heads around tumble turning. And it's a lot of struggle, especially as there aren't many people you can copy - yes you could copy the Olympic lot (and should), but they turn too quick and are leagues-better than the average swimmer. So may be setting ones sights slightly lower to start off with isn't such a bad idea.</p> <p>With that in mind here, warts and all, is a bit of video of me turning, taken at the end of June this year. The set I was swimming was a 200M swum slow-25-fast-25. What you see here (not that you can tell) is my turn from slow to fast. The main difference is the fact that on my fast lengths I made sure of 4-5 fly-kicks off the wall. Ordinarily, when cruising, I'll glide further and do at most one kick.</p> <p>There is a stack of things I don't like about this turn (and more about the one I didn't post!), however it's not the worst tumble turn you'll see, and there are enough "good things" and the fact that it's pretty slow that you could learn something off it.</p> <p>1) I am not breathing on the last stroke. My last breath is one stroke before the wall, so I am not distorting my balance/line going into the turn.</p> <p>2) As my right arm recovers (comes towards my head), my left has started its stroke/catch.</p> <p>3) Both arms "finish" their underwater work at the same time and I move toward the wall as a consequence of this action.</p> <p>4) My legs do a mini-dolphin kick to instigate the tumble.</p> <p>5) About halfway through my turn my arms/hands flare out (bad) they should stay where they are in the water - preparing to streamline.</p> <p>6) My feet come over legs bent, and knees reasonably close to my torso (for a quicker rotation).</p> <p>7) My feet hit the wall slightly at an angle (i.e. not straight over onto my back).</p> <p>8) As my feet hit the wall my arms are preparing to streamline (this could be quicker so I don't waster energy on the push).</p> <p>9) As I start the push my arms are streamlined above my head, and my torso is straight. Note that I am slightly on my side - I don't straighten my position on the wall.</p> <p>10) I push off and rotate myself back into my prone position. I also "glide" for a brief period before I instigate a few (five I think) dolphin kicks.</p> <p>11) I take my first stroke _after_ the flags with my head looking down - not up in the air. And I don't breath until the end of my first stroke cycle - at the earliest.</p> <p>So what do you think? </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/08/20/flippin-helpful-4615150/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-08-06:/2008/08/06/1500-4552851/BillOddy2008-08-06T22:45:36+02:002008-08-06T22:45:36+02:00 <p>I've been on holiday for a week, and had to "fight" with the general public (aka kid's summer holidays) yesterday. So tonight's triathlon swim was the first proper swim for a couple of weeks. And to celebrate we did a timed 1500! I can't remember the last time I swum that far in one go!!</p> <p>Actually it was quite enjoyable. One of my goals for the summer (general public swimming permitting) is to greatly improve the front half of my stroke. I'll post more about this later (it involves yet-another-new-set-of-paddles...). Yesterday was my first session concentration on my catch and tonight's 1500 allowed me to concentrate more on that aspect.</p> <p>What was really interesting was that when I started to tire it was really noticable that my left arm pull (when breathing to my right) just presses down on the water - now real catch until my hand's pretty much next to/past my head. This is one of the things I want/need to change. So being able to concentrate on that (bad) feeling was useful.</p> <p>As for the swim itself, I didn't push it and came in with a reasonable 21:13 (or sub 1:25 100M pace).</p> <p>Warm Up<br> 1 x 200 EZ</p> <p>Main Set<br> 1 x 1500 (timed - 21:13)<br> 8 x 100 on 1:45 (all around the 1:20 mark)</p> <p>Warm Down<br> 1 x 200 EZ </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/08/06/1500-4552851/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-07-24:/2008/07/24/new-25m-fly-record-4494373/BillOddy2008-07-24T20:52:14+02:002008-07-24T20:52:14+02:00 <p>To finish off today's posts... today's swim fit was a (short) sprint day. Not much to say really about the whole thing other than my times were mostly pretty good.</p> <p>We did dive-from-the-blocks sprints, starting with 3 x 15M, then 4 x 25 and then two lots of 6 x 50M "relay" (there were three of us, I did 1 and 4). The 15M sprints were okay, but the 25M were really quite good. The first two I did were free (12.7 and 12.4) and the last two were 'fly (13.9 and 13.4). I was well please with these - especially the fly.</p> <p>And the on to the "relays" my first leg was free (29.1 and 29.4 in the second), and the second leg was fly (35.1, 35.5). Okay 35.x not great, but I was very tired (my whole body shaking by that time) and I was still feeling the effects of last night.</p> <p>Warm Up<br> 1 x 400 EZ<br> 6 x 50 kick on side 10RI</p> <p>Main Set<br> 3 x 15 fast<br> 4 x 25 fast<br> 2 x 60 x 50 relays (as above)</p> <p>Warm Down<br> 2 x 200 EZ</p> <p>So no distance at all but - some quick swimming for me, and I am sure 13.4 got to be a world record!</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/07/24/new-25m-fly-record-4494373/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-07-24:/2008/07/24/588-4494327/BillOddy2008-07-24T20:42:38+02:002008-07-24T20:42:38+02:00 <p>Cryptic title this one, but it's to do with Wednesday's triathlon session. It was really quite busy (three to a lane!) and it was probably the hardest session I've done for a long time. </p> <p>The main set was a "valley" progression 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 length swim with a minute rest between each set. So far not so hard (btw that's 42 lengths or 1050M if you're interested). Now the main focus/instruction for the set was to keep a "good" stroke count in mind, stick to it throughout the whole set and whilst descending (6 .. 1) each swim should be pro-rata faster. What I ended up doing was to do this and on the ascending set try and stick at a "brisk" pace (I think a finishing 2:00 for the last 150M is brisk!) The bit that made this really challenging was sticking to a good stroke count.</p> <p>Now before I became "quick" (aka started racing short distances) I could hold a pretty low stroke count. And these days it's gone up somewhat. So this session I decided to really challenge myself and during our warm up settled on 14SPL (strokes a length). And so we set off, the first few were okay, but pushing near "racing" pace on the 50 and 25M repeats is a challenge for me on 28 and 14 strokes.</p> <p>To cut a story short I managed 14s all the way through (except for most first lengths which were 13). </p> <p>So the 588 refers to the number of (single arm) strokes I took to swim 1050M! </p> <p>And then to finish off we did 8 x 25M sprint from a pool-side dive!! Absolutely goosed at the end!</p> <p>Warm Up<br> 3 x 200M at 60, 70 and 80% effort</p> <p>Main Set<br> 6 .. 1, 1 .. 6 length repeats holding 14 SPL<br> 8 x 25 sprint</p> <p>Warm Down<br> 2 x 100M EZ </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/07/24/588-4494327/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-07-24:/2008/07/24/take-4494272/BillOddy2008-07-24T20:30:11+02:002008-07-24T20:30:11+02:00 <p>Again not posted for a while but here's a set we did on Tuesday that was really good and quite thought provoking. For the past couple of weeks (it must be because it's near the end of term) the lunch time sessions have taken on the air of drill/technique work. But Tuesday was a "you've got to swim clever" day. </p> <p>So what was it? Basically the instructions for the main set were 9 x 100 on 1:45 descend each repeat by 3 seconds. Well 3 seconds doesn't sound much but actually when you get halfway through the set you just start to think... The big problem for most of us was that we all started too quickly so basically couldn't make the times. And to make matters worse Martin who was leading (blame him!) miscounted and we "peaked" on repeat 7 - so the last two were dreadful!</p> <p>So the session was:</p> <p>1 x 400 EZ<br> 9 x 100 on 1:45 descend each repeat by 3s<br> 3 x 100 EZ</p> <p>My scores were something like:<br> 1:28, 1:24, 1:20, 1:18, 1:15, 1:12, 1:07, 1:17 and 1:10</p> <p>Very tired at the end. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/07/24/take-4494272/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-07-16:/2008/07/16/some-quality-thinking-time-4458134/BillOddy2008-07-16T22:54:53+02:002008-07-16T22:54:53+02:00 <p>Tonights tirathlon swim session was an interesting descending set. It was interesting not so much for what the main set was (500, 400, ... 100) but because I decided to FOCUS on just one thing. Most tri-swims I focus on a number of elements (not all at the same time! but different components of my stroke on different sets). But tonight I concentrated on just one thing for pretty much the who 2K set. </p> <p>We swam as a threesome - Tim first, me second and Nicola third at five second intervals. Tim's a bit quicker than me (a lot if we're racing) so it was good to have someone setting a reasonable pace, and not having to be concerned with that. So what I focused on was getting a vertical forearm/early catch at the front of my stroke. I know I was concentrating on this because quite often the wall arrived before I was ready to turn!<br> Why did I focus on this? Well a few weeks ago one of the best swimmers I've ever swum with (during a Swim Fit session in Stockport) said that I drop my elbow too early in my stroke. This came as a bit of a shock, because I didn't think I did, and as far as the "general population" goes I don't. But as far as good swimmers go - I surely do. So I decided that when Swim Fit's over for summer, I'd devote a far amount of my summer swimming to trying to learn this skill. I haven't started yet, but tonight offered a good opportunity.</p> <p>So breathing one-sided for each 100M I concentrated on the breathing side's arm for the duration of the hundred - trying to drop my wrist and hand whilst rolling slightly with my shoulder to allow my elbow to be significantly higher than my wrist. And only when I was in that position start to engage my core body and rotate/pull. If you watch any good long distance swimmer (Hackett and Thorpe are two really good examples) you see that they get into this high-elbow/vertical forearm position _very_ early in their stroke - their arm's in this position _way_ in front of their heads. Now typically my stroke has this high elbow/vertical forearm position much later in my stroke (probably somewhere between my head and shoulder) and as a consequence they get at least 2-3 feet(?) more propulsive traction per stroke.</p> <p>I'll talk more about this in a later post, as I experiment more with this idea. But it was hard work and really made the session fly by!</p> <p>Warm Up:<br> 20 x 25 on 30</p> <p>Main set:<br> 1 x 500 RI 1:00<br> 1 x 400 RI 1:00<br> 1 x 300 RI 1:00<br> 1 x 200 RI 1:00<br> 1 x 100 RI 1:00</p> <p>Warm down:<br> 10 x 50 on 1:00 (25 drill, 25 swim)</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/07/16/some-quality-thinking-time-4458134/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-07-03:/2008/07/03/i-ve-joined-a-trend-4399638/BillOddy2008-07-03T20:39:14+02:002008-07-03T20:39:14+02:00 <p>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).</p> <p>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!</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>Anyhow we'll see how it goes... </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/07/03/i-ve-joined-a-trend-4399638/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-06-23:/2008/06/23/crusader-league-oakengates-4353054/BillOddy2008-06-23T18:51:23+02:002008-06-23T18:51:23+02:00 <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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).</p> <p>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! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/06/23/crusader-league-oakengates-4353054/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-06-04:/2008/06/04/heart-attack-set-4272775/BillOddy2008-06-04T18:16:35+02:002008-06-04T18:16:35+02:00 <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>Warm Up<br> 1 x 300 EZ<br> 12 x 25 kick on RI 10 (swum 1-4 IM order)</p> <p>Main set:<br> 8 x 100 on 2:15 swum...<br> 1 x 50 Max effort<br> 1 x 50 active recovery (BK for me)</p> <p>Warm Down<br> 10 x 25 RI 10s swum as breath control starting with breathing every 5 up to no-breathing</p> <p>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! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/06/04/heart-attack-set-4272775/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-05-23:/2008/05/23/end-of-a-long-week-4213603/BillOddy2008-05-23T20:35:46+02:002008-05-23T20:35:46+02:00 <p>I'm off on holiday next week<img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> So no swimming<img src="/img/smilies/icon_sad.gif" alt=":(" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>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.</p> <p>Warm Up<br> 1 x 400 EZ<br> 6 x 50 fly kick on side (I love this)</p> <p>Main Set (repeat 3 times)<br> 1 x 50 on 1:00 brisk<br> 1 x 200 on 4:00 swum at the preceding 50M pace<br> 2 x 50 fast (PB + 4) on 1:00</p> <p>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!</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/05/23/end-of-a-long-week-4213603/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-05-19:/2008/05/19/what-do-you-wear-4195649/BillOddy2008-05-19T21:31:42+02:002008-05-19T21:31:42+02:00 <p>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...</p> <p>Tomorrow I'll take them out for a spin!</p> <p>As an added bonus they were only £10 each on e-bay! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/05/19/what-do-you-wear-4195649/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-05-12:/2008/05/12/2008-yorkshire-open-scarborough-4165445/BillOddy2008-05-12T20:54:59+02:002008-05-12T20:54:59+02:00 <p>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! </p> <p>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. </p> <p>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!</p> <p>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!)</p> <p>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.</p> <p>Anyway, it's over now and I had a good day, all things concidered:</p> 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 <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/05/12/2008-yorkshire-open-scarborough-4165445/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-05-08:/2008/05/08/i-am-not-bill-clinton-4149917/BillOddy2008-05-08T22:39:00+02:002008-05-08T22:39:00+02:00 <p>... I'll get to that later...<br> Today was an interesting taper set - a bit of all sorts:</p> <p>Warm Up:<br> 1 x 400M EZ</p> <p>Main set:<br> 12 x 25M kick (odds fast 1st 10, evens fast last 10)<br> 4 x 50M 25 max turnover (high stroke count), 25 low stroke count<br> 4 x 50M IM style (strong first 25, fast second 25)<br> 4 x 25M sprint from dive (hyper toxic breath control)</p> <p>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!</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/05/08/i-am-not-bill-clinton-4149917/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-05-07:/2008/05/07/tapering-part-4145530/BillOddy2008-05-07T22:44:57+02:002008-05-07T22:44:57+02:00 <p>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!)</p> <p>Tuesday:<br> Warm up:<br> 1 x 400 EZ<br> 4 x 50 kick (15s vertical fly under the deep end flags)</p> <p>Main set:<br> 4 x 50M on 70s PB + 3/5<br> 4 x 50M on 80s PB + 3/5<br> 4 x 50M on 90s PB + 3/5<br> 4 x 50M on 100s PB + 3/5</p> <p>I got to do 1 & 4 on PB + 3/5 and 2 & 3 EZ.</p> <p>Wednesday:<br> Warm up:<br> 1 x 400 EZ<br> 8 x 25 kick (fast 10, build to fast, EZ, fast)<br> Main set:<br> 16 x 25 fast/fist last 10M<br> 2 x 50 EZ<br> 8 x 25 fast/fist first 10M<br> 2 x 50 EZ<br> 4 x 25 build to fast<br> Warm down:<br> 1 x 200M </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/05/07/tapering-part-4145530/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-05-01:/2008/05/01/where-does-technique-fit-in-a-swim-progr-4120581/BillOddy2008-05-01T22:59:05+02:002008-05-01T23:04:39+02:00 <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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. </p> <p>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.</p> <p>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 <i>racing</i> 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:</p> <p><i><u>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).</u></i></p> <p>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.</p> <p>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) <i>never</i> progress passed this.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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. </p> <p>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. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/05/01/where-does-technique-fit-in-a-swim-progr-4120581/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk,2008-05-01:/2008/05/01/lactic-thursday-4120425/BillOddy2008-05-01T22:10:15+02:002008-05-01T22:10:15+02:00 <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>But I was severly knackered afterwards!!</p> <p>Warm Up:<br> 1 x 400M EZ<br> 8 x 50M free RI 10<br> swum (odds fast kick, evens swim with fast kick)<br> 4 x 25M last ten "rocky" (fists windmilling like crazy)</p> <p>Main Set:<br> 6 x 25M (on 1:00) + 50M (on 2:00) fast</p> <p>Warm Down:<br> 1 x 100M EZ (ran out of time for anything else) </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://swimmingwithbilly.blog.co.uk/2008/05/01/lactic-thursday-4120425/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>