Tomorrow morning is my very first swim meet. I'm very nervous but it was time for me to finally see what I could do in competition versus practice. There are so many things that can go wrong like forgetting to exhale well under water, running out of steam during my 100 free, forgetting stoke mechanics, diving too deep, etc. I don't care how i do compared to others, I'm competing with myself. I always imagined my race times would be faster than my practice times and I know i will be very disappointed if that's not the case. Any words of advice on how to mentally approach this wold be greatly appreciated. Like you wet the bed in your first meet but it got better in subsequent meets:D.
One other question; how do I control the depth of my dive on entry. I rarely every get to practice dives because our pool doesn't allow dives off the blocks unless with the team/coach. So I can only practice it off the pool edge (my masters team doesn't do much start practice). Should I arch my back on head and trunk entry or angle my hands up? If I dive too deep (I hardly have a superb dolphin kick to compensate), I'm toast. It's pretty much hit or miss with me now.
Thanks.
Former Member
Underwater video is fine, I would like to see it. Work at what happens on the top also. Dives and turns very important. A second or two here and there and you will surprise yourself. Work on entry of your right arm in the freestyle. Cean up your arm entry on the fly. It seems to me you are pushing water in the wrong direction as your arms are slamming into the water.
I really liked the potential of your strokes - a few corrections will mean lots of time gained.
I prefer a higher elbow, it looks to me as if your right arm slaps the water similar to the way your arms slaps in the fly. This ocurred during you 50 free and your last 50 in the 100.
Thanks George, will do. I really value your input. BTW, what is my right arm doing on entry and how should I improve it?
So got some Zones results and video. Unfortunately my wife was late arriving and missed taping my 100 free, but I got 1:04.91, dropping 0.18 sec. I flubbed my 2nd flip turn and ended up pushing off way deep, so lost a good 1-2 sec trying to get back to the surface:shakes head: But honestly my short term goal is to break a minute, so I guess 1:03 doesn't look that much better. I need to keep working on maintaining technique while stroking fast and hard. I could feel the technique falling apart as I went really hard.
Here is my 200 IM, got 3:01.80. I'm the guy with the orange cap. Paced myself a whole lot on my fly (maybe too much?), back and *** are still atrociously slow. George, I had been looking down when breathing and shooting lower in practice but totally forgot those things in this race. :shakes head:
Zones 200 IM - YouTube
Here is my 50 fly. 32.28, dropped 3.06 sec. A lot of work yet to do, but I'm tickled pink.
Zones 50 Fly - YouTube
So got some Zones results and video. Unfortunately my wife was late arriving and missed taping my 100 free, but I got 1:04.91, dropping 0.18 sec. I flubbed my 2nd flip turn and ended up pushing off way deep, so lost a good 1-2 sec trying to get back to the surface:shakes head: But honestly my short term goal is to break a minute, so I guess 1:03 doesn't look that much better. I need to keep working on maintaining technique while stroking fast and hard. I could feel the technique falling apart as I went really hard.
Here is my 200 IM, got 3:01.80. I'm the guy with the orange cap. Paced myself a whole lot on my fly (maybe too much?), back and *** are still atrociously slow. George, I had been looking down when breathing and shooting lower in practice but totally forgot those things in this race. :shakes head:
Zones 200 IM - YouTube
Here is my 50 fly. 32.28, dropped 3.06 sec. A lot of work yet to do, but I'm tickled pink.
Zones 50 Fly - YouTube
We need to work on your starts. The video cut off but the *** part of the 200IM looked great. Same with your 50 fly. You had some good swims today. Now if only you were coming back tomorrow for the 400 IM :bolt:
We need to work on your starts. The video cut off but the *** part of the 200IM looked great. Same with your 50 fly. You had some good swims today. Now if only you were coming back tomorrow for the 400 IM :bolt:
Yeah right, lol. I don't think the lifeguards want to have to drag my bum out of the pool.
The 50 Fly looked not too bad. On the dive your right foot, your toes pointing out to the right. I prefer to see the toes slightly pointing in. You cannot get a proper push off when toes are pointing out. There is about a .5 sec loss in time. Also the breakout from your dive and turn you had major water turbulance. If you look you can see lots of turbulance following you.
Yeah right, lol. I don't think the lifeguards want to have to drag my bum out of the pool.
Some of them could use some exercise. But I bet you'd find it a fun event, once...
Here are some dryland moves you could incorporate to improve your stroke.Bobby Freeman - C'Mon And Swim (1964) - YouTube
I think they were doing an S-pull, you trying to confuse me George?:). That was pretty funny, I'll try it!
If you look closely you will see he does not have his fingers forced tightly together.
Yes I believe he was getting more hand surface area that way. The other thnh o noticed was good rotation on the back stroke.
