Hi there, am asking for advice on my breaststroke technique.
I'm doing the over the water recovery, lunging forward with both arms over the water and shooting forward as much as possible. I try to keep my face downwards and looking at the lane line. However, I still feel the impact of the water hitting my goggles especially, creating uncomfortable suction on my goggles and it doesn't feel great on the rest of my face obviously.
However, when I try to duck my head and hit the water with my forehead, I don't feel an impact on my face but it shortens my recovery distance with my arms and negatively affects my time.
Any suggestions? Does anyone else experience this?
Thanks in advance!
A video would help. I'd say you shouldn't "try" to recover your arms over the surface. I often recover my hands above the water at sprint speed, but that is because I am riding higher in the water.Most elite breaststrokers recover their hands right at the surface. You may be having too much up and down movement, or it may be a timing issue.Again, a video would help.
OUCH! Have you tried to alter the timing earlier or later for your "face plant?" I think there must be a way to stop the crashing.
Maybe it is a timing issue?
Is it like butterfly where you drop your head before the arms enter the water? Right now my head(face) drops at the same time my arms land on the water.
A video would help. I'd say you shouldn't "try" to recover your arms over the surface. I often recover my hands above the water at sprint speed, but that is because I am riding higher in the water.Most elite breaststrokers recover their hands right at the surface. You may be having too much up and down movement, or it may be a timing issue.Again, a video would help.
I'll have to see if I can get someone to take a video of me... unfortunately at the time I swim (5am), everyone is 100% focused on their own swim understandably, and the lifeguard on duty can't for liability purposes.
If I had to guess, I think the times I do a face plant has to be where use my arms to shoot them forward without initiating the action from the body. There's a disconnect between my arms and my head/body when the forward action is initiated from the arms instead of the body and then... face plant.
Swam approximately 2500 yards this morning, and didn't feel the impact on my face; I focused on using my body/head to throw my arms forward, instead of shooting the arms out with the shoulder.
I received feedback on my stroke from David Guthrie at Summer Nats, that I needed to try and smack my goggles on the water. I was landing on my chin during the lunge instead of forehead and not getting into streamline fast enough. When I execute that well, I'm getting my face looking straight down, goggles at or below my arms, and I don't feel too much of a face plant. However, it's definitely a new sensation, and I'm already swimming faster because of it. As you described, I'm using my body/head to throw the arms forward, seeking the coupling motion with the kick.
I received feedback on my stroke from David Guthrie at Summer Nats, that I needed to try and smack my goggles on the water. I was landing on my chin during the lunge instead of forehead and not getting into streamline fast enough. When I execute that well, I'm getting my face looking straight down, goggles at or below my arms, and I don't feel too much of a face plant. However, it's definitely a new sensation, and I'm already swimming faster because of it. As you described, I'm using my body/head to throw the arms forward, seeking the coupling motion with the kick.
Is the pressure on your goggles uncomfortable? That's the only thing that bothers me after a while. I feel if I tuck my head too much in order to avoid hitting the water with my goggles, it limits my forward motion.
When I tuck the head so that I'm hitting with my forehead, there's very little pressure on the goggles. Very slippery. I try and get the top of my head facing the other end of the pool. Rolling the shoulders helps get me into streamline.
