Now that I've gone through the hassle of signing up as a member of this dicussion group, this gets more and more fun. Maybe I'll get fired from my job :)
Anyway... I'm sure that ALL Masters level swimmers have heard of Total Immersion (from now on referred to as TI) swimming, correct? What are everyone's opinions about TI swimming? I am most curious because as a coach of age group swimmers, I was looking for training videos for our kids. I happened upon TI and liked what I saw... at first.
Here's some background for my experience with TI... very well put together, most of what they teach has been in existence for some time anyway, and they certainly are good for teaching novice/beginner swimmers the basic technique for swimming.
However, when looking to swim fast, and I mean fast, not lap swim quality, but truly competitively, I thing TI has missed to boat completely. Yes, smooth and efficient swimming is nice, but did anyone see the NCAA's? There are 20 year old men swimming 9 strokes per length in breaststroke! We have a number of age group coaches in my area teaching their kids how to swim breaststroke at 6 or 7 strokes a length!!! What gives? Extended glide is one thing, but when you slow down your stroke to such an extent just to achieve long and fluid strokes you sacrifice speed tremendously.
Hey, if you can swim 9 strokes a length at 1 second per stroke that is WAY better than 6 strokes a length at 2 seconds per stroke. Simple math.
Anthony Ervin of Cal swam the 100 free in the follwing SPL... 12 (start)/15/16/16. I could be off but that's what I was able to get from the (ahem- PALTRY) ESPN coverage. Now TI has goal SPL's of 12/13! Hello, if the BEST sprinter in history takes 8 cycles, shouldn't that tell us something? Turnover is very important. Same with streamlining, yes streamlines are nice and quite important but A.E. pops up after 5 yards MAX out of each turn. You only serve yourself well if your streamline is faster than you can swim, most age group swimmers would be well-served to explode out of the turn and swim within 3-4 yards.
Alas, it's been a slow day finishing my work for the week. Just looking to start a nice discussion. It's been my experience that a lot of Masters level swimmers are also engaged in coaching age group swimming at some level, and therefore I feel we can get some good dialogue going on this issue.
Now I've just used TI as an example because that's what I've had my experience with, but more general is what keys do you all stress when trying to mold competitive swimmers?
Au revoir,
-Rain Man
Parents
Former Member
Cynthia,
I don't think that Ion wants to compare himself to the lap swimmers. He wants to get better and faster. An hour drive is nothing in California. It used to take me an hour to drive 12 miles to workouts with my former team.
Ion, You really should take Pauls advice. Michael Collins is one of the best coaches in the world, period. His team at Nova will be going to USMS Nationals next year in Phoenix. He also helps Nova coach the world class USS swimmers at Nova with Head Coach David Salo. He also explains the PAUSE used in sprint freestyle better than anyone I know.
He is also a Senior TI instructor. With your speed in the 100, there is absolutely no reason you can't get down to 2:22 in the 200 meters. With your repeats you should have easily broke 2:25. I feel you are probably overtraining. When I was your age I changed teams, went to slower lanes but worked more on technique. I confirmed using a heart rate monitor that I had been overtraining. My speed was much greater, and my results in meets was far better.
How long did you taper? Did other swimmers from your program do well or did they not improve at Nationals? I really suggest you do more swim meets, especially the short course meters season. A swim meet is a reward for working out hard and working on technique, as well as a measuring bar for your progress. SPMA has two swim meets coming up, both have the 200 meter free as events, and you might want to try the 1500 meter as well.
Good luck
Coach Wayne McCauley
Cynthia,
I don't think that Ion wants to compare himself to the lap swimmers. He wants to get better and faster. An hour drive is nothing in California. It used to take me an hour to drive 12 miles to workouts with my former team.
Ion, You really should take Pauls advice. Michael Collins is one of the best coaches in the world, period. His team at Nova will be going to USMS Nationals next year in Phoenix. He also helps Nova coach the world class USS swimmers at Nova with Head Coach David Salo. He also explains the PAUSE used in sprint freestyle better than anyone I know.
He is also a Senior TI instructor. With your speed in the 100, there is absolutely no reason you can't get down to 2:22 in the 200 meters. With your repeats you should have easily broke 2:25. I feel you are probably overtraining. When I was your age I changed teams, went to slower lanes but worked more on technique. I confirmed using a heart rate monitor that I had been overtraining. My speed was much greater, and my results in meets was far better.
How long did you taper? Did other swimmers from your program do well or did they not improve at Nationals? I really suggest you do more swim meets, especially the short course meters season. A swim meet is a reward for working out hard and working on technique, as well as a measuring bar for your progress. SPMA has two swim meets coming up, both have the 200 meter free as events, and you might want to try the 1500 meter as well.
Good luck
Coach Wayne McCauley
