Well, I know some of you are big fans of Ti appoach. I would like to read more on it. The library will not vcover the books that deal with backstroke, or breaststroke or butterfly, so I read some articles from time to time on it. Matt S use it for a summer team for kids and uses it himself and others might use some of it.
Parents
Former Member
Rez,
Could you clarify the term "fuddle?" I have a couple of thoughts:
1) You may be trying to be a sprinter, when your real talent lies in the distance events. Sprinting requires a lot of fine technical adjustments with much less margin of error for a mediocre start or turn. Distance events, on the other hand, reward swimmers who have learned to minimize drag and use an efficient style such as the TI method. I have been doing and coaching TI methods for about 2.5 years. What I noticed as I really got the technique down is that my cruising speed (i.e. the fastest speed I can maintain indefinitely) seemed to be quicker than swimmers of comparable ability. In short, as they were conditioning their aerobic systems to be able to swim middle and distance sets faster than their cruising speed, I was using technique instead to keep up with them. They would have a better 200 or 400, but I can reel them in on an open water swim. Maybe the same for you?
2) Learning how to race is a bit of a different animal after you have worked on TI drills. I know I completely gooned a 200 and a 500 in one meet. Then I figured out how to take the exaggerated glide out of my stroke that is good to practice, but bad for racing. I guess that is a long winded way of saying you should keep entering races; you will figure it out with experience.
Good luck,
Matt
Rez,
Could you clarify the term "fuddle?" I have a couple of thoughts:
1) You may be trying to be a sprinter, when your real talent lies in the distance events. Sprinting requires a lot of fine technical adjustments with much less margin of error for a mediocre start or turn. Distance events, on the other hand, reward swimmers who have learned to minimize drag and use an efficient style such as the TI method. I have been doing and coaching TI methods for about 2.5 years. What I noticed as I really got the technique down is that my cruising speed (i.e. the fastest speed I can maintain indefinitely) seemed to be quicker than swimmers of comparable ability. In short, as they were conditioning their aerobic systems to be able to swim middle and distance sets faster than their cruising speed, I was using technique instead to keep up with them. They would have a better 200 or 400, but I can reel them in on an open water swim. Maybe the same for you?
2) Learning how to race is a bit of a different animal after you have worked on TI drills. I know I completely gooned a 200 and a 500 in one meet. Then I figured out how to take the exaggerated glide out of my stroke that is good to practice, but bad for racing. I guess that is a long winded way of saying you should keep entering races; you will figure it out with experience.
Good luck,
Matt
