How Much Difference Does A Good Coach Make???

Originally posted by jean sterling ... However, the timing of my kick was way off, so that I would rapidly become horizontal, which isn't a good way to swim fly. ... Hi Jean, Can you elaborate on what you mean by horizontal fly? I'm wondering if you mean vertical fly as I thought horizontal fly was a good thing? In terms of increasing your distance how did you go from swimming 25m to 200m? Were you just able to swim further as your technique improved or did you follow a plan? Some of the things I'm considering are: swimming sets of 8 x 25, starting with lots of rest and slowly decreasing the rest swimming sets of 200 to 500 continuous, starting with a few strokes in each length and slowly adding more strokes swimming sets of 25m, then 50m, then 75m, etc. The second approach is described in an article on the H2ouston site and is similar to how you got to doing 25m, just over longer distances (500m in the article). My main reservation is that I find mixing fly with another stroke or body dolphining etc. makes it harder for me to concentrate on and improve my fly. On the weekend I was doing a set my coach assigned with 2 x (4 x 50, 25fly, 25free) and I found that by the end of the free I didn't have the "body memory" of the fly portion that I need to adjust and improve. I tend to learn better by doing endless repeats of the exact same thing, trying to absorb the feel, experimenting, and making little adjustments. The weak point of only doing sets of 25 at a time was I was dying in the final 25 when I swam the 100m. Perhaps a mix of sets of 8x25 and sets of 4x50 would help... I think I'm babbling. But do let us know the specifics of how you got from doing 25m to doing 200m.

Originally posted by jean sterling ... However, the timing of my kick was way off, so that I would rapidly become horizontal, which isn't a good way to swim fly. ... Hi Jean, Can you elaborate on what you mean by horizontal fly? I'm wondering if you mean vertical fly as I thought horizontal fly was a good thing? In terms of increasing your distance how did you go from swimming 25m to 200m? Were you just able to swim further as your technique improved or did you follow a plan? Some of the things I'm considering are: swimming sets of 8 x 25, starting with lots of rest and slowly decreasing the rest swimming sets of 200 to 500 continuous, starting with a few strokes in each length and slowly adding more strokes swimming sets of 25m, then 50m, then 75m, etc. The second approach is described in an article on the H2ouston site and is similar to how you got to doing 25m, just over longer distances (500m in the article). My main reservation is that I find mixing fly with another stroke or body dolphining etc. makes it harder for me to concentrate on and improve my fly. On the weekend I was doing a set my coach assigned with 2 x (4 x 50, 25fly, 25free) and I found that by the end of the free I didn't have the "body memory" of the fly portion that I need to adjust and improve. I tend to learn better by doing endless repeats of the exact same thing, trying to absorb the feel, experimenting, and making little adjustments. The weak point of only doing sets of 25 at a time was I was dying in the final 25 when I swam the 100m. Perhaps a mix of sets of 8x25 and sets of 4x50 would help... I think I'm babbling. But do let us know the specifics of how you got from doing 25m to doing 200m.