200m Freestyle

Update... Thanks for all the great advice I've been getting. I continue to improve and I'm now in contact with a club coach. As a matter of fact, he took a look at my stroke today and we are working on correcting a few things. He pointed out my arms are too high up in the air, I do not roll enough on my sides and my kick is a bit erratic. I swam 5x50m and a 100m with my new improved technique. I'm not sure if I was over analyzing things but I didn't feel like I was swimming faster than before. My 50s ranged from 37 to 34 and my 100m was 1.20 with open turns. Flip turns are still a near-drowning-experience every time I take one past the first 25. How do you people hold your breath when you're already out of breath? I used to swim for a couple of years (*** stroke and IM) when I was a kid in my native Romania. But my last competition was in 1979! I'm 35 now, and after so many years of concentrating on running, swimming feels very hard. I'm sorry if in my previous posts I came across as a stubborn runner with complete disregard for the technical importance of this beautiful sport. I never meant that I was going to muscle my way through a 100m crawl. If anything, I'm very much aware and I'm praying that my improvment will eventually come from the technical side. I watched more swimming than track during the olympic coverage (maybe because I was bitter about not making the team myself) and world class swimmers look smooth and efficient more than they look fast and furious. After the advice I got today from the club coach, I came home and looked at a video I took of myself yesterday. I could see the problems and I'm anxious to work on them as soon as I start swimming tomorrow. I also have to say that I did get swimming lessons when I started training three months ago. I also swam and got advice from some superstar triathletes (between the two of them they had 11 world championship titles - one of them is my friend so I won't mention his name). The message I got from these people was " get your butt in the pool and swim; when you can swim more a couple of laps w/out stopping, then you start working on your technique!". I guess, now I can swim more than a couple of laps, but not very fast and time's up. My test is next week and the coach I saw today predicted I will be swimming about 2.40 but also that "I could surprise myself", especially after I taper from both swimming and running. We shall see! Matt S, the 10 -12 miles of running are done mostly on the trail behind my house or on the track across the street. The coach I saw today was an hour away. I may shop around for something closer and also less expensive. As far as my run is concerned, I can't afford to cut back at this point. I have to run 8.25/3k at 6000ft of altitude. They will give me an altitude adjustment of about 15 seconds. In pentathlon points that equivalent to about 1.55/200m probably. Now I've run 7.58 for 3k but at sea level, in the summer and with world class competition. You see what I'm saying? I'm already maxed out here and I can't cut back. Hopefully they won't make me run if I have to test again. This way I'll be able to have more time for swimming and driving around to get coaching advice. *I have footage of myself. I'd love to upload it somewhere where it can be viewed on the net, if anything like that exists. JPEGs can also be e-mailed if I'm not mistaken. Thanks again for all the great advice!

Update... Thanks for all the great advice I've been getting. I continue to improve and I'm now in contact with a club coach. As a matter of fact, he took a look at my stroke today and we are working on correcting a few things. He pointed out my arms are too high up in the air, I do not roll enough on my sides and my kick is a bit erratic. I swam 5x50m and a 100m with my new improved technique. I'm not sure if I was over analyzing things but I didn't feel like I was swimming faster than before. My 50s ranged from 37 to 34 and my 100m was 1.20 with open turns. Flip turns are still a near-drowning-experience every time I take one past the first 25. How do you people hold your breath when you're already out of breath? I used to swim for a couple of years (*** stroke and IM) when I was a kid in my native Romania. But my last competition was in 1979! I'm 35 now, and after so many years of concentrating on running, swimming feels very hard. I'm sorry if in my previous posts I came across as a stubborn runner with complete disregard for the technical importance of this beautiful sport. I never meant that I was going to muscle my way through a 100m crawl. If anything, I'm very much aware and I'm praying that my improvment will eventually come from the technical side. I watched more swimming than track during the olympic coverage (maybe because I was bitter about not making the team myself) and world class swimmers look smooth and efficient more than they look fast and furious. After the advice I got today from the club coach, I came home and looked at a video I took of myself yesterday. I could see the problems and I'm anxious to work on them as soon as I start swimming tomorrow. I also have to say that I did get swimming lessons when I started training three months ago. I also swam and got advice from some superstar triathletes (between the two of them they had 11 world championship titles - one of them is my friend so I won't mention his name). The message I got from these people was " get your butt in the pool and swim; when you can swim more a couple of laps w/out stopping, then you start working on your technique!". I guess, now I can swim more than a couple of laps, but not very fast and time's up. My test is next week and the coach I saw today predicted I will be swimming about 2.40 but also that "I could surprise myself", especially after I taper from both swimming and running. We shall see! Matt S, the 10 -12 miles of running are done mostly on the trail behind my house or on the track across the street. The coach I saw today was an hour away. I may shop around for something closer and also less expensive. As far as my run is concerned, I can't afford to cut back at this point. I have to run 8.25/3k at 6000ft of altitude. They will give me an altitude adjustment of about 15 seconds. In pentathlon points that equivalent to about 1.55/200m probably. Now I've run 7.58 for 3k but at sea level, in the summer and with world class competition. You see what I'm saying? I'm already maxed out here and I can't cut back. Hopefully they won't make me run if I have to test again. This way I'll be able to have more time for swimming and driving around to get coaching advice. *I have footage of myself. I'd love to upload it somewhere where it can be viewed on the net, if anything like that exists. JPEGs can also be e-mailed if I'm not mistaken. Thanks again for all the great advice!