Hey folk,
I've heard different viewpoints about my freestyle, and I wonder if I could hear from you on these various opinions:
1. Previous masters' coach: focus on high elbows, fingertips in first. (I hope I'm interpreting him right.)
2. Same coach: kick from hips, not knees (hard one... my kickboard sets are not pretty!)...
3. Swim instructor who happened to observe me one day: too much splash on kick (maybe related to #2)
4. Guy who swims pretty fast and efficiently in nearby lane: "You have a strong kick, but you don't reach far enough. Your hand goes into the water too soon." Tried more of a reach, and it did seem to help my time a little... read: VERY slow to merely "very slow" (sans caps). ;)
5. Current masters' coach: "If you've been swimming a certain way for a while, it actually could slow you down to mess with your stroke too much."
And... can a person who is still in pursuit of a sub two minute 100 have any hope of becoming not "very slow" but merely "slow" or even "halfway approaching fast"? I'm 55 and a regular runner as well as swimmer, so reasonably fit (resting heart rate of 31 measured a couple of days ago).
Thanks for your comments!
Keep in mind that you will only get immediate improvement on advice if there was a big problem being fixed. If it is a subtle problem, you will have to wait for the long term to see the benefits.
Think of this as the learning curve. If it is an inefficient stroke, the top speed will be limited, but you will be near that limit since you have been doing it a long time. A change to a better stroke will give you a faster possible top speed, but now you are back at the top of the learning curve. You may be slower in the short term, as you are building up muscle memory again.
Keep in mind that you will only get immediate improvement on advice if there was a big problem being fixed. If it is a subtle problem, you will have to wait for the long term to see the benefits.
Think of this as the learning curve. If it is an inefficient stroke, the top speed will be limited, but you will be near that limit since you have been doing it a long time. A change to a better stroke will give you a faster possible top speed, but now you are back at the top of the learning curve. You may be slower in the short term, as you are building up muscle memory again.
