What do YOU need to do to have a major swimming breakthrough?"
I started this thread over in the work outs section which I think doesn't get as much traffic as the general discussion board
so here's the link
forums.usms.org/showthread.php
but my point is,
No matter what, the time between right now and your focus meet is going to pass, and the things you do to prepare for your meet is of the UTMOST importance.
the choices you make
the chances you take
swim hard in practice
rehearse racing
I want to read your story about your breakthrough.
Decide it starts today
that this season will be your best season EVER
What do you need to do to make this true?
Ande
While we are still on "no breathing 50's"........
One shouldn’t look at the elites (Hall, Lezak etc), who may not breathe in a 50 at all and feel you should do the same. They do a 50meters in 22 secs; most of us here would have to hold our breath maybe 25% longer than that to finish a 50 without breathing – much more difficult.
Kind of reminds me of elite marathoners who do a 2hr10min marathon and cannot imagine running a 4 hour marathon – how can you run for that long!?
Not everything an elite athlete does can be used by most masters. It is probably more profitable to copy an elite swimmer’s breathing technique from their 100 – how does he breathe, remain smooth and not lose speed?
For more realistic transferable skills, checkout what Top Ten swimmers in your own age group or the age group below are doing. The guys should checkout women sprinters who are a similar speed to themselves – not relying on brute force, they will almost certainly have better technique perhaps worth copying.
Not breathing in sprints is definitely faster; find out what works for you but don’t get hung up over it – work on breathing technique while sprinting and improve the (hopefully few) breaths you have to take. As John Smith has pointed out, other factors like nagging spouses and hangovers make a bigger difference to sprint times than taking two or three breaths.
Ian.
While we are still on "no breathing 50's"........
One shouldn’t look at the elites (Hall, Lezak etc), who may not breathe in a 50 at all and feel you should do the same. They do a 50meters in 22 secs; most of us here would have to hold our breath maybe 25% longer than that to finish a 50 without breathing – much more difficult.
Kind of reminds me of elite marathoners who do a 2hr10min marathon and cannot imagine running a 4 hour marathon – how can you run for that long!?
Not everything an elite athlete does can be used by most masters. It is probably more profitable to copy an elite swimmer’s breathing technique from their 100 – how does he breathe, remain smooth and not lose speed?
For more realistic transferable skills, checkout what Top Ten swimmers in your own age group or the age group below are doing. The guys should checkout women sprinters who are a similar speed to themselves – not relying on brute force, they will almost certainly have better technique perhaps worth copying.
Not breathing in sprints is definitely faster; find out what works for you but don’t get hung up over it – work on breathing technique while sprinting and improve the (hopefully few) breaths you have to take. As John Smith has pointed out, other factors like nagging spouses and hangovers make a bigger difference to sprint times than taking two or three breaths.
Ian.
