"What do YOU need to do to have a major swimming breakthrough?"

you could shave your head and not wear a cap but that might be a bit extreme Do your aerobic training, distance race pace, long hard swims in the cool pool do more work outs in the cool pool Do more speed work with rest in the warm pool do the best you can on sets change your expectations for the warm pool pool temp makes quite a diff Ande, I am looking for a breakthrough in my 400 and 1500 at Nationals. After a great 1650 at SCY Nationals in May I was hoping to do just as well if not better in The Woodlands. The problem I am running into is HOT POOL! I just can't seem to hold my pace any more. The pool we normally swim in is closed for the summer to replace bubble with a wooden roof. So for the summer we are in a neighborhood pool with 6 lanes and over 86 degrees. I can make about 2 or 3 100's on 1:30 (barely), where previously in 's on 1:30. Currently I am swimming 6 days a week between 4500-5000yards a day in the morning with the masters team. This week I have made arrangements with the kids team in town that is practicing at an indoor pool to join them for 2 days per week in the evenings. They have one extra lane that I can use. I was thinking about using that time to do pace sets like 100's and 200's and use the masters workouts for just easy yardage, stroke work, streamline, and SDK practice, but not overheat myself. Any suggestions would be helpful. I want to get my old pace back but feel like I can't move any more. Tomorrow will be my first day with the kids and I am hoping the colder water will make the difference. Thanks, Donna

1:00 for a 50 kick is very slow You MUST improve your kick then learn how to use it when you're sprinting While I agree that a strong kick is essential for any swimming, a minute 50 kick isn't unheard of on my masters team, even among the faster swimmers. When we do kick sets, we rarely do a 50 kick on less than a minute interval, getting maybe 5 seconds rest. Even for the fastest lane with some former olympians, they may do 50 kicks on :50 or :55. The lanes towards the middle of the pool do 50 kick on a 1:10 interval. I think you should decide where you get the most benefit and invest time in improving that first. As a former boss (a Texan) used to always tell me, "Pick the low hanging fruit first." Back when I took swimming instruction classes and taught swimming, I believe the manuals said the free kick accounts for about 30% of the forward movement in the stroke, so you can only go so far with overall stroke improvements by concentrating on the kick. *** is an entirely different story, as the kick makes up a larger portion of the stroke (I don't remember the exact percentage). My 50 *** kick is about 10 seconds faster than my free. Improvements to the *** kick will have a far higher impact on the whole stroke.

I think I need a live coach or team vice my e-coach and swimming alone. I can tell my stroke is changing but no idea if its for the better or not. :notworking: Anyone know a coach in the Atlanta area (Cobb or Fulton counties)?

If you are a sprinter, it's essential to be be a fast kicker. If you aren't, that's a piece of ripe low haning fruit. Pick it, take a bite, savor it's deliciousness. Everyone can improve their kick especially when it isn't fast. This isn't about what interval people can make on repeat 50's. I'm talking about drag racing. What is your time when you kick all out for: 15, 25, and 50 meters. Also it's important to be able to kick a fast 100 and 200, but if your 50 isn't fast, there's no point. You need to fix your fifty first. If a sprinter kicks 50 meters around 1:00 he should work on improving his kick and make it much faster, world class swimmers can kick 50 meters under 30 and they can SDK 50 meters in 24 or 25. I'm pretty sure I can flutter kick 50 meters with a board around 35 and SDK in 30 You can be a faster kicker, once you develop it and learn to apply it while you swim, you will become a faster swimmer. Your time will improve. Ande While I agree that a strong kick is essential for any swimming, a minute 50 kick isn't unheard of on my masters team, even among the faster swimmers. When we do kick sets, we rarely do a 50 kick on less than a minute interval, getting maybe 5 seconds rest. Even for the fastest lane with some former olympians, they may do 50 kicks on :50 or :55. The lanes towards the middle of the pool do 50 kick on a 1:10 interval. I think you should decide where you get the most benefit and invest time in improving that first. As a former boss (a Texan) used to always tell me, "Pick the low hanging fruit first." Back when I took swimming instruction classes and taught swimming, I believe the manuals said the free kick accounts for about 30% of the forward movement in the stroke, so you can only go so far with overall stroke improvements by concentrating on the kick. *** is an entirely different story, as the kick makes up a larger portion of the stroke (I don't remember the exact percentage). My 50 *** kick is about 10 seconds faster than my free. Improvements to the *** kick will have a far higher impact on the whole stroke.

Did the 400 LCM fresstyle for the first time last Sunday. Managed 6:19. I was happy because I swam the 500 SCY April 28th in 7:40. So this was a solid improvement. I think I could have gone under six minutes because I was using it as a warm up for the sprints. This swim turned out to be a breakthrough swim, because my 50 free was very dissapointing. I think because of all the base work I am doing with no sprinting. The other thing you need to do is swim with other people. There have been good swimmers lately for me to learn from at my pool and I have had the opportunity to train with them. This has been key for me because you will never train as hard alone than with others.

congratulations thanks for the update ande Did the 400 LCM fresstyle for the first time last Sunday. Managed 6:19. I was happy because I swam the 500 SCY April 28th in 7:40. So this was a solid improvement. I think I could have gone under six minutes because I was using it as a warm up for the sprints. This swim turned out to be a breakthrough swim, because my 50 free was very dissapointing. I think because of all the base work I am doing with no sprinting. The other thing you need to do is swim with other people. There have been good swimmers lately for me to learn from at my pool and I have had the opportunity to train with them. This has been key for me because you will never train as hard alone than with others.

Ande: I had a big breakthrough, but need to know where to go. I dropped my timed 100 but 10 seconds since last week!:party2: Now I won't be changing my Login name...yet, but I'm getting there. The breakthrough: Last week, I was swimming 20 x 100's trying to figure out how to slow my stroke rate AND get more distance per stroke. I came to the blinding flash of the obvious that if I glide more then my kick will get me more DPS. Unfortunately, I have a weak kick so it didn't seem that I would make great gains, but I gave it a shot. When I started gliding what I found what I had time to finish my stroke and actually "felt" the water all the way until my hand was by my side. Its not quite "first quadrant" swimming, just a more defined glide/pause with the lead hand. It wore me out! Today I did fewer, but faster repeat 100s and finished with my timed 100. I really felt fast in the water. That is new for me. I wasn't as worn out as Friday but I could definitely feel it in my rear delts and back/ribs below my shoulder blades. I guess these muscles have been neglected in the 21 months of my swimming. Is this a breakthrough or am I just getting closer to how I'm supposed to swim? :help:

what are your practice times? Meet times? calm down and swim meets like practice you do need to get your legs going on sprints Have to revive this thread. I'm having a huge amount of trouble translating practice speed to race speed. I can't get a grip on the water in the race. I can tell even when I'm swimming that I'm not grabbing near the amount of water that I can in practice but I haven't been successful in figuring out how to fix it. I've thought I may need to practice getting my kick up quick off a dive.

Have to revive this thread. I'm having a huge amount of trouble translating practice speed to race speed. I can't get a grip on the water in the race. I can tell even when I'm swimming that I'm not grabbing near the amount of water that I can in practice but I haven't been successful in figuring out how to fix it. I've thought I may need to practice getting my kick up quick off a dive.

those ratios are about right each person is different keep concentrating on swimming faster in practice ande Hard swims in practice from a push. 50 Free-:28 50 Fly-:29 100 Free-1:00 low 200 Free-2:09 300 Free-3:14've swum other races but I don't generally get times for them in practice. 50 Fly has been from Relay's or IM's. Out of those, the 500 is the most relaxed for me in a race but still nowhere near as powerful feeling as practice swims, went out in 2:07 at the 200 in that 500.