I have been swimming a little over 3 years now and I swam the 50 free in a meet for the very first time today,(I went 24.38). I usually swim 100,200,500,1000 and some fly but never the 50. My mom videotaped the race with the camera she got for Christmas so I thought I'd share it. The first 10 sec. or so is the heat before mine. I'm in the heat right after that and I have a white cap on, I'm in the middle (lane 4) and I win my heat. This is a scy pool. I'd like to get my time under 23 so any tips on swimming the 50 free faster would be greatly appreciated. Here is the link. It may ask you do download a new flash player I had to do it but it only takes a sec.
s53.photobucket.com/.../
Agree with Ande the angle and timers block alot of view of your particular techniques. What was your breathing pattern the first 25? I could not be sure but it looked like you took air just before your turn.
I don't download any new media players anymore so I'll give you some advice sight unseen.
I would suggest that to swim fast in a meet you need to swim fast in practice. According to your post it sounds like you tend to swim distance events so I would have to assume that your practices focus on them and not on the 50 or 100. Spend some more time in practice doing sprint work. Sets of sprint 25's or 50's. Read Ande's "Swimming Faster Faster" thread. It's long but I am quite certain you will find something of value in there.
I didn't take any breaths the 1st 25 and I took 2 on the way back. Ande, I'd really like to get faster in both of the events but my main focus will be 200,500.
It sure is nice to win a heat, did you go onto the final?
Hard to tell from the video but I believe you were holding your fingers too tightly together and the thumb was pressed too hard against the index finger. This causes tension but some may like this in a sprint I do not.
I agree that its a little hard to see but the stroke looked real short and flat. If so, I'd recommend finishing a little longer and rotating more. A good drill may be kicking on your side for 6 beats then rotating with an arm stroke to the other side for 6 beats and repeat. Do that for a 50, then the same with 1.5 strokes between kicks for a 25 and finish with a 25 swim. Repeat the drill set 5 or 6x. Good Luck.
It looks like you may need to push off deeper on your turn. It's hard to tell. But, it seemed to me like you popped up to the surface a little faster than needed. You want to really maintain you speed off that wall and popping up too soon is like putting on the brakes.
