Just wondering what folks are working on in their training or to prepare for meets this upcoming SCY season. I'm always interested in what people are doing and why.
For me, in an ideal world, I intend to work on:
improving my SDKs off turns
improving my free and *** technique
doing more strength and core work
increasing DPS
doing more race pace work throughout the season
swimming a 100 fly in SCY and SCM for the first time
taking some time off my 100 IM; I've been stuck in a rut
doing a fast 100 back this year; didn't get around to it last year
Former Member
I'm working on making my final 15 months in the 30-34 age group good ones, to prove to people that being at the end of the age group doesn't mean you should just roll over and let the young'ins win everything.
Jeff when you are that young you are just getting to be able to do your best times.
From the USMS rule book:
Backstroke to breaststroke—The swimmer must touch the wall while
on the back. Once a legal touch has been made, the swimmer may turn in
any manner, but the shoulders must be at or past the vertical toward the
*** when the swimmer leaves the wall and the prescribed breaststroke
form must be attained prior to the first arm stroke.
"On the back" doesn't have to mean flat on your back. You can roll onto your side, but you must not let the exposed shoulder go beyond that invisible line that goes 90 degrees from the water's surface.
Jeff:
Are you doing the spin turn or the flip turn? I was practicing the flip turn. Then I saw all Geochuck's video links, which showed the spin turn. I also read on the GoSwim site that the flip turn is also called the suicide turn because the swimmers DQ 90% of the time. To prevent a DQ, do you just need to touch before you flip? The flip seems faster than the spin to me ...
I am trying to do the same, it is discouraging though. The other day we were swimming SCM and I did a set of 8 X 100 backstroke descend 1-4. On the first set, I worked on SDK and took 2-6 off of each wall (less as the swim went on). I went a 1:07.0. The next set of 4, I did no SDK on the fast one and went 1:05.5. It is hard to work on something that is making me slower. Any advice? Please remember this was SCM not LCM so I had 3 turns. Trying to figure this out for my SCM meet in November.
Sam....it really helps if unlike Jeff your feet/toes are horizontal in the water not sticking 3" straight up/out! :mooning:
26+ buddy....!
The flip is faster, and it's what I do. If you don't overreach with your touching arm, you won't get DQ'd ... unless the judge has never seen it done before or is not standing directly over your lane, in which case he or she will think you've rotated onto your stomach.
For anyone who does the crossover turn: If you get DQ'd, ask the judge where he or she was standing. If they were not standing directly over the lane (or at most, one lane over), they were not in a good position to judge the turn, and you can dispute it. I've done it before, and won.
Those 90 percent who were DQ'd probably were legal, but the judge freaked out. In masters, I've had a few stroke judges ask me to demonstrate the turn to them after the meet because they were never taught how to judge it.
I don't think the turn is discussed often in stroke and turn seminars for judges, but I could be wrong.
I'm working on a few (interrelated) things this fall:
1. endurance (particularly distance free).
2. flexibility (esp. ankle flexibility, and shoulder flexibility).
3. losing 10-15 lbs.
So far my progress is not staggering, but the downward trend seems to be there. I think I'm going to have to stretch twice a day instead of just once. The weight loss has been the most difficult, I get really hungry after workouts.
Lots and lots of things for this season:
1. Get my shoulder healthy enough to do that 8-mile Boston swim next summer. To that end I'm planning to...
a. work on technique
b. do lots of rotator cuff exercises
c. strengthen my core muscles
2. Lift weights consistently. (This one's hard, as I'm not a huge fan of the gym, and I haven't been consistent about this since I was 15 and forced to do it.)
3. Actually train for a half-marathon (run) at the end of January. For my first one last April, my running was incredibly inconsistent and my longest run prior to the race was an 8.5 miler. Sure enough, at mile 10, things began to go downhill and FAST. I still managed a 2:12 though. So this time around, I'm going to actually train properly, and I'm hoping to finish around the 2-hour mark.
I might enter a few meets here and there, but I don't really have any specific goals in mind. I generally leave the freestyle for open-water season, so I use the short-course seasons to race butterfly/***/IM. (I do enough backstroke only to get me through the IMs and no more.)
We should remember to resurrect this thread at the end of the season and see how everyone fared with their goals.
Sam....it really helps if unlike Jeff your feet/toes are horizontal in the water not sticking 3" straight up/out! :mooning:
26+ buddy....!
When I'm really sprinting it's more like two inches. :thhbbb:
