So I am going to do a meet in November. The first meet in 17 years. A little about me; Swam summer league for 6 years as a kid, but never did year-round training. Lifted a fair amount of weights for the past decade and a half, but mostly been a mix of fat and muscle. Current stats are: 35 years old, 5’9” (that doesn’t actually change) 250 lbs, 400 lb squat and 300 lb bench. Fairly brick shaped. Training for the past month has been anywhere from 1000 to 1600 yds, mostly 12-1400 range. Most freestyle, bit of ***, less fly, a 50 of backstroke. The quandary that I face is that I know I am going to get my clock cleaned, but I would like to get some base times for performance measurement. I have trouble increasing yardage right now, because I know I also need to put time in at speed to train that effectively as well. My gut feeling is that the next six weeks should be more about fast training to maximize ability for short swims. I am looking at the 50 fly, ***, freestyle, and maybe throw in a 100 IM for giggles. At this point and time, I have no interest in ever being a distance swimmer. I have also put some effort into the sdk, between info here and seeing it’s effectiveness in the Olympics. I do remember the backstroker in Seoul cranking with his kick. I feel like my conditioning should improve fairly rapidly with speed work simply because it is so low at this point. But I will accept suggestions. By the way, I am unaffiliated, so practicing dives at the local 24 hour fitness occurs when no one else is around.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I am comfortable to the fact that I will be beat across multiple age categories and both genders. I know what I used to do, I also know that I don't have the extensive background that many have. Swimming is so technique oriented that to be really succesful takes a few years of concentrated dedication just refining technique. Actually, I have not lifted weights in a few months and I won't get back into it until after the meet in November. Lifting will take way too much energy and time from swimming for now. As far as practicing dive when no one else is around, so many places have "no diving" signs everywhere. The last thing I need is a noodler complaining. For perfomance today, my 4x50 scy on two minutes push off wall timing myself was 37, 37, 38, 39. Included board shorts and no cap. A quick 25 push off wall is about 18 seconds.
BTW, the meet will be the Kevin B Nash Memorial Swim Meet in Northglenn, CO.
Our team is hosting the Nash meet. It'll be a good time!
If you're interested in working out with a team, there are quite a few clubs in the Denver metro area.
In breaststroke the downward dolphin kick is allowed after the initiation of the pulldown and before the breaststroke kick.Most people do it during the pulldown.I recommend as you do the pull down letting a body undulation follow your hands.
As to the back to BR turn,you must finish each section of the IM according to the finishing rules of that stroke which in BK means you must touch with your hands,so your old turn will be legal. You can't turn over before the wall and flip(like is now legal during BK to BK turns)
There are probably better videos, but this one shows pretty well where to incorporate the dolphin kick. It's in the beginning at 0:11.
www.youtube.com/watch
For the breaststrok, I see a SDK can be added for starts and turns. Where does it fit in? Before the underwater pull, or between the pull and the kick?
Also, when I swam the IM, I would do a flip turn straight from back to ***, just touch the wall, flip backwards, and go. Is this still executed this way, or is it now allowable to turn over and execute the flip turn?
Swam 1500 yards today, need to still get some volume in.
So I worked on incorporating the single dolphin kick with the arm pull, and it fits in nicely. One of my big concerns is my inability to butterfly. I don't think the other competitors would appreciate me adding a shark to the pool for motivation. Two 25s with rest in between just kill me. I think my biggest problem is the lack of doing two kicks per stroke, which I used to be able to do. By the end, I am simply lunging out of the water to try to move forward, and my legs are not pushing at that point. So I incorporated the single arm fly to try to coordinate and practice the kick with the stroke. I would like to do the 50 fly at the meet, but I would need to be able to complete it first. When I swam butterfly in my teens, I had one speed for the hundred, which was the speed needed to complete the race.
At least you can do the fly. I go about 6 inches with each stroke, and I look like a seal having a seizure. I don't know what it is--I just can't get the rhythm going. Oh, well. I guess I'm sticking to breaststroke. I'm good at that anyway, haha.
Butterfly is a very difficult stroke to master as its what I call a "power stroke". It takes strong arms & shoulders, a strong core, and a good, proper kick (the right beat). Even though I swam for 17 years and just coming back after 15 I'm having a hard time. I can go 25's no problem, a 50 just barely, after that all bets are off. For me its not about a lack of strength, but a lack of "core" strength. When I get tired, my hips sink, thus putting more stress on the arms and shoulders. Then I try to kick my way back into it, which only goes a few yards futrher before I really fall apart like a young summer league swimmer! All you can do is train and work on technique....no substitute for hard work!
