I have noticed that some (many?) of you swimmers have the opportunity to train with age-group swimmers. How did you manage to arrange that?
I typically train early mornings (5:30, as soon as the pool opens). The local Masters club only trains in the evenings while I am still at work, so the majority of my sessions are solo, trained in the "public lanes". This works out fairly well; I am a fast enough swimmer that I usually end up with my own lane or sharing with other like-minded people. The problem is that, left to my own devices, my work-outs are all about the same. Same times, same strokes, same distance. I always go about 4000 to 4500 meters, one half swim, one quarter kick, one quarter pull. I do some sprints and tons of traditional short-rest interval training. Ho hummmmm...
It would be nice to periodically (or routinelly) swim with the age-group swimmers of my speed calibre, but I just cannot see how to arrange that without coming across as just plain kooky (and not in a good kooky way either) Maybe it is just the very traditional, old fashioned culture in this area that makes this difficult.
As an example: I once asked why the masters swimmers do not share swim meets with the age group swimmers more often to defray the costs of pool rental and increase the number of paying competitors. The major answer was that many parents do not want a bunch of "dirty old men" warming up in the same pool as their young impressionable daughters. This took me aback: at the time my daughter was a competitive swimmer and I just could not fathom that anyone could have such a dirty mind that they could imagine anything sexual happening in a crowded warm-up pool.
For the swimmers that have the opportunity to swim with age group teams: was this opportunity offered-up voluntarily by the club, or did you have to campaign the club to allow you to join as a master swimmer?
I so identify with the one fin thing (I hope your ankle is better now)!
When I was *road kill* I seriously considered asking the coach to let me wear 1 fin as a compromise; however, I wasn't injured in ANY capacity so I chickened out! :D
What is working for me in terms of developing (or getting) kick -
1. 6 Beat Kick the Warm Up (that's anywhere from 1000 to 2000 meters) - moderate kick and then
2. 6 Beat Kick the entire 1 hour masters practice and then
3. 6 Beat Kick key free sets during the longer 2 hour USA-S practices (strategically) - so if we were doing 400s or 300s or 200s, I would 6 beat kick (hard) the 2nd half of each distance.
I found I could then do kick only sets and kick/ swim sets.
The first month was the worst as I felt I could not breathe. I would say by month 3 things really started to fall in place. I adapted to it and I can't imagine not kicking. It may look crazy to 6 beat kick the warm up, but warm up is the best place to try and break bad habits.
Man, this is not the news I wanted to hear, but based on my limited exposure to swimming and swimming hard (for me anyway), I have to concede agreement. I used to rarely do flip turns in practice as a kid, but now do it every practice (it took me about 6 months of forcing the habit). Maybe by working my kick more the same thing will occur for me.
:bliss:
I'm sorry this happened. I would hope that those involved have moved on so you can train with those you need/want to.
As for your kick.... I see training with age group as a good opportunity to work on your kick a lot. Two weeks ago I got a cortisone shot in my ankle from a year old injury. I'm lucky that my coach is understanding so when we do a kick set, I wear one fin (on the food foot) and I can keep up and pass some of them. I bet if you talk to the age group coach, he would let you start off with some light fins on and work up to staying with them.
I so identify with the one fin thing (I hope your ankle is better now)!
When I was *road kill* I seriously considered asking the coach to let me wear 1 fin as a compromise; however, I wasn't injured in ANY capacity so I chickened out! :D
What is working for me in terms of developing (or getting) kick -
1. 6 Beat Kick the Warm Up (that's anywhere from 1000 to 2000 meters) - moderate kick and then
2. 6 Beat Kick the entire 1 hour masters practice and then
3. 6 Beat Kick key free sets during the longer 2 hour USA-S practices (strategically) - so if we were doing 400s or 300s or 200s, I would 6 beat kick (hard) the 2nd half of each distance.
I found I could then do kick only sets and kick/ swim sets.
The first month was the worst as I felt I could not breathe. I would say by month 3 things really started to fall in place. I adapted to it and I can't imagine not kicking. It may look crazy to 6 beat kick the warm up, but warm up is the best place to try and break bad habits.
It may look crazy to 6 beat kick the warm up, but warm up is the best place to try and break bad habits.
I think this is good advice. I tend not to kick during warm up and this probably carries over to not six beat kicking most of practice. If you start with warm up it would be silly not to keep it up.
Great news Shark! It's such a nice feeling to be able to kick and 150 is a good distance. Did you feel a bit lopsided with the one fin only?
I did with fly. I would go crooked doing fly kick. hee-hee. But after months of this, I got used to it. Most of the time that I had the one fin on (on my good foot) my bad foot was just dragging behind anyway. Now let's hope the bad foot holds up for this Sunday's meet and 400 IM.
I so identify with the one fin thing (I hope your ankle is better now)!
When I was *road kill* I seriously considered asking the coach to let me wear 1 fin as a compromise; however, I wasn't injured in ANY capacity so I chickened out! :D
.
Cream, I'm happy to report that I kicked 150 m without a fin yesterday for the first time since Oct!! Finally. And I can kick *** again. :banana:
Funky, good luck. Your kick will get better. Just keep working on it.
I train with my son's age group team two or three times a week, and it has been a wonderful experience. I get to swim different sets than I would normal do. Just ask the coach and hopefully, that person is open to the idea.
I did with fly. I would go crooked doing fly kick. hee-hee. But after months of this, I got used to it. Most of the time that I had the one fin on (on my good foot) my bad foot was just dragging behind anyway. Now let's hope the bad foot holds up for this Sunday's meet and 400 IM.
Good luck at the meet! Makes sense on the fly kick. I run screaming from the 400 IM!
I think this is good advice. I tend not to kick during warm up and this probably carries over to not six beat kicking most of practice. If you start with warm up it would be silly not to keep it up.
Thanks Q. I saw one of the national kids use warm up to learn how to do 5 to 6 SDK's off each wall (and he's now really good at SDK SCY), so I felt that the same thing could apply to 6 beat kick. After the LCM season in 2 weeks, I will use warm up to do the same thing with SDK. I'm not looking forward to it but it's just a necessary evil now.
Cream, I'm happy to report that I kicked 150 m without a fin yesterday for the first time since Oct!! Finally. And I can kick *** again. :banana:
Funky, good luck. Your kick will get better. Just keep working on it.
Great news Shark! It's such a nice feeling to be able to kick and 150 is a good distance. Did you feel a bit lopsided with the one fin only?
