Video Review: My 50 and 200 free

Nice 200 there Q. Super relaxed and just oh-so-smooth. Very handsome stroke. But what the h*&%#! do you think you were doing? Taking a leisurely Sunday afternoon stroll through the park? Or were you hoping to star in one of those demo videos showing perfect hand placement? Talk about Lazy Wife. She has nothing on Lazy Husband. Your coach ought to give you a firm clip alongside the ear and tell you to put some more effort into it. In case you were wondering, you are meant to feel tired at the end of a 200. :bolt: That said, I was really impressed with your 50 time given your torpid turnover. You are obviously doing some magic under the water. Awww Syd, I didn't know you cared :blush: I think I just starred in a demo video on how not to pace your 200 free. If you look in the background during my flip turn at the 100, you will see Lazy Wife and one of my coaches. Coach: "Did he mean to go out that slow?" Lazy Wife: "I don't know, but I think he has a plan." Coach: "Ok, he seems like the kinda guy who would have a plan." After the race they didn't really know what to say. Lazy Wife is not a math person, so she didn't know how slow a 2:20 scm was until I climbed out and said that converts to about a 2:06. She was nice enough not to start ridiculing me for that race until Sunday. And she did. For hours. Glad I could provide a reason to use torpid in a sentence :)

I know, it's tempting to recommend him to increase drastically his turnover on this distance but at the same time, if he was happy with the time... I think a best swim on that day in the 50 free would have been a 26.9, so I am happy with a 27.2. I am a 24 low scy now, and considering that time is dropping, I am happy. I need to be a 23 mid in January and taper to a 22 high/23 flat in February. Happy today is not necessarily happy tomorrow. So faster turnover and stronger faster kick are in order.

Mr. Q: Would you consider an observation that your left hand crosses over the center? That left hand then slashes over to the left before moving underneath your torso. All that had motion moves your hips and legs out of a streamline position. Some swimmers with a huge kick can get away with a cross over stroke (i.e., Alexander Popov) but most, including me, cannot. I'm sure you have seen this video of Ian Thorpe--his hands seem to stay pretty much within his bodyline throughout the entire stroke. YouTube- Thorpe Front View Underwater

Mr. Q: Would you consider an observation that your left hand crosses over the center? Mike, I don't see it, unless you mean on entry. I just rewatched both videos where I am approaching, and the left hand enters poorly (it should enter about 6" further out), but then it sculls to where it should have entered pulls back until about the hips, where the hand disappears. Did you mean on entry, or do you have a timestamp that shows it well?

I commented in your blog that it must have looked like you were swimming a 1500 instead of 200 based on your split and after seeing the video I'll stick to that! You really, really need to crank it up. Even the 50 looked a little too controlled. The fact you swam a 27 low with that kind of turnover is impressive. I think if you can keep your sound stroke mechanics, but increase your stroke rate you will improve a lot. Thanks Kirk. I am not disagreeing with any of those points :)

Nice 200 there Q. Super relaxed and just oh-so-smooth. Very handsome stroke. But what the h*&%#! do you think you were doing? Taking a leisurely Sunday afternoon stroll through the park? Or were you hoping to star in one of those demo videos showing perfect hand placement? Talk about Lazy Wife. She has nothing on Lazy Husband. Your coach ought to give you a firm clip alongside the ear and tell you to put some more effort into it. In case you were wondering, you are meant to feel tired at the end of a 200. :bolt: That said, I was really impressed with your 50 time given your torpid turnover. You are obviously doing some magic under the water.