The Backstroke Lane

Hey folks, Back in the day, I was a backstroker and butterflier. Used to be mid 50s for both 100s and in the 2:00-2:05 ballpark for the 200s. After a good while out of the water, I started swimming again last summer. My backstroke was horrible all last short course season (swam the 100 back twice, with the first time being a 1:11 and the second, at the end of the season, being a high 1:06). Since May, I've spent quite a bit of practice time working solely on my backstroke, trying to get my technique and speed/power back to an approximation of what it used to be. On top of that, I've spent a good deal of time with one of the other coaches on my team, working one on one with her to have someone improve my back. Could y'all take a look at this video of my 100 back from the end of October My 100 back - Sprint Classic at GMU - 10/28/12 - YouTube (I'm the one with the tattoos)? Since September, I've dropped down to a 1:02 from that high 1:06 in the 100 and am aiming for a ~:58 in the 100 at Nats. My technique has come a long way since last season, but I've still got plenty to work on. From the video, here's what I see, and I'd like to hear what y'all think, too. -My flip speed is pretty pokey. That's something I've been working on since that meet, so I'm pretty confident that it's faster now. -I need to continue working on my SDK--I'd like to eke more out of it at the 50 and 75 turns. I used to hit the 12.5 off my turns consistently back in the day and would like to work back out to that point. -I can't tell how good my flutter kick actually is. Since I rotate at the hips, my feet spend most of the time pointing everywhere but up. When I'm doing flutter kick on my back in practice, I've got a fairly powerful kick, but I can't tell how well that translates to actually swimming back. -My head naturally sits pretty far back in the water. My coach from 10 years ago had me curl my head forward almost to the point where my chin was on my chest and that helped back then, but I'm currently having problems remembering to do that consistently while racing. -I think I still need to work on my catch. This was one of the main things that was wrong back in the spring--I had a garbage catch back then and I've made big strides since then, but I can't help but think I could still catch and push more water than I am now, and more efficiently, too. Whatcha think? Send me your email. I'll email you the list of videos I've watched from YouTube in the last year. There's a bunch of them. Better than any advice an old guy like me can give you.

Hey folks, Back in the day, I was a backstroker and butterflier. Used to be mid 50s for both 100s and in the 2:00-2:05 ballpark for the 200s. After a good while out of the water, I started swimming again last summer. My backstroke was horrible all last short course season (swam the 100 back twice, with the first time being a 1:11 and the second, at the end of the season, being a high 1:06). Since May, I've spent quite a bit of practice time working solely on my backstroke, trying to get my technique and speed/power back to an approximation of what it used to be. On top of that, I've spent a good deal of time with one of the other coaches on my team, working one on one with her to have someone improve my back. Could y'all take a look at this video of my 100 back from the end of October My 100 back - Sprint Classic at GMU - 10/28/12 - YouTube (I'm the one with the tattoos)? Since September, I've dropped down to a 1:02 from that high 1:06 in the 100 and am aiming for a ~:58 in the 100 at Nats. My technique has come a long way since last season, but I've still got plenty to work on. From the video, here's what I see, and I'd like to hear what y'all think, too. -My flip speed is pretty pokey. That's something I've been working on since that meet, so I'm pretty confident that it's faster now. -I need to continue working on my SDK--I'd like to eke more out of it at the 50 and 75 turns. I used to hit the 12.5 off my turns consistently back in the day and would like to work back out to that point. -I can't tell how good my flutter kick actually is. Since I rotate at the hips, my feet spend most of the time pointing everywhere but up. When I'm doing flutter kick on my back in practice, I've got a fairly powerful kick, but I can't tell how well that translates to actually swimming back. -My head naturally sits pretty far back in the water. My coach from 10 years ago had me curl my head forward almost to the point where my chin was on my chest and that helped back then, but I'm currently having problems remembering to do that consistently while racing. -I think I still need to work on my catch. This was one of the main things that was wrong back in the spring--I had a garbage catch back then and I've made big strides since then, but I can't help but think I could still catch and push more water than I am now, and more efficiently, too. Whatcha think? Send me your email. I'll email you the list of videos I've watched from YouTube in the last year. There's a bunch of them. Better than any advice an old guy like me can give you.