One topic of great interest to us all is
"What do you need to do to have a major swimming breakthrough?"
"What do you need to do to significantly improve your swimming times over one season?"
Do you have any specific, nitty gritty type suggestions.
I think it's really easy to fall into ruts, to just show up and go through the motions rather than seizing the moment while we train.
Any one have any thoughts on what we need to do to significantly improve?
forums.usms.org/showthread.php
please do this:
test yourself in a 50 free right now
then gain 20 pounds of blubber then retest yourself
then report your results
Did this experiment
Dec 07, 225#, 50 Fly 36.00scm, converts to about 32.43scy, about .25 off my then best
May 08, 245#, 50Fly 31.42scy, a personal best!!!:applaud:
Unfortunately, by my activity level, appearance, and the way my clothes fit, the extra 20# is blubber. :cry:
Right after the Dec 07 meet I fell on some ice, hurting my shoulder and aggravating the medial epicondylitis (Golfers Elbow) I have in both elbows. Made it difficult to swim much or with any intensity. It also turned out a side effect of the Diclofenic I was taking for my elbows is weight gain.
However, I don’t attribute the improvement to additional ‘flotation’ from the extra 20# of fat. More likely the improvement was due:
1 – When I did swim I did a much higher percentage of kick work, flutter and SDKs
2 – I swam the 50 Fly in Dec after swimming PBs in the 100 & 200 Free, while in May I was rested and it was my first event of the day
The rest of the May meet didn’t go nearly as well as my 50 Fly. I was about a second off my best times in the 50 Bk and Br, within 0.12 of my best in the 100IM (which at my level of swimming is almost as good as a PB).
And my 200 Free, I decided to try save face and just call it a cool down,:whiteflag: it was a just a hair better than my first 200Free at my first masters meet over three years ago and SLOWER than my 200 split from my 500 and 1000 Free.
IMHO, lugging the extra 20# did not make me any faster
please do this:
test yourself in a 50 free right now
then gain 20 pounds of blubber then retest yourself
then report your results
Did this experiment
Dec 07, 225#, 50 Fly 36.00scm, converts to about 32.43scy, about .25 off my then best
May 08, 245#, 50Fly 31.42scy, a personal best!!!:applaud:
Unfortunately, by my activity level, appearance, and the way my clothes fit, the extra 20# is blubber. :cry:
Right after the Dec 07 meet I fell on some ice, hurting my shoulder and aggravating the medial epicondylitis (Golfers Elbow) I have in both elbows. Made it difficult to swim much or with any intensity. It also turned out a side effect of the Diclofenic I was taking for my elbows is weight gain.
However, I don’t attribute the improvement to additional ‘flotation’ from the extra 20# of fat. More likely the improvement was due:
1 – When I did swim I did a much higher percentage of kick work, flutter and SDKs
2 – I swam the 50 Fly in Dec after swimming PBs in the 100 & 200 Free, while in May I was rested and it was my first event of the day
The rest of the May meet didn’t go nearly as well as my 50 Fly. I was about a second off my best times in the 50 Bk and Br, within 0.12 of my best in the 100IM (which at my level of swimming is almost as good as a PB).
And my 200 Free, I decided to try save face and just call it a cool down,:whiteflag: it was a just a hair better than my first 200Free at my first masters meet over three years ago and SLOWER than my 200 split from my 500 and 1000 Free.
IMHO, lugging the extra 20# did not make me any faster
