Fun, and Fast

The photo of Phelps brings up the question of pitch angle. His left paw is much more angled than I could imagine. Looks like a backhoe making a big grab of paydirt. It doesn't seem to work for me.

those are some excellent swims way to go Thank you, Ande. The 50 & 100 times were not too unusual, for fast swims -- I've matched them in the past -- but the 150 was a little shocking to me. I expected 1:27-28 at best. For some reason I was able to stay under a little longer on the underwaters without getting tired or going into oxygen-debt, and I believe that was the difference. I've been working hard on high intensity SDK sets at a longer distances than previously (75s & 100s instead of 25s & 50s), as well as a more intense dryland core routine, maybe that's all helping.

The right hand under water thumb up little finger down. Check out this underwater picture of Phelps. You can actually see the bow-wave! 1212 I often wondered if this was possible, being able to capture an image of the water actually curving around the body. My thanks goes to Lindsay Patten of www.mymsc.ca for extracting the picture from video.

AI don't consider this a blog but a place to share workouts and training strategies, so I don't like to post my own workout times unless it is to make a point (eg to compare to race pace). Same here, generally speaking, keeping a blog would mean I'd be obligated to write, constantly having to produce new material. That would be too structured for my liking, plus it would require me to be consistent, which I'm not. The main motivation here is to share training advice, hopefully more people will post work-outs that they enjoy. What I've found to be interesting is the sociological aspects to this board. There have been many moments that I've drawn inspiration from here, helping to add a bit more meaning to the training. It helps to have people understand what you're trying to accomplish, and be able to reflect similar feelings about the swim. You know, I don't really see a distinction between swim-for-fitness and the elite performers. I mean sure, there is a difference, but they are compatible in the sense that we can all draw the same enjoyment from swimming. On a personal level, most people I talk with have that feeling after a good swim, you know, the weight is lifted, the air is clear, or even the basic health benefits from just being part of the whole process. So, when I share advice, it's not just for people who want to swim faster for competitive purposes, but also, so the majority can find a happy balance in the water.

To All, I wrote this article on backstroke 2 years ago, and I was wondering what your thoughts are. I understand that there are variations to the stroke depending on each person, but does this description apply as general advice? Here are four important points to keep in mind when swimming backstroke. First... In backstroke the water above your head is useless! It only interrupts the flow, and delays the most important phase, the finish... Do not try and catch that water, instead, enter a little wider and deeper at the begining of the stroke. This will naturally accentuate the body roll, and puts the entering arm in a stronger position. Second... From the top of the stroke to the mid-point of the body the arm should be deep and wide and acts more like an anchor, transfering the weight of your body into the push phase... Don't think of backstroke as pull/push, think of it as Anchor/push/ twist. This does a few things, it elevates your body position, (Hips, legs), but also sets you up for the most important phase... the finish Third... When the forearm is perpendicular to your body, and parallel to the back wall, this is precisely the moment that your other arm begins to enter the water.... (WIDER) This transfer of momentum is precisely what gives you the power in backstroke.. . You need to push and twist with the finishing stroke as much as possible, while entering quickly with the opposing arm. SIMULTANEOUSLY Fourth... Do not over-kick during the swim... Instead, think of the kick as just a way to keep your hips and legs closer to the surface. Smaller and tighter, and elevated as much as possible. This will ensure maximal propulsion from the finishing stroke. Good luck, and happy swimming!

You know, I don't really see a distinction between swim-for-fitness and the elite performers. I don't think there SHOULD be a difference, agreed. For example, although there can be a diverse range of intervals, the workouts that I post are given to the entire group and that includes swimmers who have little interest in competing and have little background in swimming. They might compete in the meet that is held in our own pool, but that's it. And yet they participate in "test sets" (eg 5 x 100 or 5 x 200 off the blocks with lots of rest) that are perhaps the most challenging thing we do and can be daunting even to seasoned competitive swimmers. For example, we did a test set this week (5 x 100 on 4:00). One swimmer, whose kids swim and who is very fit, but without a background in competitive swimming, really went after it. Her fastest repeat was her first one and she added 0-2 seconds on every one thereafter. She was completely spent by the last one and clearly had given it her all. I, on the other hand, held all five around the same time (maybe the last two were 1 second slower) and -- although I too was very tired by the end -- probably played it "safer" than she did. Other "experienced" swimmers descended the set; clearly they were conserving energy on the first couple. So I greatly admire this "fitness" swimmer who really went after it. And, in fact, I believe this kind of set is a great way to help develop/maintain fitness: you need to mix in the high intensity efforts along with the longer, more endurance-based training. HOWEVER, I think there are too many fitness swimmers who only swim at a slower pace and furthermore do almost all swims at roughly the same pace. They may reason that they don't intend to compete and so don't need to do those high-intensity "race pace" types of swims. I disagree. ******** My workout today was longer, aerobic stuff. Since I don't really have time for cycling during the academic year, this sort of workout takes its place and I consider it valuable both to build CV endurance and (hopefully) to keep the weight off. Others may have heard me say this before: I believe in working out in all the "training zones" from 1 (warmup-level intensity) to 5 (all-out sprint). This keeps me from getting bored and allows me some versatility in events. IMO even pure sprinters should do this, although they would possibly spend proportionally more of their time in zones 1 & 5 than I do. (Today I swam with the age-group club in the second-fastest senior group. But, although perhaps longer than typical -- mostly due to the excessively long warmups that USS teams seem to like -- the workout could easily be adopted to a more typical masters practice, perhaps by replacing butterfly with freestyle or another stroke of your choice and by cutting the warmup in half. Of course, adjust the intervals as you like. I didn't do anything very hard, keeping below lactate threshold in zones 1-3 today; it was as much a recovery workout as anything.) 400 easy freestyle on 6:00 4 x 100 kick on 1:45 with board 2 x 300 IM kick/drill/swim by 25s, on 5:00 rest 0:30 2 x the following: 2 x 400 with paddles and pull buoys, on 5:00. Concentrate on DPS and use bilateral breathing. On the second round, negative split the 400s while keeping the same number of strokes per length (which should be 10-14). 3 x 100 kick with board on 1:40. I alternated fly and free kick by 50s. rest 1:00 200 free on 2:25, aerobic 3 x 100 fly on 1:15, descend these (I couldn't manage that, I held them steady though) 3 x 400 IM on 5:10, maintain good average That was it for me, I did a 200 warm down and got out because I was starting to feel tired (more weary than tired, really) and this was supposed to be more of a recovery workout for me. However, the kids did 2 more rounds of the above, substituting first backstroke and then breaststroke on the 100s. They were supposed to descend their 400IM averages too. Then they were going to do 10 minutes of "wall kicking" of varying intensity off the coach's whistle.

Ya, I know what you mean, many people are like that. That's just it, if you're in the water, you're getting a good work-out, and having a similar experience. I'm usually inspired by people that like to train, just-for-fitness. So I greatly admire this "fitness" swimmer who really went after it. And, in fact, I believe this kind of set is a great way to help develop/maintain fitness: you need to mix in the high intensity efforts along with the longer, more endurance-based training. I guess a 1:20 base for the broken mile is something I could do... That's like warm-up, anyway.

Tonight's swim was pretty good. SCM 3x(100 swim, 50 kick, 100 drill) 4x(3x75) on 1:10 done this way 1st 75, 25fast,50 easy 2nd 75, 25easy,25 fast, 25 easy 3rd 75, 50 easy, 25 fast (repeat 4 times) This is a great set! 3x200 IM on 30 rest 500 dolphin on back with finz (good for the core) 200 easy I like the idea of doing the 500 dolphin kick at the end of the workout after you've sprinted. Did that today.

I have a love/hate relationship with the dolphin kick after sprinting. I hate to do it because it hurts, but I love to do it for the workout. I really liked doing it at the end. But then I'm a kicking freak. I could do tempo dolphin kick on my back with a MF for a loooong time.

Tonight's swim was pretty good. SCM 3x(100 swim, 50 kick, 100 drill) 4x(3x75) on 1:10 done this way 1st 75, 25fast,50 easy 2nd 75, 25easy,25 fast, 25 easy 3rd 75, 50 easy, 25 fast (repeat 4 times) This is a great set! 3x200 IM on 30 rest 500 dolphin on back with finz (good for the core) 200 easy