Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Swim Technique

Coach is really on me for technique right now, which is great. I'd rather be slow and correct than fast with no hope of getting faster.
He wants me to get down to 16 strokes per 25 yds. I think a week or so ago before we got back into working on my technique 25 strokes was probably my average. If I go slowly now I can do it in 18.
The way he described the catch and scull was very helpful:
Once your forward hand is out in front at the catch. You then want it to feel like you've anchored your hand there and you are pulling your body over that anchor point.
If you pull straight back, it's no good. It will feel like your hand is slipping from that anchor point.
If you scull, pull to the inside then out past the hip, it should feel as if you are pulling yourself over that anchor point.
Another way to look at it, is the point you place your hand into the water is the same place it should be pulling out of the water. Relative to the pool that is.
For whatever reason, that really clicked with me tonight. So currently I'm really working hard on my rotation and now adding this catch/scull/pull. I imagine I'll be at the pool this weekend to work on this outside of class/group swims. Doing a ton of 50's with good rest between should help me hold the technique.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Swim golf is a great technique for measuring swim technique efficiency. Here's the post.

http://mytriathlontraining.com/2008/04/07/swim-golf-is-a-great-way-to-focus-on-stroke-technique/

Nice blog - keep up the good work.