I finally decided to ask the lifeguard at the pool to watch my stroke, since he used to coach masters etc. This was following my 9 mile run yesterday, I had to swim for 60 minutes. I remember from last year, this is learning to push when you're tired. My legs were really shot from my hill run Friday---and with Sunday's time trial, and my long 9 mile run yesterday.....the pool was the last place where I wanted to "figure stuff out." However, for some reason, I found some motivation and asked him to watch my swim stroke, so I have some place to start. I do come from a swimming background, but it has been years since I've had someone analyze my stroke.
The good news is: he said I have a really good stroke, I breathe well and it just needs some tweaking.
Right. Just a little tweaking which involves going REALLY slow in the pool to work on bringing my elbows up higher (which apparently I now need to incorporate MORE weight lifting to help my shoulders become more flexible), and I need to add in another kick in my rotation since I was stopping when I turned to breathe. I didnt' have the heart to complain that I wasn't kicking a lot because my legs were shot =0.
The biggest issue with my stroke apparently is that I don't reach far enough past my head to get in enough pull...my catch is fine, but i'm not pulling enough......
Of course they say to work on one thing at a time, so he says this, and then he's like "your pull looked better, but you're still not kicking enough"....I thought we were doing ONE thing at a time! Then, when I was trying to concentrate on bringing my elbow up, I would forget to breathe!
It was pretty funny! I have to say, learning how to swim effectively and the right way is HARD! I'm glad I learned most of the fundamentals when I was younger and at least I have a starting point. It came back to me when I started to have my arms closer to my head, dragging my arms past my thigh, so it's coming back!
It's interesting though, he made some suggestions that go completely against what i've been taught. For example, he advocates breathing every stroke--explaining that I need oxygen....and he also explained I should breathe on one-side (since he swims miles in the ocean on one side). I tend to breathe every 3-4 strokes and I love bilateral breathing, it's easier on the shoulders. All in all it was good advice, but i'll be asking some other people--especially about hip rotation to get my elbow up higher.
All in all, i'm just tired...I like being tired to some extent because it means i'm working--especially with the hills and increasing intervals. My biggest goal now is to get myself to that morning masters swim. I won't even tell you how many times i've set my alarm in the a.m. to go----I honestly cannot pull myself out of bed--but it would make my afternoons a lot easier! If I knew someone was meeting me, I would go----but it's hard knowing technically I could swim later!
I think I may start blogging about everyday life as well, I think my blog is kind of boring and I never have updated pictures......oh well!
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