This site is devoted to swimming. Why is it called Twenty-Three Seconds? Because my goal is to swim 50 meters within twenty-three seconds. Follow along as I analyze my crawl stroke to death and maybe you'll learn a few things to improve your own time.
I was happy on Wednesday to be able to maintain my speed for 35 meters. My meters per second works out to 1.333, which works out to 18.75 seconds on 25 meters, which is reasonable. As much as I am making some progress this time, thinking that I could maintain the speed, on 50 meters would work out to be 37.5 seconds, which is a long, long way from twenty-three seconds.
I wasn’t really pushing myself that hard as far as speed today, rather I was practicing my start. I have been really struggling when coming off the block because as I hit the water my goggles come loose. I can visualize pretty well how it should look entering the water, but actually doing it is completely different. I find that I can tell I have issues with my entry because my legs slap the water when I enter or my feet do.
Entering the water is pretty tricky as I see it. When you watch the video you see the different phases. First you have to really imagine the starting sound. Next your arms give you a little push, but mostly you launch yourself off of the block as if you were going to start sprinting from the starter position. Instead of bringing your legs together and jump out. Gravity will bring you down starting with your upper body, which will be followed by your legs. If you jump out too far you’ll smack your legs on the water. Jump too short you’ll end up going too deep.
I have the feeling that a big part of the start is in being able to curve your back as you enter the water. I need to investigate.
Once I get in the water I rarely have the feeling that my dauphin kick is going well. When I see videos like the one below of Ian Thorpe I think that I using the wrong part of my torso to generate the kick. It seems that his kick starts up in his upper torso and gains power through his hips and legs. Mine, on the other hand, feels like it starts in my hips and moves through my legs.
I need to remember that just like improving my swimming it takes regular practice and study to really improve.
I am constantly having the problem of not seeing my actual speed due to pressing the buttons on my watch. I am considerig getting one of these SportCount finger timers. The thing that worries me is the size. I already hate wearing a watch and if there was some kind of system I could use to by pass this I would. Here is an idea for any invetor out there. Make a little touch sensitive pad that would do some basic functions like laps, etc. Then when you are swimming you could just touch it as you come around.
The other thing that REALLY bugs me is when I requested an image from the company look what they sent me (last image)! This image is either using a funny angle or it has been Photoshopped. I found this other picture and you can see it actually is quite large. With all the amazing technology out there why can’t someone make a very small finger watch? Well I think I’ll buy it anyway and if it turns out to be a skunk you’ll hear about it.
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Sports/Running-track-field/Other/photos/a-108900639/p-44743259.htm
I finally reached my current target of 18.50 seconds. As usual I have no idea what exactly makes the difference, but here are a few things I have been working on.
I had seen the video below a couple of days ago of Alexander Popov and I really like it. I think he totally looks like a shark. It’s funny too, because often you see girls or guys not wanting to get there hair wet and so keeping there head out of the water. But here he really looks like he is after something.
You can see it after about two seconds and then again at 22 seconds.
It is MUCH harder than I thought. When I am done with 25 meters of that I am completely winded. I don’t even have the courage to try it on 50 meters. Another drill that I was trying is also by Mr. Popov. I don’t know exactly when he does it, but you can see him doing a dauphin kick on his side. The trick here is breathing. I really enjoy the drill, but I have to take a stroke to breath where he just kind of sticks his mouth out of the water.
I am not sure what it is that really helped me go so much faster, but I am definitely going to keep working on those drills. My next target is a big on: Break 17 seconds on 25 meters or 1.471 meters per second.
Stay tuned.
I swam both Saturday and Sunday at a pool near my house, which was 35 meters long. I was a bit disappointed because I wasn’t able to maintain my best time for the full 35 meters. I think that means that I have some work to do on my level of fitness. I expect that I can keep my speed up for just 10 extra meters. Oh well.
When I went back to my normal pool, which is 25 meters, I was pleasently surprised that I had my time down to 19.27. That’s 1.297 meters per second, which makes me very happy.
There are some really nice videos floating around about Alexander Popov. Here are a few that I have found:
Today I wanted to review the catch position of the hand. I often see people who swim quickly having a very similar hand position when entering the water. Here are some examples from Ian Thorpe:
Each of these pictures illustrates the hand position pretty well. The fingers are relaxed and the hand is slightly cupped. The thumb serves to trap the water in the cup. The last picture shows from the side how much to cup your hand.
I don’t really know for sure but it looks like the thumb position and cupping your hand is more important than worrying about your fingers.
Last note, as I swam at a different sized pool today it’s helpful to show my meters per seconds rather than total time. This works out to 1.220 m/sec compared to 1.316 m/sec. That would have been more like 22.25 sec on 25m. Not really very good. I need to swim 35 m in less than 26.60 to beat my best speed.
I was practicing with the blocks today and was completely shocked at my time. I could tell I was swimming fast, so much so that I could tell I didn’t keep my stroke consistent until the end. I have a lot of difficulty getting off the block as I either dive in a way that knocks my goggles off or I go too deep and slow way down.
Next week I am hoping to try with someone timing me and maybe even my first videos, that would be very nice.
Today my focus was on the underwater part of my stroke. I have read and heard a number of things about how underwater your hand should run in an ’s’ shape. This hasn’t made a lot of sense of why this was important. I am starting to understand now. The shape isn’t actually important, rather when your technique is correct and you’re essentially ‘reaching over a barrel’ and finish off with a strong push before your recovery your hand will certainly be moving in an ’s’ shape.
Specifically, as you get a strong catch your elbow stays high against the surface of the water, this allows you to use your shoulder and lateral muscles rather than your arm to push in the water. The other important aspect is that as you push down you can really use your forearm to push in addition to your hand. If you are doing this correctly your hand will be running down a line that is parallel to side of the center of your face. If you kept this line you would end up hitting yourself in the leg. The real point here is not just to avoid hitting yourself, rather it is to continue pushing until your hand leaves the water. The ’s’ shape means that you are pushing all the way down.
I went to the coast for my holidays and swam exactly twice. It’s almost torture to be walking near the ocean for so long and not be able to swim in it.
It has been a while since the last time I swam in the ocean and it was really nice. I had forgotten how much salt there is and how well you float on the water. I was able to swim for much longer than I usually can. It did get me in a bit of trouble however when I swam in an area I shouldn’t have. The life guard was busy blowing his horn I just kept swimming totally oblivious. Lucky I didn’t get hit by a boat.
Back now and I can definitely feel the lack of practice in my shoulders. Ouch. I was pushing myself hard, but I wasn’t able to break 20 seconds again. Although I am not sure as I kept having problems with my watch. It is really not well suited for timing.
I don’t know if you have the problem, but when I try to press the stop button I tend to accidently press the split button. Sometimes I even press the stop button and then the split button which deletes my time. I think it is getting time to buy a new watch.
I don’t know what I did differently, but I broke my 20 second block. I haven’t been able to break 20 seconds for weeks. Today I suddenly crushed my score sprinting 19.57 seconds. After a little rest I sprinted again and went 19.17 seconds.
This type of breakthrough is probably normal for more serious atheletes. After working on practicing proper technique again and again, finally you get the pay-off.
I had to do a double-take when I saw 19 on my watch. The practice I have been doing that has paid off consists of timed 25’s for about 45 minutes three times a week. I swim different types of drills: Hand-offs, three on each side, kick drills, eyes closed, etc. Every workout I focus on one aspect of my technique.
Today I was focusing on being long. The drills I do for elongating myself are swimming with my eyes closed and cycle counts. I find keeping my eyes open really distracts me when I want to feel the correct movement in my shoulders.
Things started off pretty poorly for me before I started on my drills. I was pace swimming, averaging 27 seconds per 25 meters. Anything over 25 seconds lets me know my technique is way off. This is usually because I am being lazy and using way too many cycles to get across the pool.
My target is 8 cycles with a 10 meter dolphin kick after the push off. I was swimming around 12 cycles with my legs too far apart at first. After I realized this I started the cycle count drill and brought it between eight and nine. This immediately dropped my average to 25 seconds. I closed my eyes for a few laps and worked on my reach and the reaching over a barrel idea. I also worked on tilting my right hand after recovery as it was entering the water so the palm was facing right and reaching until I felt my shoulder connect with the side of my head.
After those drills my average time was at 23 seconds, which I have noticed lately is the speed I go when I am doing things correctly. I normally don’t kick much when I am working on technique because it is hard for me to focus on both.
It was a nice surprise to break 20 seconds and I hope I can repeat it next time.
