A rare Saturday off from +Amphibian King Galway and I was all set to race the infamous Hell of the West.
Sunday 30 June 2013
Friday 22 March 2013
Being a Swim Smooth defined “Swinger”
I started to read a few swim
books to see if I could gain any further insight. I read a Total Immersion Swim
book but just couldn’t identify with it. Trying to take long strokes just isn’t
me, it never was. I struggle to take 23 strokes per 25m so there is no way I was
going to get that down to 18 without a lot of work. I am the mum of two young
kids aged 3 and 4 years and I simply don’t have the time to massively overhaul my
stroke. I probably just don’t have the patience anyway.
I picked up my husband’s Swim Smooth
book and I was thrilled that I was able to relate to one of the swim types that
they had mentioned. Fast choppy stroke rate, straight arm recovery, performs
better in open water, dislikes sprinting but likes distance swimming. This was
just me even the comment “may have received unfavourable comments about their
stroke in the past in comparison to smoother swimmers” was so applicable. They even said that many elite swimmers were
this swim type which they termed “Swingers”. Maybe things weren’t so bad after
all!
On seeing that Paul Newsome and
Adam Young the authors of the book were giving a clinic in Limerick
I got very excited. Yes it wasn’t cheap and I was going to have to ask my
husband to mind the kids on a bank holiday but I was determined to go.
It was an action packed day to
say the least. After seeing the schedule I thought I might get bored – how on
earth could one analyse the freestyle stroke for a whole day? However from the
moment we had the ‘meet and greet’ to the receiving our own DVD’s at the end of
the day I loved every minute of it. All
this helped no doubt by the fact that I was finally being complimented on most
elements of my stroke, I was really chuffed. Yes I can now live with having an
“uglier” stroke then the smoother swimmers. Anyway as Adam said Swingers have
more fun!!
First time in the pool since the
clinic this morning and a few things to work on, (1) reduce leg kick and kick
from the hip (apparently even Ian Thorpe only gets 11% of his propulsion from
his kick). I have been wasting far too much energy on kicking hard from the
knee; (2) Try and reduce stroke rate from 86 per 100m (on 1:30.) to about 76
(3) Focus on my left arm underwater and try to maintain a high elbow position
underwater. (4) Change to single side breathing to bilateral breathing every 5
strokes.
Session this morning: 2600m; 300m warm up; 1 x 400m (off
6:30); 3 x (1 x 200m (off 3;20); 2 x 100m (off 1:45) and 2 x 50m (off 55’); 1 x 100m easy) 100m
cool down.
My aim is still to get my pool
1.5k down under 25 minutes and hopefully get my open water 1.5k in between 23
and 24 minutes. Apparently you can gain 38% by drafting effectively so I am
certainly going to work on this for the ITU World Age Group Championships in London in September. Since the clinic I have beefed up our swim section in our shop (Amphibian King in Oranmore, Galway) - we now have a range of Finis Swim toys, Orca wetsuits, TYR swimwear &
goggles. Coming soon Zone 3 &
HUUB wetsuits.I eyeing up the new HUUB Aura 3.3 myself for this years events....don't think I will wait until next Mothers day to treat myself!!
Tuesday 5 February 2013
Back in action…..kind of
2013 – Week 1 (commencing
28th January)
Training for the last few months has been haphazard to say
the least. I started swimming (properly) before Christmas and have kept it
going but I am definitely not going as hard at it as I did this time last year
and that is going to make achieving my goals at my first big event of 2013 - The Limerick Masters Swimming Gala on March
1st and 2nd a big
ask. I got back running after Christmas also and I was really enjoying the
interval and speed work with Craughwell AC until I strained my hip. I haven’t
been on a bike since last August and I have no desire to go out in this weather
(I have no problem jumping put of bed at 6.10am on a cold winter morning and
jumping into a swimming pool but don’t ask me to go out on a bike!!)
My big event and goal of 2013 is to put in a decent
performance at the Triathlon World Championships in London on 14th and 15th
September 2013. Every event and all training will be structured around this
event (well when I get around to getting structured). I keep consoling myself
that I have all summer to train but as we all know the days are slipping by
fast. Time to get on that turbo my
husband kindly bought for me!
Monday 28th
January - Swim – 2,300m
Warm up 200m
Main Set
5 x 400m off 7”
Cool Down 100m
Felt strong throughout the set and come in on approx 6;40 on
each set. Felt slightly fatigued at the end but reckoned I could have done
another one or two. Back/shoulder muscles a little stiff later in day.
Wednesday 30th
January - Swim 2,500m
Warm Up: 200m
Drills (250m)
1x 50m Hand entry position with board
1 x 50m finger drag; 1 x 50m f/s (x2)
1 x 50m Fist Only; 1 x 50m f/s (x2)
Main Set
10 x 200m off 3’ 30”
Cool Down: 50m
This session opened the lungs and I felt I really got a
workout. I need to do a lot more of
these kind of sets to get stronger and back to where I was this time last year.
Hip still not 100% so going to skip running training
tonight. May try core work but I did try a few crunches last night on the Swiss
ball and I reckon I have a pulled muscle on my left side too. Waiting on my
sports therapist Derek King to get a cancellation so he can squeeze me in for
an appointment,
Friday 1st
February - Swim 2,300m
Warm up: 400m
Main set
6 x 200m off 3’30”
12 x 50 off 50”
Cool down 100m
Sunday 3rd
February – Run 7.5km
7.5km easy run. 3 or 4k into the run the pain in my hip
returned. I was really disappointed as I thought getting acupuncture and a rub
on Thursday would have sorted things but obviously not. I knew if I kept
running I would probably do my back in so I walked/ran for the remainder of the
session.
Monday 4th
February – Swim 2,300m
My swim buddy wasn’t able to make it this morning so I
shared the lane with a group of swimmers that had a set in mind so I just
tagged along with them. I will leave my 6 x 400m off 7’ until next Monday
morning.
Warm up: 1 x 300m
Main Set: 6 x 300m
Cool Down: 1 x 100m
Starting to feel swimming fit again, thankfully as there is
only a few left until Limerick Masters and I will be bitterly disappointed if I
don’t improve on last years time – especially the 25min 34 sec for 1500
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