Okay, technically this isn't my 1st swimming lesson since I was about 8. That would be the freebie lesson from I think I should record the diagnosis before I forget:
- My kicking seems ok and I am no longer swimming with "sinking feet". Yay! All the kicking drills prescribed by
Keithmy mysterious swim guru buddy must have worked! - I am pronating my body well and turning my head to breathe, but when my arms get tired, I revert to the heads up, ass down position. :(
- My hands are entering the water too close to my head and hence giving me a short stroke. I need to extend my hands further out to get a longer stroke.
- I am already doing the "S" pull under water, but my hands cross over the center line of my body and they should never do that.
- I am raising my arms too high in recovery and hence using up unnecessary energy. I should focus on a elbow-led recovery.
- I am not putting enough into the last 1/3 of the stroke when pull crosses over to push - i.e. when the pulling hand crosses my chest and turns into a push towards my feet. He says this is the most important part when it comes to propulsion and I am not putting enough into it.
On the biking front, I asked my dear wife to snap a couple of pictures of me in aero position as a check and here is one of them. In case anyone thinks the picture is blurred because I was FLYING, I must confess that it was taken on my 2M pixel camera phone, which is not too good with action shots in dark underground carparks. A couple of interesting observations - (1) I am still pretty stretched out on the aero bar, but if I put the bar any shorter, my weight rests too near my wrists and my fore-arms get uncomfortable; (2) I am sitting rather far back on the saddle - perhaps a proper Tri saddle with more padding up front will help? I was a bit concerned if my saddle was too low, but it seems okay in the picture ya? Any advice/suggestions from the bike gurus out there will be much appreciated!I'm not sure if I will have time to post while I am on the road, so until next time, thanks for dropping by, train safe and God Speed!
12 comments:
The S pull. Interesting. My friend was telling me about the S pull. She is a life guard and was grilling me "how come your coach ain't teaching you the S pull? It helps a lot you know."
Let me know how that goes.
I do that with my coach as well. Meet every 5 weeks to work on techqniues. He gives me a set fo drills ot do. I go home and do them.
As for the bike position. No clue. I think i ride like you as well.
You do look a bit farther back on the saddle then you should be. A tri saddle would give more padding up fron, but not much. The other thing would be your actual seatpost? Is it the stock road geometry one? You could switch it out to a fast-forward one that will put you in more of a tri-bike position. I did my Ironman last year on that type of set up.
But now that I have the PLASMA - no need to worry about such things anymore!
Have you gotten your wife to agree that you need one too?
Thanks for the reminder. I need to get a coach to improve my swim technique.
Hey Cliff, yup the S pull seems to be a big thing among them sharks in the pool. :) I think our riding position is probably the best compromise for a road bike... which brings me to ask...
Steven, on the Plasma (feels good just saying it) are the pads nearer to your wrists or your elbows? My problem is that my forearm hurts unless I the pads are nearer to my elbow, hence I get extended. I find sitting back on the saddle gives me a more efficient pedal stroke. (Or maybe I am just lazy.)
Hey papa louie, you gotta do it. Them "stroke correction" lessons don't take up too much time and they seem to work.
Great pic.... you were FLYING!!;) I gotta use that technique some time! Be safe on your travels!
Great post! I liked the swim lesson tips. I also need to work on power in my stroke. I have good technique but no power. Everyone flies past me in the pool. Could it be I just lack upper body strength? Also, for entry, isn't your hand supposed to enter close to your head? Then, you stretch out your arm as it goes underwater in front of you. This helps propel you underwater and helps buoyancy b/c you don't have to support the weight of your outstretched arm in the air. Maybe I have it wrong? That's what I was taught. Curious on your thoughts.
I don't know much about biking in aero but it does look like you're a bit far back in the saddle. Also, your back is slightly rounded, which I know everyone does, but since the power comes from your hips, it's better to work on a flat back and allow your hips to be free. Can't tell much about the saddle height b/c the leg nearest is up, but it looks almost fully extendend on the other side, which is good.
Hey Deb, thanks! Trust me I was a LOT slower than I looked. :D
Rachel, my hand was entering the water right beside my head, which was not allowing me to fully stretch out my arm before pulling. I was also told that I should not thrust my arm so deep into the water as it reduces the amount of pull I can bring into the stroke.
Thanks for the tips about bike position, I will try to straighten this ol' back next time I am out! :)
Becareful riding too far back on the saddle. A friend of mine rode that way and the seat post bolt sheared off. She almost crashed. Saddle height looks good, it would be nice to see a pic from the other side with the leg extended.
Id post your aero pick photo on the slowtwitch.com forum lots of bike setup pros over there and they will give you great advice.
Cool pic from the phone. Curious to hear how how swim improves. I signed up an intermediate swim class at my local pool, Weds in July. This month, I'm just gettin' out there, getting wet! :)Thanks for your comment on my blog. I'm trying to keep the motivation up.
I am by far no guru, but it looks to me you are a bit strethced out on the bike. That's just one problem with fitting a road bike for tris. I have had done a lot of tinkering too. I have moved my saddle almost as far as it can go. Go check out some pictures of Chris and look how foward his tri bike pushes him.
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