Climbing the Wall of Water

As most my friends can attest, I've been frustrated with my swimming performance in both DC Triathlon and CROCfest. With the Nation's Tri on the horizon, I've about a month to improve. I'll be swimming around a mile in that event. I need to make some serious strides to complete the event in a reasonable time and still have something left for T2 (cycling) and T3 (running).

Suffice it to say, I've been focusing on my form in the water and increasing my training volume for that event.

Most of the online literature recommends, if you are short on time, focusing on technique and endurance. Speed is something for the off season. No complaints from me on this bit of advice.

I've set my hand to some youtube scrounging. After discovering an amazingly large catalog of Russian and Chinese videos on swimming, I ran across these English swimming gems:







Key bits to take away from the videos:

1) It should feel like you are "climbing a ladder". This sensation factors into the next point.

2) Arm extension should come from the hips. "Shooting from the hip" generates a rolling force on your body which makes it easier to breathe in open water and assists with arm extension.

3) I really like the idea of using the resistance bands to train arm motion/technique outside of the pool. Seems practical and easy to replicate at home. Perfect for a morning training session. (2nd video)

The 3rd video is a very technical and scientific approach to the sport. It breaks swimming into phases or steps.

I've always been a fan of breaking down a complex series of actions into smaller steps. I do this in code all the time. I'm partial to observing something. Breaking it into bits. Walking-and-talking through the series of bits and then speeding up the bits into a whole. It's a key method that I've used most of my life when learning physically based arts. My years of judo and military training attest to this preference. My favorite Sensei's were masters of this style of instruction.

In the Army, we call this, "breaking-it-down" or "by-the-numbers". Drill Sergeants use this method to teach everything (close-order drill, hand-to-hand combatives, rifle maintenance, radio-use, the list goes on).

During my swim training this week, I was shooting my arms out from my hips for the first time in ages. This generated a very positive sensation. It was very similar to the climbing metaphor. For the duration of my lap workout, I found breathing to be a lot less strenuous and I didn't have to force arm extension.

The climbing sensation reduced some of the anxiety I've experienced while swimming. Like most sports that don't come naturally, I find there's a mental component that makes doing something mildly uncomfortable, or unnatural, easier to manage. "Climbing a wall of water" seems like the right association I need to consider when swimming. Kicking also seems less of an issue using this association.

I tapped into my "scuba zen" a fair bit. This reduced a sensation of fighting the water and fighting for each breath. I've also been working on building a mental cadence for the entire process. 1-2-3-1, 1-2-3-1, 1-2-3-1, ...