I am in full taper for Goofy Challenge that is this weekend, but as you know, I did not taper my swim at all until this week. Last week was 16,950 yards (11,000 of which were the happy NY Day 10K swim!), and I haven't put in a week like that since just before IMLP last year (isn't it funny the first time in a new year when you say "last year?").
I was supposed to do a threshold swim test last week, but it never happened because I ended up doing a long run first. I haven't felt like I've been swimming fast AT ALL, but think that aspects of my form have improved due to a whole lot of focus, which I have lacked for a few years, as follows:
My rotation to my left ("wrong") side is cleaner. I no longer lift my head much at all to breathe to that side--the air intake occurs because of the rotation. I have also worked diligently on my catch on my left side, since I have never felt my left arm was doing its fair share of the work. This has come about through spending most of my allocated drill time swimming 1-armed with my left arm. The weird thing is that now when I breathe just on my left side, I swim faster than if I breathe on the right! I am sure this will come in handy someday, but whereas in the past when I was doing speedwork (and racing), I would breathe to my right, now I breathe on my left!
My kick is a little stronger and better. I switched from Zoomer fins to the Zura Aqua Sphere fins that I use when doing drills, kicking with a board, and backstroke. Backstroke because I never really "learned" it, and my regular kick is weak as it is, but now I try and incorporate 200+ yards of backstroke during my warmup and cooldown at the advice of a few trusted advisers, to give my pectoral muscles a break. Plus I just find it relaxing!
Anyway, with the Zura fins, I can kick faster, and the way they are built seems to promote two things: increased ankle flexibility over the Zoomers, and more calf recruitment (not sure whether the calf things is good or not). My experience with them is that I feel I am doing a much more "natural" flutter kick than I used to do with Zoomers. Plus the Zura's are lighter, and they dry out much faster! Now that I think about it, the calf thing is because the Zuras make it much easier to keep your ankles extended, which automatically makes your calves work harder. Oh and this can also make you cramp up if you aren't used to it or when you swim after running, which I do fairly frequently.
Since sometime this summer (don't remember exactly when), I've been incorporating swimming with the paddles more often than I ever used to. This helps me with two things: hand entry (you have to get it right to use them effectively) and force generation. I am planning on getting a pair of the tiny paddles that your hand just barely covers after trying some out yesterday. They will also be good for keeping my hand entry good and elbows high during pull phase.
Another thing I've been doing is 4 swims per week. Monday and Wednesday have been 2600-3100 yards (lots of speedwork in there), Friday is the long beast (I try and do at least 2500 yards of it as speedwork), and Sunday is 1,000-2,000 yards easy after my long run (whatever I feel like doing).
All in all, I have put in consistently solid yardage (since beginning of season in September I've averaged 11,000/week, and I'd like to take it to 13,000 this year), worked on my form, improved my lame kick and gotten stronger.
I should add here that up until this week, before my Monday and Wednesday swims I have been doing up to 60 pushups, 40 pullups, 5-7' of bridging and some abs exercises, and my weekly strength routine has grown by about 20' due to added core work.
Put all this together, and you'd think I'd be faster in the pool, right? Well, I didn't really start seeing it until a few weeks ago, and it was sporadic. I wasn't discouraged, as I wasn't really slowing down in those long swims as I kept adding yardage, but still...
So yesterday I got in the pool, run is tapered, bike is tapered, no strength work right before swimming, not really excited to be in the pool and BANG! I am seeing paces I haven't seen in years! My main set yesterday was 8x150 as 100 fast, 50 easy, 15" RI. And it didn't feel bad, either. And my swim sure wasn't tapered, but I hadn't swum since Friday. Still, I was pleased, thinking maybe underneath all that strength work and extra yardage some speed is creeping in.
Then today, same story, I did NOT want to get out of bed and go swim, and was rationalizing that I didn't need to--this week is about running--but what the heck, I got going and got into the pool again. The warmup for the workout was 1500 yards, and I kept saying to myself that would be enough, but then I figured I'd start in on the main set: 3x(2x100 @T-pace+10"SI, 4x50 @T-pace+10"SI, 1x50 easy 2'SI). Well what the hell, I don't really know my T-pace so let's just see how steadily I can go, and on the first 100, I look at the clock and think "well that's nice but I only get 10 seconds of rest doubt I can do that again," and then proceed to swim the next one even faster. I got through the first round and on the second round I got faster and was able to keep that momentum through the third round. When I finished, I was so overcome that I almost started crying right in the pool!
I mean if I was able to swim so well, shouldn't it mean that I actually *have* that speed but that maybe because of all the other training I'm doing plus the pre-swim work that I just haven't been able to access it? Or did I need to shock myself by swimming 10K?
I hope this is real speed, and at least now I will be a bit less concerned if it's not there every single workout that I do. Or maybe it did really require me to swim my butt off for the better part of the last 9 months. Whatever, I am hopeful for making my goal of sub-4 hour swim at Ultraman. Which isn't speedy, but it does include feeding time and also I want to just swim economically for the entire time, and still be able to bike afterwards! I might do a long swim in the wetsuit this month just to see how that goes, because it introduces another variable into the mix.
Now in thinking about what I have read some other people have done in order to improve their swimming, I would like to note a few things.
- I am not tall! At only 5'3" it's not like I can easily swim as fast as someone who is taller.
- I began swimming in 2000, when I first trained for a triathlon. No swim background whatsoever. I did take Total Immersion lessons for about 3 months which thankfully converted me from a total spaz to being able to pretend I could actually swim.
- I am very lean. One of the reasons, I think, that I have slowed somewhat in the last few years is that I have become progressively leaner and leaner. I know, I know, perfect form should take care of that, but I have spoken with others who have noted the same phenomenon, that a little extra fat is helpful in the pool. Fat--I HAZ NOT!
- I am an old lady. Time is against me. I am post-menopausal, it is tough for me to maintain or improve my strength, and all things considered, not slowing down should be enough for me. But it isn't. I've never really tackled the swimming nut before, and a few years ago, the swim was what scared me the most about Ultraman. Now it's the damn 52.4 mile run!
- Yes, I could still use some one-on-one coaching. If I can find the time.
- Regardless of what people say about technique work, there is no substitute for time in the water. The way I look at it, the more time you spend there, the more time you have to work on good form. Sure, you could swim a bunch of crap yardage with no attention to your form whatsoever and it could be a waste of time, but I don't feel like that's what I'm doing.
- I don't know whether it's my age, my lack of sports background or what, but I do seem to improve in all 3 sports with high volume. Let me rephrase that: up to a point, you can improve with relatively low volume in S/B/R (based on your genetics and your athletic background), but at some point, you just need to do more of it. I laugh that I did my first 2 open marathons on like 40 miles MAX running per week. That is a joke in serious marathon training! And thinking I could become a good adult swimmer on less than 10,000 yards per week? Maybe if I was a 6' tall guy, but starting in my 40's, being born short and small, not so much ;) Biking is the same deal--the more I do, the faster I get.
- There are no studies that prove that strength work will make you a faster swimmer (or cyclist or runner, for that matter. Although plyometrics have been shown to improve running speed to an extent). Here's my thoughts: If you are under 35 years old and male and highly active, forget about strength training. If you have a desk job, are over 35 years old or female (especially a 40+ female), I think strength training is of benefit. Why? Bone density, balancing out the ravages of desk jobs (unless, of course, you have perfect posture while sitting, never climb ladders or do serious yard work/home improvement) and making yourself less susceptible to injuring yourself while NOT doing sports. Daily living can introduce muscular imbalances that can then wreak havoc on your sports performance, particularly if they cause injury. Being strong all over can't hurt your sports performance, but does it help? Who knows. If all it does is provide me with a platform for managing all my sports training, I am OK with it. Does working my lats, delts, pecs and triceps extra make me faster in the pool? Probably not. But does it help those muscles sustain the training load I am throwing at them and not having them fail on me? I think so.
Oh and if anyone has any other suggestions for me as far as swimming goes (other than GET A COACH), please run them by me. I am completely open!
