The dreaded cold re-entered my system last Wednesday and didn't clear until Sunday. So I have only looked longingly at other swimming blogs and my OSS mates photos from a trip last weekend to Norfolk.
Today was the first swim since last Tuesday. I met my cereal pack designer buddy and we were joined in the lane by a frantic type. The arms and legs were going furiously, but he was moving at about a third of our speed.
So this week's total is a little paltry. Just two swims.
Log 19 to 26 Jan. 2 swims, 5km in total. 20mins/km.
Tuesday 26 January 2010
Tuesday 19 January 2010
gliding back to shape
Except for a micro-swim in the River Tweed on the 28th December, and a couple of kms in London Fields Lido on New Year's Eve, I've didn't swim much between the last post and January 11th. Mostly due to three colds in a row and the unseemly thought of trailing snot down the fast lane.
Several doses of multi-vits later, I got back in on Tuesday 11th and have been practising slippery swimming - as the creator of Total Immersion, Terry McLaughlin calls it since. Having also had a few lessons with people inspired by Steven Shaw's Art of Swimming (based on Alexander Technique), I can see/feel the similarities and syntheses between the two approaches. In particular swimming with my fist closed has focused me on two things - alignment and the use of the forearm in propulsion.
When I first tried the closed fist drills back in early 2009, I could barely breathe and gave up trying them fairly quickly. But because I'm having to ease myself back into training, I've been going at a very (for me) leisurely pace, so the closed fist drill is more relaxed. What I notice is that it is a remarkable measure of how well you're gliding through the water. If the arm isn't straight and aligned with your sideways body, then you feel yourself turning. When I use my hand, I unconsciously make micro compensatory movements.
However, the closed fist drill's primary use (according to TI method) is to make you aware of your forearm in the pull-through of your stroke. Again, the closed fist heightens the impact of not aligning your pull-through stroke, but it also makes you more aware of the central rotation through your middle.
But then maybe I'm becoming too obsessed with swimming. A friend wants to 'de-friend' me on facebook because I only ever post about swimming.
Log for 11 to 18 Jan 2010
13k indoors (20/21 mins per km), lots of closed fist drills
River Thames at Pangbourne on 16th. Water about 4 degrees C. More of a float than a swim, as the river was up and the current about 2mph.
Several doses of multi-vits later, I got back in on Tuesday 11th and have been practising slippery swimming - as the creator of Total Immersion, Terry McLaughlin calls it since. Having also had a few lessons with people inspired by Steven Shaw's Art of Swimming (based on Alexander Technique), I can see/feel the similarities and syntheses between the two approaches. In particular swimming with my fist closed has focused me on two things - alignment and the use of the forearm in propulsion.
When I first tried the closed fist drills back in early 2009, I could barely breathe and gave up trying them fairly quickly. But because I'm having to ease myself back into training, I've been going at a very (for me) leisurely pace, so the closed fist drill is more relaxed. What I notice is that it is a remarkable measure of how well you're gliding through the water. If the arm isn't straight and aligned with your sideways body, then you feel yourself turning. When I use my hand, I unconsciously make micro compensatory movements.
However, the closed fist drill's primary use (according to TI method) is to make you aware of your forearm in the pull-through of your stroke. Again, the closed fist heightens the impact of not aligning your pull-through stroke, but it also makes you more aware of the central rotation through your middle.
But then maybe I'm becoming too obsessed with swimming. A friend wants to 'de-friend' me on facebook because I only ever post about swimming.
Log for 11 to 18 Jan 2010
13k indoors (20/21 mins per km), lots of closed fist drills
River Thames at Pangbourne on 16th. Water about 4 degrees C. More of a float than a swim, as the river was up and the current about 2mph.
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