I swam 2250m at the Akdeniz University pool. The water was 30.5 C. Started at 8:45.
10x 50m gentle warm-up
7x this set:
- 25m, 50m, 75m, 100m
The objective was to minimize SPL, and find a point that I could focus on and refine in each new set. Open-turns (to reduce exertion in hot water).
On #1 I held 15 SPL, #2 15 SPL, #3 14 SPL, #4 14 SPL, #5 14SPL , #6 13+ SPL, #7 13+ to 14 SPL.
COMMENTARY
I’ve been out of the pool for 5 days with a painful ear infection. I finally broke down and did antibiotics. It’s getting better now.
The pool was so warm I took the advice from Grant Molyneux’s book “Effortless Exercise” to warm-up as long as I needed to let my body tell me when it was ready for more. Even in a ‘hot’ pool one has to warm-up, or rather, acclimate the body to the conditions.
15 SPL was what I naturally swam on the first set and it was appearing to be where I would stay. But then I tried a tweak on #3- I rolled to skate position at a slightly steeper angle, reaching a littler further forward, and making my body a little narrower (more like my sprint form), and I immediately cut -1 SPL off. It seems that although the latest trend in TI is to soften the angle of rotation to make for a much more relaxed (energy-saving) stroke, the steep angle, for me at least, always produces a longer SL. But I think this position may be less favorable to many because it requires more shoulder flexibility and it makes it a bit more difficult to get the catching arm into high-elbow position for the catch. The sequence of movements and the support required in the shoulder to do this without injury is something we can condition ourselves for but carefully. I have the advantage of not having to train aggressively for any particular race or event- I just have my personal goals and I know I will reach them in the right time- so I can take my time to perfect little things without feeling external pressure to move on to power-work until I know everything in my stroke is ready for it.
Today, as I was doing this set I did not feel like I was as consistently full in my catch as I could be. I can get the elbows up but sometimes the follow-through didn’t feel as solid as it could be. Fist-swimming is the great, simple, logical treatment for this ailment! These slower, carefully examined SL stroke sets are so effective at revealing weaknesses in technique.
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